Something I've noticed?

I don't know if this is a PCIe thing but its something I noticed with my 220GT. No video card BIOS message during the POST. It goes straight to my motherboard BIOS screen. I don't remember ever having a PCI or AGP card that didn't show a BIOS screen first thing and then pass off to the motherboard BIOS. Something else I've noticed too is the way my 220GT handles dual monitors during boot up. Only the one connected to the DVI connector shows an image during boot up. The one on the VGA port shows a "no signal" until windows loads the desktop and then it shows my extended desktop. Any AGP card I've ever used would mirror the bios screen onto both monitors during the post and boot up. This isn't a complaint, I actually like it this way, just an observation. I'm just wondering if anybody else has noticed something similar?

Are you supposed to get a gfx card bios screen? I do not. Maybe because I have a radeon? I never got one on my 7300LE geforce either.

I have a GTX260. No BIOS screen. But I put in a 9500GT for a short while and did get the BIOS screen. I'm guessing it's the firmware on the card that determines whether you get that or not.

I didnt even know that the cards had a bios. I figured it was all handled in windows and or by the firmware.

No, what we are talking about is when you boot your computer the very first text that comes up on the black screen is a description of the video card and driver. It flashes very quickly, then the usual BIOS screen comes on and goes through it's routine - finding drives, USB devices, etc.

The graphics cards I've had in recent years have all had the card's BIOS display turned off.

There are BIOS editors for nVidia and ATI cards that allow the feature to be turned on. As that requires flashing the modified firmware onto the card, it's only recommended for those willing to risk making an expensive brick.

I'm guessing its set to not display. There is a 1 or 2 second pause with just a black screen befor my motherboard BIOS screen comes up. For me this is the first time I can remember not seeing the video card BIOS screen during the POST. All my AGP cards show it. A lot of PC components have a BIOS/firmware. Video cards, optical drives, and hard drives, add in RAID cards, etc. Like Bobkn said you can flash some of them like you do your motherboard BIOS. The thing is though, if it ain't broke don't fix it.