Hopefully Devilsreject or someone else on here sees this and can provide some info...

I'm attempting to do a few upgrades on a "semi POS desktop". It's a HP pavilion a305W 2.7Ghz Intel, 1GB RAM. I just added RAM to make the 1GB a few days ago. Just added a 5.1 sound card, rear cooling fan,bigger pwr supplyand attempting to install a newer video card (EVGA 128MB). With this being a relatively piece of crap computer for the most part, 128MB is as high as I can go with the graphics due to the PCI slot capabilities.

Anyway...upgrades went fine with the exception of the video card. computer boots up and recognizes the new card, but when I attempt to install the driver (from the cd provided), i get an error message (unable to install drivers) something like that. I've reseated the carda few times and even moved it to another available PCI slot with no change. I also went into setup to verify that I don't have to disable the current "onboard" video card. Not the case, it automatically changes the video card setting from "onboard" to "PCI" when the new card in installed. I am currently waiting on a call from EVGA tech support but thought I would throw this out on here as well. Any help is appreciated!

 

My first thought would be, hop online and try to download the latest driver for the card instead of using the CD. I've often found the drivers to both be outdated and also problematic off the CD.

If that doesnt work, then I'd have to lean towards it being the card itself. Since Windows recognizes it and the PC boots up....it sounds like it may just be a driver issue. The card could still be bad, but I would definitely look for and try an updated driver.

 

Hey DR, I downloaded the latest driver for the video card from evga.com.. same result: "Windows cannot load installer for display" The driver that I downloaded was a newer version than the cd also. It's beginning to look like a system problem on my end. I even downloaded a "driver cleaner", didn't work either. Just about ready to take the card back to Microcenter and get my money back.. I'll hang on to it for another day or so in case anyone has another possible solution though.

By the way DR, EVGA's tech support told me to do the exact same thing you did, practically word for word. Thanks for the advice, it was worth a shot. Unless I decide to do a system wipeout, I may just be stuck with the onboard video card that came with the PC.. [:@]

 

That's generally the first rule of thumb....try a better driver or there's a hardware issue.....

My thoughts would be to take your card back and get your money back......and maybe even try a different card.... I know a lot of people like EVGA...but I havent had much luck with them... I'm more of a BFGTech guy...

Is it strictly PCI on the motherboard or can you go PCI express??? I've got a few spare PCI express cards you can pretty much have...

 

Strictly PCI on this board. Good news is that I returned the EVGA 128MB card and got my money back. I broke down and ran a system recovery on the pc. Went back to Microcenter today and they actually had EVGA 256MB PCI cards in stock. That card loaded without a problem. Looking good so far. Thanks for the help!

 

Great news!!!! I'm more then happy to help man....anytime you got questions, feel free to bug me...

It almost sounds like you just had a bad card....or the system didnt like that card....