Widescreen Monitor/Graphics Card problem

I posted a problem I had with widescreen monitor resolution here a couple of
weeks ago (need 16:10 resolution [1440x900], but only had standard Windows
options), so acting on various sources of recommendations bought a Graphics
Card (Gigabyte GV-R9550). There was no previous card, so I inserted it into
the vacant slot. Hooked the monitor up and booted up, thinking XP would
recognise new hardware, but did not. No signal to the monitor. I then
plugged it into the old monitor port, but when I inserted the CD, it said
"Sorry we don't support this VGA card". I could not even install the
driver.
Any advice appreciated!!
Thanks.

Big Pete committed to the eternal aether...:

> I posted a problem I had with widescreen monitor resolution here a couple of
> weeks ago (need 16:10 resolution [1440x900], but only had standard Windows
> options), so acting on various sources of recommendations bought a Graphics
> Card (Gigabyte GV-R9550). There was no previous card, so I inserted it into
> the vacant slot. Hooked the monitor up and booted up, thinking XP would
> recognise new hardware, but did not. No signal to the monitor. I then
> plugged it into the old monitor port, but when I inserted the CD, it said
> "Sorry we don't support this VGA card". I could not even install the
> driver.
> Any advice appreciated!!
> Thanks.

Normally a vga card would work in a limited capacity before the drivers are
installed. Have you checked the bios for a setting which may enable the agp
device or set it as the primary graphics hardware?

Hate to appear like a total nuffer, but how do you check the BIOS, or set it
to primary?
Thanks.


"Damien McBain" <askme@ifyawantit.invalid> wrote in message
news:aaf46s7hlshy$.1ns9cm0s54wfs$.dlg@40tude.net.. .
>
> Normally a vga card would work in a limited capacity before the drivers
> are
> installed. Have you checked the bios for a setting which may enable the
> agp
> device or set it as the primary graphics hardware?

Big Pete committed to the eternal aether...:

> Hate to appear like a total nuffer, but how do you check the BIOS, or set it
> to primary?
> Thanks.
>
>
> "Damien McBain" <askme@ifyawantit.invalid> wrote in message
> news:aaf46s7hlshy$.1ns9cm0s54wfs$.dlg@40tude.net.. .
>>
>> Normally a vga card would work in a limited capacity before the drivers
>> are
>> installed. Have you checked the bios for a setting which may enable the
>> agp
>> device or set it as the primary graphics hardware?

Restart your computer. When it first starts up you'll (very briefly) see
"hit del to enter setup" or something like that - it may not be del, it
could be anything but often del, F2 or F10. This all happens way before
windows starts. If you see it but miss it, do ctrl+alt+del to restart
again.
Once you enter setup, poke around the menus and look for something like
what I've described. If you don't know what something is, post back here,
don't change it, you can cause your computer to not work by messing with
some of the stuff in here.

Big Pete wrote:
> Hate to appear like a total nuffer, but how do you check the BIOS, or
> set it to primary?
> Thanks.

You may also need to instal an appropriate driver for your motherboards agp
slot.
Perhaps you could post some info about your motherboard.

>
> "Damien McBain" <askme@ifyawantit.invalid> wrote in message
> news:aaf46s7hlshy$.1ns9cm0s54wfs$.dlg@40tude.net.. .
>>
>> Normally a vga card would work in a limited capacity before the
>> drivers are
>> installed. Have you checked the bios for a setting which may enable
>> the agp
>> device or set it as the primary graphics hardware?