GTX 960 not recognized by Windows 8.1 or Nvidia Driver Installer (GPU not showing up in device manager)

[keyskull]

I bought a gtx 960 that I am using to upgrade my Dell Inspiron 660 (normal, not slim). However the card is not showing up at all in device manager and no signal via vga (card came with adapter) or hdmi. (yes i plugged in the vga/hdmi into the graphics card, no signal)

When I tried to install the driver I received a "no compatible hardware found" error.

There is no setting in BIOS to disable the on-board graphics or change to the new card.

The GPU is being powered by a separate PSU as my PC only had 300w
The card requires an 8 pin pci-e cord which is plugged into the card and secondary PSU.

The card is brand new but the computer is a few years old.

I am certain none of the parts are faulty. However, I don't really have a way of checking the card in a different PC.

Specs:
MOBO Model: 084J0R
BIOS: A11 (updated)
CPU: Intel i5 3330
Operating system: Windows 8.1 (updated)
Current Graphics: Intel Integrated
Primary psu: the original PC PSU (300w)
Secondary PSU: Corsair RM 550w

For HDMI i am connecting to my TV which is a Magnavox (no idea on model number)
For VGA my monitor is an HP monitor (20 wm, Product number D2A13A)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Kisianik]

This error make me think that GTX 900 series are not compatible to older Dells - until March of 2014 new XPS 8700 were not compatible with any GTX 900 cards, Dell released new BIOS driver and issue was solved.
Your latest BIOS is dated

Last Updated 19 Nov 2013

That is why I am thinking about compatibility.
About disabling onboard video - go to Device Manager, find your original video chip and disable from there, just make sure that you have driver backup.

 

[keyskull]

Makes sense. Thanks for the response! I was sort of hoping you were wrong (its far too late for any refunds) but that's probably it. Nothing else seems to work and there aren't many helpful solutions out there.

 

[Kisianik]

Actually there is a hope, but you have to answer in time - I don't have your PC and I am holding info right now, which I don't want to loose.

So, you need to disable Secure Boot in BIOS.

Open BIOS, go to BOOT page and disable Secure BOOT, so boot up with Secure Boot DISABLED, Boot Mode: EUFI.

Report back ASAP.

Do not change UEFI to LEGACY.

 

[Kisianik]

First I need to know if you have UEFI BIOS or Legacy. Check this link to find out http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/29504-bios-mode-see-if-windows-boot-uefi-legacy-mode.html

If you have UEFI BIOS, next will explain how to Disable Secure Boot.

Trying to find pictures to help

Go to BIOS SETUP as highlighted line, it should be there.

Next you see this

You need to have the same Secure Boot Control - DISABLED.

I think this is how you do it

But I don't know how to get there, once you find this window, just disable Secure Boot, SAVE and EXIT to BIOS.

I think you have to physically install GTX card first prior working in BIOS.

Looking for the screen with Video components now. Can not find correct pictures, so just boot to windows and see if you can detect video card.

 

[keyskull]

still no luck. and I do have UEFI boot

 

[Kisianik]

still no luck. and I do have UEFI boot

So you disabled Secure Boot?

 

[keyskull]

I did. Card still isn't recognized.

But I also see an option to boot into legacy? going to look into that.

 

[Kisianik]

I did. Card still isn't recognized.

But I also see an option to boot into legacy? going to look into that.

That is a possibility, but this is uncharted territory, as I seen reports in Dell Forum stating luck of success to boot into Legacy.

You might have to reinstall OS with Legacy BIOS, this is more likely.

Let me know the progress, I will try to help as much as I can, but not promise much, as I never done anything like this.

 

[keyskull]

Yeah that didn't work. I don't think my firewalls are a problem but I'll turn them off to see if they're blocking the driver installation from the background or something. They aren't giving me a notice or anything about the driver being untrusted and such.

I plan on taking my PC and graphics card into Best Buy (I got the card from them) this weekend to see if they can find any problems with either the card or the card slot on the motherboard. As far as I can tell, nothing is physically wrong with either.

 

[Kisianik]

I plan on taking my PC and graphics card into Best Buy (I got the card from them) this weekend to see if they can find any problems with either the card or the card slot on the motherboard. As far as I can tell, nothing is physically wrong with either.

Make sure that you have all DATA backups - I heard things about Best Buy, they might just tell you to do a clean install, then you will have a choice to loose all your DATA or walk away.

So, have you succeeded switching UEFI to Legacy, or it did not work?

OK, read this page only and maybe a few more http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/264491-cant-install-windows-7-preinstalled-windows-8-laptop.html#post2178898

This is about installing Legacy BIOS on system designed for UEFI bios. What else you got to loose? Well, except time....

If you got nothing to loose

 

[keyskull]

legacy did not work. Firewalls on/off made no difference either. I've seen that its hit or miss with the gtx 960's and dell 660 computers. Seems to be a miss for me sadly enough.

I also see that the gtx. 740 is fairly cheap. I might just go get one of those. should play games decently enough. Better than intel integrated anyways. I'll keep the 960 for a future computer.

I really appreciate all the help.

Seems like just poor research and bad luck on my end. And I'm not really confident enough to try reinstalling os or anything on different bios.

 

[Kisianik]

In this case, the strongest card guaranteed to work is GTX 750TI, I would go with MSI, ASUS or EVGA. Personally I like MSI.
Compatibility issues start with GTX 680, GTX 780 and all GTX 900 series. Latest AMD cards surprisingly are more compatible, but could have some issues as well, like XFX is not compatible for the latest generation....

Good luck.

