computer/vidoe card help!!!

i just bought a new video card for my dell xps m170 and i installed it and nothing :'( the only thing it does is the power button comes on for 3-4 seconds and goes back of,f does any one no whats wrong!!! could it be the new video card ?

if the pc just turn's off it could be alot of thing's . i would open it back up and go over everything . look for anything loose mabe you bump'd something

You might of touched a piece of the laptop and Shocked it was Static.
Try removing the Hard drive, leave it out and the battery out, and then hold the on button for 10 seconds. put it all back and see if it works. Now if that don't work, Take the memory sticks out, make sure to hold it by the edges, and do the same procedure of holding the button for 10 seconds.
If not take the video card out.
Also just wondering, Why did you need a better video card ?

the old one was shot lol no good so i bought a new one

What graphic card is it?

you can replace the gfx card in your laptop? The new one might not be compatible, I know my laptop won't accept most CPUs although they're the same socket

my laptop is a dell xps m170 and the old card went bad but works in safe mode..
i bought this new card >>>>> 256MB Geforce 6800 Ultra <<<<<< and when i installed it nothing happend only the green power light came on for about 2-5 seconds and powers down.
i took the card back out and put back in my old one and it powers up but its the broke card, so im thinking that the card does not work in my dell xps m170 but it says it will work in my laptop :-? :-?

Try using drivercleaner to remove ALL drivers of the previous graphic card. Even if both of them are nvidia branded.

Then clear the CMOS and boot the pc with the new card, install drivers.

will try thanks for the help guys

6800 or 8600, because 6800 is pretty old in my book

Niko said:

Try using drivercleaner to remove ALL drivers of the previous graphic card. Even if both of them are nvidia branded.

Then clear the CMOS and boot the pc with the new card, install drivers.

Click to expand...

Drivers are a part of windows. If this were a driver problem, it would at least boot up till the point it gets to windows, then crash. There is nothing stored in CMOS that would prevent the system from booting with a different video card... (Besides, it's usually very hard or impossible to clear the CMOS on a laptop anyway.) The closest thing would be an option in the bios to set which monitor (internal lcd vs external monitor) gets used by default, and even then, it would boot up successfully, just you couldn't see anything on the screen.

This sounds like the new card is either broken in one way or another, or is incompatible with this specific revision of laptop.

The only thing I can think of is to try flashing the bios to a newer version, but even then, I'm pretty sure it won't help anything.

I'd try seeing if you can return the card, it sounds like it may be dead or at the very least, incompatible.

Oh, and also, it works in safe mode? What makes you think the graphics card is bad then? Does the screen go garbled and glitchy?

If it works in safe mode it sounds more like a driver issue or maybe even a wrong resolution setting or something than dead hardware..

my old card works in safe mode, if i turn on my laptop normally it will boot up but it will be dark to where u cant  see any thing on the screen, if i boot it up in safe mode with my old card it will boot up to where i can see the settings and things, but with the new card it does nothing it will not boot up... it just comes on for 3 sec and flicks off

What about heat? Could this be a problem?

i dont think that should stop it from at least powering it on for few min

jake21 said:

my old card works in safe mode, if i turn on my laptop normally it will boot up but it will be dark to where u cant  see any thing on the screen, if i boot it up in safe mode with my old card it will boot up to where i can see the settings and things, but with the new card it does nothing it will not boot up... it just comes on for 3 sec and flicks off

Click to expand...

I really do think there is nothing wrong with your card... It's just set to use some crazy resolution it doesn't support, and thus your screen is black. If your card were actually broken there'd be a slim chance of being able to boot into safe mode... Most times when video cards break they either just stop showing any image whatsoever, under any circumstances, OR they go glitchy and you see colorful lines everywhere and it crashes... If you see a perfect picture in safe mode, chances are your card is fine.

Try this: Boot into safe mode, go to start, run, type regedit, hit enter, go to HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, go to System, go to CurrentControlSet, go to Control, go to Video, Go to the big long string of letters and numbers, go to 0000, change DefaultSettings.XResolution, click decimal, type 800, now change DefaultSettings.YResolution, click decimal, type 600, now change DefaultSettings.VRefresh, click decimal, type 60.
If there's more than one long string of letters and numbers, do it for both.. same as if there's more than just the 0000, do it for 0001 etc.

Reboot your computer and you should be able to see again.