problem installing gfx card

Scruff

trying to install an old gf4 agp card into a dell gx 270 that currently uses onboard graphics. Checked the bios and you cant explicitly turn off the onboard but its supposed to auto detect if its used or not.
Put gfx card in agp slot, connected it to lcd monitor via vga port and turned on pc.
Got a white screen with black lines down it that flashed for a bit and then went to a white screen and stopped, didnt boot at all. Havent installed drivers yet, should i do that 1st. any other ideas as to what might be wrong?

Kimbot

YOu can tell the Bios to run off your AGP slot!!

Scruff

not on a dell bios. you can only specify auto\onboard

Kimbot

Yup, set to Auto and drop the MB down to the lowest!!

Scruff

tried that. set it to auto and then set the buffer to 1MB.
Was looking at the dell site and it says

Check the card setting — Enter system setup and ensure that Primary Video Controller under the Integrated Devices option is set correctly. For an AGP card, set Primary Video Controller to AGP. For a PCI card, set Primary Video Controller to Auto. Exit system setup and reboot the computer.

doesnt give me the option to set it to AGP in the bios at all

Kimbot

Hmmm.... i'd say ring dell then!!

Scruff

think that bit in the documentation is wrong as ireading the documentation on the bios set up it says

Primary Video Controller — The settings are Auto (default) and Onboard.

• Auto (default) — If only an AGP card is installed, the computer uses the AGP card; if only a PCI card is installed, the computer uses the PCI card; if both AGP and PCI cards are installed, the computer uses both cards unless the computer is using Windows NT, in which case the computer uses the AGP card.
• Onboard — The computer uses the AGP card.

Scruff

could the graphics card be knackered?

Kimbot

Try it in another PC and see if it works!!