Question on upgrading video card.

[yungman]

I just bought a video card to upgrade my older computer using XP:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131338&nm_mc=EMC-EXPRESS031613&cm_mmc=EMC-EXPRESS031613-_-EMC-031613-Index-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14131338-L03B

According to the instruction, I am supposed to uninstall the old graphics program before installing the hardware and new program. But when I went into the Add/Remove program in the Control Panel, I don't see any particular graphics program! I check my computer, it's an Intel E7300 cpu with Q33 chipset for whatever it means. Please advice what program is the graphics program.

Thank

Alan

 

[rcgldr]

Try doing this from device manager. Right click on "my computer", then go to properties, hardware, device manager, display adapters, ... . You can click on uninstall at this point, which should uninstall the driver, but that may not remove all of the software used by the video card.

If the old video driver was for an on board video chipset for the Intel E7300 motherboard, then you should have a cd-rom with the install / uninstall software for the video chipset.

 

[yungman]

Try doing this from device manager. Right click on "my computer", then go to properties, hardware, device manager, display adapters, ... . You can click on uninstall at this point, which should uninstall the driver, but that may not remove all of the software used by the video card.

If the old video driver was for an on board video chipset for the Intel E7300 motherboard, then you should have a cd-rom with the install / uninstall software for the video chipset.

Thanks for the reply.

Everything is original in the desktop. It's a HP but I don't even see the model number. I have all the original recovery CDs and package, I don't see any CD for graphics. I'll try uninstall like you suggest after I receive my new laptop so anything happen, I'll still have a computer.

One thing, I looked at the back, the monitor connector is horizontal to the mother board, not on any of the card slot. So I take that the video chipset is on the mother board that I cannot remove. Would that present a problem if I plug in the new video board?

 

[Bill Simpson]

Google
bios disable onboard video
and read some of those results. Don't immediately start following the directions, because some of those might be wrong, some might not apply to XP, etc., but reading half a dozen of those and trying to soak up the ideas might give you some clues that you can use.

 

[yungman]

Google
bios disable onboard video
and read some of those results. Don't immediately start following the directions, because some of those might be wrong, some might not apply to XP, etc., but reading half a dozen of those and trying to soak up the ideas might give you some clues that you can use.

Thanks

I found this video that really describes how to do it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-Onboard/Integrated-Video-On-Your-Computer

I followed to the point of actually disable the driver and install the new driver before I stop, it is exactly how it described. Even the chip set in the demo is Q33 chipset. I did not complete it as I want to back up the computer just in case first. I'll try it in the next day or two. I like this better as it only disable the driver, not uninstalling it. This way, if all else fail, I can just go back to the original hardware without having to recover the computer in order to reinstall the original driver.

Thanks

 

[Bill Simpson]

I did not complete it as I want to back up the computer just in case first.

Backups are always a very very good idea.

There is one other alternative you might consider. Since you have all your OS disks and since hard drives are sometimes available cheaply, you might gently remove the old drive, insert the new drive and do a fresh install of the OS with the new video card at the same time. Getting the freshest version of the OS available is often a good idea. And have a spare machine with a working net connection to grab any drivers you need to get it working or to Google for answers when something isn't working.

Someone was repeatedly asking me to find what was wrong with their old XP machine. They had a huge collection of files that they just could not lose. The computer was slow and failing with blue screens on a random basis. I swapped in the new drive, installed a fresh SP3 XP, installed a couple of drivers and borrowed a cheap old USB hard drive to copy all their critical files across.

The thing feels like it runs twice as fast. There are no more blue screens. And if something does fail I can slip the old drive back in and have them back exactly where they were before they can blame me for losing everything they had.

Oh, and make a careful set of notes on what the settings WERE and what you changed them TO so you can hopefully back yourself out of any disasters.

I hope it works

 

[yungman]

Hi Bill

Thanks for your suggestion. Actually this is a older computer that I am updating to have a better video card for my grandson (13) to play video game only. I think he want to play the game "Mind Craft" or something and this old computer cannot support it without the new card. I just bought a 3rd gen I5 laptop for my wife as the main computer and all the files has to be downloaded and transfer over one way or the other.

This old computer is still stable, just every time when my grandson comes over and play the computer, he install all sort of addons that slow down the computer and I have to keep going back to clean up the computer. I am just tire of it and buy the new laptop so I let him destroy the old one! I am just tire of my wife yelling at me that the computer doesn't work every time after my grandson play with it.

Kids these days, they know a little and they think they know a lot. Every time he touches the computer, it's all bad news. I am just going to let him destroy this one now!

 

[rcgldr]

Everything is original in the desktop. It's a HP

Since you have all your OS disks and since hard drives are sometimes available cheaply, you might gently remove the old drive, insert the new drive and do a fresh install of the OS with the new video card at the same time.

Depends on how old that HP system is. He may not have the XP install CD. HP (and other system manufacturers) use a hidden partition on the hard drive to do a "factory restore" in order to install a fresh copy of the operating system. It's possible that a hard drive clone utility will do the trick if hard drive of the same size or larger is purchased. Do a web search for "ultimate boot cd" to find a freeware set of hard drive and other useful utilities that include a clone feature.

 

[yungman]

Thanks guys for helping. I finally put the card in. I went into the Device Manager and disable the driver instead of uninstalling it. The difference is in the video, they installed the new card before doing anything, that did not work. I had to disable the old driver, then when asked to restart, I turn it off to install the card. Then power up and install the new driver.

My grandson is playing Minecraft on that computer as I am type this now.