Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS not recognized

SimGuy · 03-17-2011, 08:29 AM

Hi Everyone,
I am trying to build a linux box from an old Dell Optiplex GX240 that I got for free. I have gone out and bought a Sparkle Nvidia GsForce 8400 GS PCI video card for it but am having trouble getting it installed properly. It seems that the card is not recognized by the computer. The command lspci shows no signs of the new video card.
I have installed the lastest Nvidia driver (huge PITA) but as expected this did not change the fact that the computer cannot see the new card. The card is rated for 350W and I have a 500W power supply so I should be good there. I have also changed the BIOS settings to auto detect the video card instead of just the stock one.
Is my card simply incompatible with my motherboard or are there ways to get this card to work?

Any guidance on this would be a great help.

Thanks in advance!

knudfl · 03-17-2011, 10:55 AM

An added pci graphics card can only be used,
when the internal graphics is disabled in the BIOS.

And that's usually not possible in an old Dell, sorry.

If you have an AGP slot : please use that for an agp card.

SimGuy · 03-17-2011, 06:12 PM

Ah OK, I did not know that. So I need to find an AGP card to upgrade to. Is there a way to upgrade the BIOS to accept a non AGP card? Or am I completely confined to using AGP?

Thanks

knudfl · 03-17-2011, 07:01 PM

Quote:

.. am I completely confined to using AGP ?

Yes.

SimGuy · 03-17-2011, 09:24 PM

What is a good nvidia agp card that work well in Linux?

John VV · 03-18-2011, 12:31 AM

what card ???
i thought that new cards could not even plug into an old mobo

agp
gforce4 using the about to hit End Of life 96 driver

knudfl · 03-18-2011, 03:54 AM

GX240 http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/ug/specs.htm

The power supply is maximum a 250 W.
An "Nvidia FX5200 (agp)" will probably work OK.

Better, newer, faster : Another power supply is required too.

( Also : Late cards are all PCI Express, no AGP, I think.)

Larry Webb · 03-18-2011, 04:53 AM

Also getting the drivers to work is a pain especially if the m/b video is nvidia also.

SimGuy · 03-18-2011, 12:44 PM

I have upgraded to a 500W power supply now. The original video card is an ATI I believe. The "newest" card I have found that supports AGP is the NVidia GeForce 6200. I am building this box for a mythTV backend. From what I understand, I should be good with a moderate videocard and leave the heavy graphics load to the seperate mythTV frontend box.