Unsuccessful Instalation, Possible Backwards Compatability Issue

[Guest]

I have a Gateway 5200s with almost entirely stock parts, except for the fact that I added two sticks of 1GB of RAM. I recently purchased an AMD Radeon HD 5450 to replace the stock graphics card in my system. According to the website I purchased it from, AMD's official website, and several others, this card has a PCI-E 2.1 interface. However, my computer has a PCI-E x16 slot. Though, according to multiple websites, PCI-E 2.1 cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E x16 cards. Upon booting my computer up with the card installed, it does nothing more than continuously run the fans inside, which is what it generally does if I've installed something incorrectly. I don't understand where I've gone wrong though. The card fits perfictly into my slot, appears to have no damage, appears to have not damaged the motherboard, and had no other problems that I know of during instalation. The only possible explanation is that I didn't yet install the drivers, but I thought you were supposed to do that after you install the card. Is that the case? Can I actually install them prior to installing the part?

 

[popatim]

You should verify with the manufacturer of your card that it is indeed backwards compatible. I've run into the same situation - not all of them are.

 

[Guest]

You should verify with the manufacturer of your card that it is indeed backwards compatible. I've run into the same situation - not all of them are.

According to the manufacturer's site, the card is compatible with any PCI-E slot with "one 16x lane graphics slot available." That is the case with my motherboard. Further research indicates that either the old drivers need to be uninstalled, or that my motherboard needs a BIOS update for that graphics card to be compatible. I will try a BIOS update and report whether or not that fixed the issue. I'm very skeptical to uninstall the old drivers, because wouldn't I need those if it still didn't work and I had to revert back to the old graphics card? I've not yet found enough evidence that it will still work for me to trust in doing so.