Dell Dimension E520

[dragonma220]

Hello, i have a Dell Dimension E520. About a year ago, I purchased an upgrade video card. I bought a GEForce 8500 GT 512 MB PCI Express x16. After installing this, i started to experience some major problems that i have never encountered before. I don't know too much about computers but have been trying to learn more and more. The problems that have been happening are since the video card installment, i have been experiencing freezing of my PC. There are times when i leave my PC on and come back after a few hours only to find that either my PC has frozen, or the blue screen of death has appeared, or my entire display is totally messed up with all sorts of weird colors all over the screen. There are times that i am online in a MMORPG game that i play when it suddenly freezes on me and self-reboots. I'm not sure if this is because of the video card or a virus. I consistently run Norton every week and most of the time, it picks up nothing. I have no idea how to solve this problem or what the cause may be. Please anyone help !!!!! Thank you for your time and i hope to hear from anyone soon.

 

[renz496]

have you installed latest driver?

other possible problem is your PSU may not up to the task or overheating problem

 

[dragonma220]

Hello, thank you fro ur reply. Yes, i have installed both the latest driver and changed out my PSU for a 500W a well. Yet, the problems still exist. I have no idea wat to do now....is it possible that my video card is not compatible with my E520? Should i spend more money on a different video card? Any suggestions? Thank you

have you installed latest driver?

other possible problem is your PSU may not up to the task or overheating problem

 

[renz496]

before deciding on upgrading the card you may want to check if your card is faulty or not. you can test the card on another pc to make sure if its ok. you might want to try to test another graphic card on your pc as well to make sure if your main board also acting up with other card.

 

[dragonma220]

before deciding on upgrading the card you may want to check if your card is faulty or not. you can test the card on another pc to make sure if its ok. you might want to try to test another graphic card on your pc as well to make sure if your main board also acting up with other card.

Thanks for the advice. I will try this out and let u know the results...BTW, do u know if my current video card is compatible with my Dell E520? Thx again...

 

[renz496]

according to dell documentation your e520 should have PCI-E version 2.0 on your motherboard. so any PCI-E 2.0 card compatible card should be fine on your pc. one thing that i forgot to mention is your system file is may also corrupted which led to system crash.

 

[jitpublisher]

Any PCIe card will work in your system.
This is the what you should have done, and the exact order.
Uninstall the drivers for the onboard graphics, and let Windows install it's generic VGA drivers.
Go into the BIOS and turn off the onboard graphics, or set the BIOS to look for the PCIe slot first for display.
Install your new Video card, boot up with the standard VGA drivers.
Install the new drivers for the 8500.
If you did not do this, you are very likely having driver conflicts with your old display drivers.

 

[dragonma220]

Any PCIe card will work in your system.
This is the what you should have done, and the exact order.
Uninstall the drivers for the onboard graphics, and let Windows install it's generic VGA drivers.
Go into the BIOS and turn off the onboard graphics, or set the BIOS to look for the PCIe slot first for display.
Install your new Video card, boot up with the standard VGA drivers.
Install the new drivers for the 8500.
If you did not do this, you are very likely having driver conflicts with your old display drivers.

Hello, thank you for ur reply. Unfortunately, I have not done any of what u have mentioned when installing the new video card. Also, i have no idea where or how to do all those things u mentioned. Sorry, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to things like this. I would like to try what u have suggested, but i don't know how to get to the on-board graphics or the BIOS. If you have the time, would u please explain how to do all this step by step to me? Thank you, your help is greatly appreciated, but if you are too busy, i will understand. But again, thank you for your response.

 

[Gor]

I have a fairly heavily upgraded (see my system specs) Dimension E520 and I am running a BFG GeForce 8800GT OC in there without any issues.

As others have mentioned, you will need to make sure that the internal onboard graphics are disabled and the 8800GT is enabled in the system BIOS. Press F2 at the Dell logo when you switch on your PC and go from there. I can post exact steps when I get home tonight if you want me to.

I did install a more powerful power supply (450W) not only because I wanted to make sure the new graphics card got enough power, but because I needed a PCIe power connector for the 8800GTOC.

The standard power supply in a Dell Dimension E520 doesn't come with a PCIe power connector. At least mine didn't. That's one thing you will need to check. If your 8800GT card has one, you'll need a power supply which has a plug to supply it.

Here's a PCIe power socket on a Radeon Card for example:

Before I upgraded my power supply, I used the 8800GT OC with the stock power supply and connected the PCIe power using an adapter like this:

...the power supply did run very hot, so I upgraded it.

I hope some of this has helped you!
Let me know if you need step by step instructions for changing your graphics card settings in the BIOS, and good luck!

 

[deadlockedworld]

To touch back on that driver issue-- have you tried a Nvidia driver? Sometimes the versions posted by graphics card manufacturers and the chip company are slightly different. I would experiment with both to see if the driver offered by one of the companies works better on your system than the other.

If not, I agree with the idea of finding someone else with a good PC that can swap with you to find out if it is the card, the computer, or the combination that is causing this.

 

[dragonma220]

I have a fairly heavily upgraded (see my system specs) Dimension E520 and I am running a BFG GeForce 8800GT OC in there without any issues.

As others have mentioned, you will need to make sure that the internal onboard graphics are disabled and the 8800GT is enabled in the system BIOS. Press F2 at the Dell logo when you switch on your PC and go from there. I can post exact steps when I get home tonight if you want me to.

I did install a more powerful power supply (450W) not only because I wanted to make sure the new graphics card got enough power, but because I needed a PCIe power connector for the 8800GTOC.

The standard power supply in a Dell Dimension E520 doesn't come with a PCIe power connector. At least mine didn't. That's one thing you will need to check. If your 8800GT card has one, you'll need a power supply which has a plug to supply it.

Here's a PCIe power socket on a Radeon Card for example:

http://www.erodovcdn.com/erodov/reviews/guide/pci-e-connector/pci-e-power-connector-1.jpg

Before I upgraded my power supply, I used the 8800GT OC with the stock power supply and connected the PCIe power using an adapter like this:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/pcie6.jpg

...the power supply did run very hot, so I upgraded it.

I hope some of this has helped you!
Let me know if you need step by step instructions for changing your graphics card settings in the BIOS, and good luck!

Thx for ur reply...i actually figured it out already but ur help was greatly appreciated. The problems were i didnt uninstall the old drivers and also, the video card was damaged. I didnt notice it until i took it out to put into another computer. After i installed it in the other computer, that computer started experiencing the same problems. On the video card, one of the silver-like domes looked like it exploded. But, nevertheless, i fixed it all now and everything is running perfectly again. Thank you for ur help and i would also like to thank all the previous people who posted replies to my thread as well. Thank you and have a great holiday.