Multiple but different video cards for multiple monitors?

[gcelniker]

I have an older Dell machine running Windows XP with a NVidia GeForce 5200 graphics card that drives two older Dell 1907 FP screens. I want to run three of the same montiors and I bought a third Dell FP screen and a 2nd graphics card, an NVidia GeForce 6200. Because my mother board only has open PCI slots, the newer graphics card is PCI.

My problem: my machine won't boot up when it has both garphics cards installed at the same time. I tried this with the current two monitors plugged into the original card with no monitors attached to the new card. I'll be trying the same boot up with both cards at the same time and montiors connected to every card. But I'm hoping to get some better advice than that.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Azn Cracker]

Wow those are really old card. Whats your power supply? Adding a second card consumes a lot more power. Also you system is old so the power supply degraded over time and cannot support its initial capacity. So im thinking you are over loading the power supply. Even if you don't plug monitors into the card, it still sucks power. Another theory is that your motherboard cannot support 2 cards at once.