MR

If i remove a video card from my desktop and put the same back in(the only difference will be the original card came with 512mb this new one has a gig) but everything else is the same , should i be able to just pull one out pop the other in and thats it the display should go back on . I should'nt have to download drivers should i? they should already be there from the original card.I'm taking it as this should be like a light bulb replacement in this case because i bought the same card. Rick or any tech savy people can you let me know if i'm correct.........thanks

yulog wrote:If i remove a video card from my desktop and put the same back in(the only difference will be the original card came with 512mb this new one has a gig) but everything else is the same , should i be able to just pull one out pop the other in and thats it the display should go back on . I should'nt have to download drivers should i? they should already be there from the original card.I'm taking it as this should be like a light bulb replacement in this case because i bought the same card. Rick or any tech savy people can you let me know if i'm correct.........thanks

It will probably be fine with the drivers you have. I know Nvidia uses a driver package that covers a bunch of cards. If it doesn't work, for whatever reason, just go to the video card's manufacturer's website and get the drivers there. You will still have video, but at a much reduced resolution.

Make sure the power requirements are the same.. or you may have to replace the PSU (power supply) if you upgrade the video card....

dont you have to put it in safe mode or something like that or will the screen just work in normal mode and then download the drivers?

Windows Update will probably update the card's drivers after a few days on its own. You'll still have video when you initially put the new card in but it's best to go to AMD or Nvidia's site and let it check you drivers if you don't want to wait for Windows Update to do it. If you run your monitor like I do, at 1920X1080, you definitely want the latest drivers installed.

As a former geek, never reuse a driver. Do a clean install of your video card driver. If you're into overclocking, especially, do a clean install.

so are you all in agreement that i dont have to go to "safe mode" that after replacing the card and turning the computer on i can just go to the nvidea site and download the drivers?....thanks for all the imput.

yulog wrote:so are you all in agreement that i dont have to go to "safe mode" that after replacing the card and turning the computer on i can just go to the nvidea site and download the drivers?....thanks for all the imput.

No, you shouldn't have to go into safe mode. However you might have to start in VGA compat mode if you didn't go into your display settings and change them to Standard Display Adapter prior to shutting down and replacing the card. If this is the case and your system isn't detecting the change for whatever reason then it's still trying to load the drivers and settings for the card you pulled. As Slucero mentioneda PSU situation may be occurring here but that would only happen if you were upgrading from the card you had. If you downgraded and the only difference is the amount of RAM onboard, and the card you pulled didn't require its own power, then that's not the problem.
You didn't say what OS you are using and also at what point you are losing display. Do you have a display when you power up. How far into the boot process does it get before you lose display? If you aren't getting any display whatsoever, STOP. Pull the card and put the other one back in. Verify all your connections then start the computer and let it boot. If everything's back the way it was, go back to the beginning of my post and follow the part about setting your adapter settings to Standard Display Adapter. Let the system make the changes and when it asks you to restart, go ahead and shut it down. Replace the card, check to make sure it's fully inserted into its slot and reboot. If you still have no display, the last thing to do to verify the card is bad is to reset the BIOS and see if that restores your display with that card (It probably won't.) If you have no display, the card is bad.

JRNYMAN.. he's going from a 512mb to a card with 1GB mem... I'm positive that's gonna require more voltage..


Yulog can you post:

the make and model numbers of both the cards (Nvidia, ATI, etc)

The OS you are using (Win7, Vista, etc)

dell 531 with win7 the card thats in the computer now thats dead is a galaxy geforce gt240 512mb

the new card is the exact same card with 1gb.

slucero wrote:JRNYMAN.. he's going from a 512mb to a card with 1GB mem... I'm positive that's gonna require more voltage..


