Enabling Onboard Graphics card while having a 2nd card slotted but not installed

[Sheikh_Islam]

HI everyone,

We had some Hp 8000 Elite Small form factor Business pcs deliverd to us by hp. It had W7 on and Nvedia NVS 300 graphics card installed besides onboard one. We wanted these pcs with an extra card for dual screens. We have 50 of them.

We dont want all pcs to have dual screens but just a few. Once trying to image this pcs though our imaging server with a 8000 elite winxp image, we found that only the 2nd graphics card works. Onboard one doesnt. Once the extra card has been taken off , on board one works ok. I couldnt find anything in in bios ( like our old hp pcs ) to enable/disable the on board graphics card.

Does any one know any bios settings in these models that will enable the on board card while having the extra one plugged but not installed ?  or any other suggestions ?

Regards,

Sheikh

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Sheikh:

What you want to do, can't be done on these PC's. If there is a video card in the PCIe slot, the onboard video is automatically disabled, and that is that.

Didn't the nVidia video card come with a dual head (DMS59) connector, or at least two video out ports of some kind (VGA and, DVI)?  You can hook two monitors up to that with different cables, and get dual monitor support.

Paul

[Sheikh_Islam]

Hi Paul,

we would like users to use the built in vga out for most users with single monitor....only few chosen one will  use the dual out dvi card with 2 screens....i've had a look and it seems only way we can do this is by taking the external graphics card out and using the built in one.

Thanks for reply anyways..

[SteveTetch]

I'm aware that this is an old thread and my response comes too late to be of practical use to ther original poster, but I beg to differ.

We had a similar problem in that we wanted to drive 3 screens from one of these 8000 Elites, but there's only one PCIE16 slot aboard.  Our initial graphics card was an nVidia NVS300 (PCIE 16) which, with a dual head connector, will drive 2 screens by itself.  With that installed, however, there's no option within the BIOS for enabling the integrated video.

Replace that with a PCIE 1 version of the same card, however, and the story changes, (this is the card with the very short connector that won't fit in to the standard PCIE 16 slot but will fit into one of the two smaller PCIE 1 slots).  With this installed, an Integrated Video option appears in the On-Board Devices section of the Advanced tab of the BIOS menu, which allows the onboard VGA and displayport sockets to be enabled or disabled.  Enabling it allows our three screens.  (I guess it should support 4 - 2 on the card and 2 onboard - but we haven't tried this option).

I'm guessing this 'feature' only applies to the 8000 model and, as I mentioned, my response is very late, but hopefully it might help someone.  These models still have some life in them yet!

Regards,

Steve

[ArnoBosch]

We have a similar problem and I could reproduce Steve's results.

Thank's a lot for your post! It saved me quite some work.

Regards,

Arno

[Hoodbeats]

Thank you, i replaced the same card from the 16th slot to the 4x slot and it worked!! I spend hours searching for the right awnser! Thank you again

[PMC-Mike]

I only signed in to say thanks to SteveTetch. You saved me hours of work, mate.  Thank you!

[HPAlf]

Hi!

Any ideas does this olution work for dc7900? I want to add third display, on-board is DisplayPort and VGA.

More thanks, Alar.

[4130rider]

not being able to use the onboard vga with a card is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS! firstly its a waste of a rescource, its not hp its intel! its stupid im sure they've done it to be spitful or a sales ploy and for graphics people its just not right...AMD,MSI ALL THE WAY,GET A GRIP INTEL PEOPLE.

[Alex001p]

Hi... I found this to work....

Put both monitors one on the onboard card one on the PCIEx turn on pc, it will take more than usual to start, then escape, enter bios and under Advanced > Device - enable onboard VGA

Then the most important :)) I tried several times and did not work until I changed to full boot, not fast startup, not quick but full boot.

After that I saved and it enters Windows and detects the onboard card and second display.

Hope to help you to guys...