If for any reason you decide to go with Dell in the future, stay away from any Optiplex models, pain in the *** to upgrade. XPS for more $$ and Inspiron for less $ would do just fine, but avoid at all costs upgrading to Win10, unless you have full backup of your system.
If you will consider Win10 let me know, I have excellent resource for Win10 Dell PC upgrading! Step by Step.

 

[keyskull]

I've read that Optiplex has issues. I'll have to see if the 740TI will fit in my case. (if the 960 fit the 740TI probably will)

And I'll be sure to ask you about win10 upgrading. I still haven't decided yet. Looks promising though. I'll probably just end up with a computer that already has it.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Kisianik]

I've read that Optiplex has issues. I'll have to see if the 740TI will fit in my case. (if the 960 fit the 740TI probably will)

And I'll be sure to ask you about win10 upgrading. I still haven't decided yet. Looks promising though. I'll probably just end up with a computer that already has it.

Thanks again for all the help.

You meant 750TI not 740TI, correct? To my best memory, what ever less than 9 inches long should fit OK.
Which model exactly your GTX 960 is (so I would know, what can be fitted in Inspiron 660).

 

[keyskull]

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 FTW ACX 2.0+

and yes, I meant the 750 ti which I just installed flawlessly. I'll be testing it out shortly =)

This 960 fits, but it is a very, very tight fit.

 

[Kisianik]

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 FTW ACX 2.0+

and yes, I meant the 750 ti which I just installed flawlessly. I'll be testing it out shortly =)

This 960 fits, but it is a very, very tight fit.

Thanks for the model, I know dimensions now

Length: 10.1in - 256.5mm http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-2968-KR

And I was advising cards for similar products shorter than 9 inches, can fit larger now. Inspiron 3000 series has the same case structure....

 

[keyskull]

It's a bit chancy to get anything larger than the model I have. It's already nearly touching the wall next to the motherboard. I think its where the hard drive/s are.

 

[Kisianik]

It's a bit chancy to get anything larger than the model I have. It's already nearly touching the wall next to the motherboard. I think its where the hard drive/s are.

I am really appreciate your help to the community by providing all this info after such a terrible experience.



You are right, it is about to touch hard drive caddy.

just found nice picture

Thanks a lot for Forum Contributions.

 

[keyskull]

It was more my fault for not doing more research beforehand. I look at this as a learning experience. I'm just glad I was smart enough to ask questions here. And like I said, maybe I'll save this stuff if/when I decide to build a computer.

I'm glad to help.

Just don't want anyone having to pay as much as I did on everything only for it not to work. Or fit.

The 750 TI is just what the Inspiron 660 needs for gaming at least. Anything higher and they might just want to consider getting a different computer instead. (I half wish I had just kept saving up for an alienware or something instead of dealing with this whole mess.)

I should point out (something that I forgot had happened) that I did have the gtx 960 recognized by the computer upon first installation, but it gave me a line about proper power supply not being connected to the card. (this was months ago). I'm not sure what happened, but while I attempted to deal with the power issue it stopped being recognized entirely. (regardless of the second psu being connected or not.) I was careful with each part and nothing was damaged within that time period.

Maybe it just didn't like having a separate psu.

 

[Kisianik]

I should point out (something that I forgot had happened) that I did have the gtx 960 recognized by the computer upon first installation, but it gave me a line about proper power supply not being connected to the card. (this was months ago). I'm not sure what happened, but while I attempted to deal with the power issue it stopped being recognized entirely. (regardless of the second psu being connected or not.) I was careful with each part and nothing was damaged within that time period.
.

This is strange, how it was recognized, you mean PC was running somehow?

 

[keyskull]

There was a signal to the monitor, but all that showed was a line about the power cables not being connected to the card properly. (and asking me to make sure everything was connected) I fixed this but then there was no signal to the monitor at all.

 

[Kisianik]

There was a signal to the monitor, but all that showed was a line about the power cables not being connected to the card properly. (and asking me to make sure everything was connected) I fixed this but then there was no signal to the monitor at all.

Agh

I thought you actually booted into complete Windows.....

I wish, I could find, walking on the street, Inspiron 660 basic setup, to experiment, otherwise it is extremely difficult.

I was thinking about learning BIOS hacks, just in case, but I have nothing to experiment with....

 

[keyskull]

difficult to find one to buy you mean? or find people that have them?

well basically the problem is the power supply and the motherboard. The motherboard is a 84J0R. You probably really just need one of those if you're just going to experiment.

You could always just buy the whole desktop tower for around 400 usd depending on where you get it from. I got mine straight form dell, but I don't know if they have them anymore.

I'm sure you already have a monitor.

According to speccy, this is the make-up of my system parts. Everything is original, and the only thing added was the 750 TI.

Operating System
Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 3330 @ 3.00GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 084J0R (CPU 1)
Graphics
831W (1366x768@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics (Dell)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti (EVGA)
Storage
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-75ZF5A0 (SATA)
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GHA2N
Audio
Conexant SmartAudio HD

it's actually a quad core cpu but you get the idea. If you need anything specific, just let me know.
I could help with testing, but I don't really make a lot and I'm not used to dealing with the actual PC parts, or installing a new OS. This was a whole new experience for me but I'm happy to learn. And help.

Also the default PSU that came with the tower model is a B300NM-00 300 W

 

[Kisianik]

Well, what I meant was - I already have 2 PCs and old laptop (typing on it now), if I pay for another one, my family will slaughter me, as I already have to defend my current setup.

if I literally walk the street and found PC there, I could justify doing something with it for my friends upgrades or similar.
My wife is furious already for my time spent here, at Toms, asking instead to do something productive, you know those females....

Sorry for misleading you.