A friend called me yesterday with a video card problem in his Dell. The integrated video had gone bad (according to the diagnostic lights in the back). He purchased a PCI video card to hopefully resolve this problem but cannot get any video displayed on the screen to disable the integrated card. When starting up the system, I see nothing on the screen, no POST beeps, and the diag. lights go straight to "video failure" code. All the fans and lights are working. When the monitor is plugged up, it goes to "amber". When it is unplugged, it turns on and shows the self-test screen. Obviously the warranty with Dell has expired. I have cleaned the dust inside up real good, made sure the monitor works, checked both sides of the motherboard for lightning damage, and verified the new video card works. The RAM seems to be good, too. Is there a jumper that could be changed temporarily or any other hardware bypass? I am about out of ideas (besides replacing the motherboard). If the motherboard is bad (Pentium 4 Prescott), how do I find the exact match to replace it(I have never replaced a motherboard)? Thanks in advance for the help.

Try going into the BIOS and changing the primary video display :) Keepsakes for Keeps http://www.pctec.ca/

pctec101 needs to get a new name. explain exactly how jonnydock is going to get into bios to make any changes when the system WILL NOT BOOT and gives NO DISPLAY. I have no experience with Dell systems but they present added difficulties when you are looking to repair/replace major components. Firstly see if you can get any information from the user manual on resetting CMOS on the motherboard. There may be a jumper or te,porarily removing the battery may achieve this. At this point I don't believe you lose anything by trying. After the cmos is reset you may be able to get it to boot and display using the plug-in graphics. You might not though and replacement of the motherboard then seems to be indicated. Here's where the Dell limitations come in. Dell has a habit of using proprietary hardware such as powersupply connections and an off-the-shelf replacement motherboard may not be compatible. Secondly, the existing operating system may not boot up on a foreign motherboard. If your freind has only dell restore disks and not a full instal disk it may not be possible to do the necessary repair instal. Dell restore disks would not contain drivers for the replacement motherboard so it is possible/likely that attempting it will fail. You may be limited to buying your replacement only from dell. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Another thing to keep in mind. If you replace the motherboard (note the warning in Richard's post), the Dell software will probably no longer work. It is most likely locked to the current motherboard. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

And the new MBoard from Dell may cost as much a new Dell system, sans monitor. One suggestion would be to verify the PCI video card is fully inserted. There may be something in the way of allowing this. If there are no beeps at all it might be a RAM problem. Not sure if it should be giving one short beep to indicate a good memory check. Might be worth checking out the memory if you have something compatable lying around.