How to force onboard graphics with a Dell Inspiron 560 desktop PC?

[Gabe Fels]

About a year and a half ago, I bought a Radeon HD 7750 GPU for use in my parents' Dell Inspiron 560. Since then, I have built my own PC.

Today, I tried to remove the 7750 from the Inspiron and switch back to the onboard graphics. When I boot the PC without the 7750 in it, and with the monitor plugged into the motherboard VGA port, the onboard graphics do not work. What's weird is that the onboard graphics will display the "Starting windows" screen just fine, but then the display goes black and there is nothing.

The PC works just fine with the 7750 plugged in. I opened Device Manager and uninstalled the 7750 drivers. I also looked for the disabled onboard graphics so that I could re-enable them, but the chipset did not show up in device manager at all.

There is also no option in the BIOS to force the onboard graphics (it is a really crappy BIOS because this PC is from like 2009).

What is going on with the integrated graphics?

 

[ThatVietGuy]

You can try pulling the battery on the motherboard to reset the BIOS and seeing if the integrated graphics works then.

 

[Gabe Fels]

You can try pulling the battery on the motherboard to reset the BIOS and seeing if the integrated graphics works then.

Would this be any different than the "reset BIOS settings" option that is already in the BIOS? Because I tried that option.

 

[ThatVietGuy]

They're kind of the same, but pulling the battery to reset the CMOS is a little more pervasive than using the "Reset BIOS" option.

http://forum.pcstats.com/showthread.php?34921-CMOS-vs-BIOS

Changes in hardware sometimes need a CMOS reset (pulling the battery).

 

[ThatVietGuy]

To quote from another forum - http://www.overclock.net/t/727492/dif-between-clearing-cmos-and-bios-defaults#post_9274707

CMOS holds details of attached hardware while BIOS stores various settings and values that apply to that hardware as well as motherboard settings. If the hardware has changed for any reason, CMOS details will not match the current setup and the BIOS values will no longer apply and will either fail or become unstable. I'd recommend a CMOS reset when installing or changing any hardware that has a BIOS value which covers just about everything short of inserting a neon light.

Clear CMOS:
1.) immediately following a new build, before power is applied
2.) immediately following any hardware change/upgrade
3.) after flashing BIOS