Yulog can you post:

the make and model numbers of both the cards (Nvidia, ATI, etc)

The OS you are using (Win7, Vista, etc)

My bad... Somehow I had the cards backward thinking he was replacing the 1 GB card. As for power requirements... Nope not on this one. Neither of the 240 corm factors require additional power: the GDDR 3 nor the GDDR 5.
Yulog, do you get anything on screen when you turn the computer on? If not, is your PC spkr enabled and are you getting any beep codes? Dell's beep code for anything video related is one long followed by 2 short beeps.
If you're getting absolutely nothing and your motherboard has on-board video, the next step I would take would be to connect your monitor to the onboard grapbics port, boot into the bios, change the setting from PCI Slot to Onboard, save the changes and reboot. Once rebooted, go into display settings and make sure the display adapter is set to basically anything other than nVidia then uninstall the drivers/programs which were installed when you installed the nVidia card. It will tell you to reboot. Confirm and shut down.
Install the new card, connect your monitor (only your primary at this point if using 2) check all your connections then power up. If you've still got nothing, it's time to request an RMA from nVidia or an exchange from the retailer.

yulog wrote:dell 531 with win7 the card thats in the computer now thats dead is a galaxy geforce gt240 512mb

the new card is the exact same card with 1gb.

I just re-read your original post as well as this one and jsut to make sure I understand you correctly, the card that's being replaced, the 512 MB card, is dead correct? And you are replacing it with the 1 GB card but after removing the 512 card and installing the 1 GB card you still have no display. Is this correct? If so, the problem is leaning more toward a motherboard issue than a display issue.

JRNYMAN wrote:

yulog wrote:dell 531 with win7 the card thats in the computer now thats dead is a galaxy geforce gt240 512mb

the new card is the exact same card with 1gb.

I just re-read your original post as well as this one and jsut to make sure I understand you correctly, the card that's being replaced, the 512 MB card, is dead correct? And you are replacing it with the 1 GB card but after removing the 512 card and installing the 1 GB card you still have no display. Is this correct? If so, the problem is leaning more toward a motherboard issue than a display issue.

yup.. I concur..

Actually i have not replaced the 512 card yet ,i was tryng to see if i would be able to switch out these 2 cards without having to do anything except physically remove and replace the card since they are essentially the exact same card sans the extra memory

New card comes in the mail this week, its a 2yr+ old card i don't see them being sold anywhere other than online...found a new one for 44 bucks, really cheap for a middle of the road card. it seems any card i get lasts about 2.5 yrs. it was a good price and i thought it might be easier to replace the same card.

You have to uninstall the video card drivers before you put a new one in or else you could have corruption errors. Some things may run slower or crash if you don't remove the drivers.

Just because it's the same brand and everything except the memory, doesn't mean a 512mb and 1gb will be seen the same way, they are different models and the PC will see it that way.

So, i got this card today and just as i thought/hoped, all i had to do was switch the cards out physically, turn on the computer....windows seven started downloading drivers automatically for several things, when they completed i took the disc that came with the new card and put it into the computer to download the display drivers and got a message stating restart your computer before trying this , which i did and when i restarted the computer everything was back to normal. i didn't have to do anything else , this was just a physical swap and thats all, that couldn't have gone any smoother.

yulog wrote:So, i got this card today and just as i thought/hoped, all i had to do was switch the cards out physically, turn on the computer....windows seven started downloading drivers automatically for several things, when they completed i took the disc that came with the new card and put it into the computer to download the display drivers and got a message stating restart your computer before trying this , which i did and when i restarted the computer everything was back to normal. i didn't have to do anything else , this was just a physical swap and thats all, that couldn't have gone any smoother.

Good to hear, Yulog. Windows 7 rocks.

Rick wrote:

yulog wrote:So, i got this card today and just as i thought/hoped, all i had to do was switch the cards out physically, turn on the computer....windows seven started downloading drivers automatically for several things, when they completed i took the disc that came with the new card and put it into the computer to download the display drivers and got a message stating restart your computer before trying this , which i did and when i restarted the computer everything was back to normal. i didn't have to do anything else , this was just a physical swap and thats all, that couldn't have gone any smoother.

Good to hear, Yulog. Windows 7 rocks.

I agree Rick, its a fantastic OS , after having to use my laptop with Xp the past couple of days it was a pain in the ass compared to 7.

Good to hear it went well, I think you were lucky, maybe the drivers matched.

Windows 7 is good that it can find drivers.