Do I need to change BIOS after installing new GPU?

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NorthSouthComm

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Feb 7, 2014
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I am replacing an NVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics card with a Gigabyte Radeon R7 250 graphics card and my monitor acts like it is asleep and will not display the boot sequence. My motherboard has an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU @ 2.66 GHz and I am running Vista Ultimate. The monitor cable is connected to the GPU slot not the motherboard. I have tried both with the old driver installed and uninstalled. If I need to change settings in the BIOS what do I do? Thanks!
 
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It does boot to the OS though?

First, in the BIOS, turn off any 'quick boot' option. Does that work?

Updating the BIOS is critical when trying to pair new components to older motherboards. At some point, though, the motherboard manufacturers stop providing BIOS updates for older boards. Not seeing the boot sequence could be the tip of the ice berg if you're not running the latest BIOS for your motherboard.

At any rate, I would still update the BIOS to the latest rev level to minimize any compatibility issues.
 
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The computer works with the old video card no problem, correct?

The fact that you can't even see the BIOS with the new card can be indicative of a bad video card or your motherboard just may simply not support the newer technology. So you have a couple of things going on.

Start by exchanging the R7 250. Tell wherever you bought it that it shows no display (every video card should allow you to see the BIOS screen and get you into the Windows OS with generic drivers). Get the new one. If a new one works, you're golden. You know it was a faulty card.

Otherwise, you have the perfect excuse for a PC upgrade.
 
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Great minds think alike! I did exchange the new graphics card and still have the same problem. Is there a way I can determine for certain that my motherboard cannot support the newer technology of the Radeon R7 250? My plan B is to buy a duplicate of the old card on Ebay (since the old card is not working properly presumably from overheating).
 
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It's a Powerspec E371. I checked with the manufacturer and they do not have an update to the BIOS. Since the Gigabyte R7 250 draws all of its power from the PCI-E, and has no six-prong connector on it, Powerspec suggested it may not be getting enough power somehow. It's baffling.
 
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I have been looking to find info about the motherboard from the computer model you provided but I have been having difficultly finding anything that tells me the exact motherboard that you have in that computer. I hope you can provide more info about the motherboard.

Strange that Powerspec would suggest the card is not getting enough power. PCI-e 1.0 and PCI-e 3.0 provide the same power at the slot. PCI-e 2.0 is the same specs. Something that could cause what you are experiencing would be a power supply that isn't providing enough juice, I doubt you are in that situation but make sure you have a 400w PSU that is providing at least 24A on the 12v.
 
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Still not working. I don't see any signage on the motherboard but it's what came standard on a Powerspec E371 which was an immensely popular model. The PSU is an Antec EA-650.
Here is what I tried: 1) I installed a new ATI R7770 GPU 2GB DDR3 with a six-prong power slot (in case there was a power problem with the PCI-E) and the same type of memory as the old GeForce 8800GT that worked. 2) There is no update to the BIOS available. 3) Tech support for the motherboard said they doubted it was a matter of changing settings in the BIOS, and suggested it was a power issue. Since the ATI R7770 GPU 2GB DDR3 doesn't work at all (black screen), and the reinstalled GeForce 8800GT is unable to use the installed up-to-date GPU driver, I am wondering if the problem is with the main PSU of the system. Worth noting is that when I boot up Windows with the old card, the monitor goes to minimum resolution which I cannot change is display settings in Vista. (the sliding bar will not move) Even when I reduce brightness on the monitor I have the same problem. So it seems there is a power-related problem, but I don't know if it is on the PCI-E or the PSU, or both. Is there any way to test this hypothesis without taking the whole system apart for a power test?
 
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Just in case it might be a power issue, I replaced the PSU with a brand new Corsair TX650 650 watt and I have the same symptoms (GeForce 8800GT GPU won't load driver and ATI R7770 won't boot--just a black screen) So I guess the only remaining suspect is either the BIOS (which has no update available since 2008) or the motherboard. Is there a way to check if part of the motherboard is not functioning? I did get an overheating message before the problem appeared. The motherboard has the following components:

Intel Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E
Intel Intel(R) G33/G31/P35 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1
Intel Intel(R) G33/G31/P35 Express Chipset Processor to I/O Controller - 29C0
Intel Intel(R) G33/G31/P35/P31 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1
Intel PCI Simple Communications Controller
Intel PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Intel Pont ISA standard PCI
Microsoft Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio
Synaptics Intel(R) ICH9 Family SMBus Controller - 2930
 
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