New Graphics Card Not Working- Gateway LX6810-01

[DukeofNY007]

The back story:
I own the Gateway LX6810-01. One day the computer would not turn on. My first thought was the power supply. I did some research online & someone said it could be the video card (Nvidia GeForce 120 1GB DDR2. I pulled it out & powered on th PC and it started up. Beeps & all, but obviously no picture. I bought a replacement card- EVGA Nvidia GeForce GT 730 2GB DDR3. First thing I noticed was that there was no connection port for the wire coming from the motherboard labeled "GP". Guessing that's Ground Power. After some more research I find out that is for the sound for the HDMI input. I'm not using an HDMI connection, so I am not too worried about that. After I installed the new video card, the system powers up & I hear all the correct beeps, but I get no picture on the monitor. The fan on the video card runs so I know the card is installed correctly. i have no access to the BIOS as I have no picture on my monitor with either the new or old video card installed, so if the problem lies there, I do not know how I am going to fix it.

Here are some of my ideas on why i get no picture after the install:
1) DDR3 is not compatible with a system that was using DDR2 video card
2) Bios is not updated
3) drivers not installed (I was previously using a Nvidia video card so I would think this should not be a problem)


Can someone point me in the right direction? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

It is possible that you have a bad PSU and/or a bad motherboard. Maybe you had some power outages in your area lately generated by bad weather. Are you using an UPS?

Let's sum it up though:

1) No way, it has no effect except much higher performance /lower power consumption;
2) There is a possibility; try a BIOS reset first and see if it boots up. Just be sure you unplug the PSU from the mains before reset;
3) There is no driver effect, as they are loaded after the boot sequence, while OS is taking over.

If onboard graphics is also not functioning, it could be the PSU, CPU, RAM, motherboard.

First off, you should try a new PSU (or a tested working one).
If still no boot, do the following:
Unplug the PSU from mains and disconnect from PSU all devices except the motherboard and CPU. Take out the RAM also. --Reconnect to mains, turn it on, you should receive a continuous beeping sound or a tone. Turn it off, reseat the RAM, see if it boots up. If not, take out the CPU and reseat it; you should also change the thermal paste between CPU and cooler (be very careful on that, as the LGA775 is a very sensitive platform). If still no go, you must test the CPU and the RAM on another similar system. If they are good, your motherboard is done.

It could be also an incompatibility between graphics card (PCIeX 3.0) and motherboard (PCIeX 2.0), but that doesn't explain why it refuses to work with the onboard graphics.