Apparently this model has a bios option to choose your video interface (automatic replacement of onboard video by an added video card is default behaviour). The problem is that I can't change any bios settings without some kind of video feedback! I shall have to find someone with the right kind of monitor so that I can get out of this bind.

Can you not just pull the added card out and let the default video take over?

In theory yes. But I'm very clumsy with my hands and the last time I tried to do something inside a computer (it was replacing the bios battery actually), I broke the motherboard. So now I'm terrified of trying anything like that. It's funny how hardware problems can reduce me to a gibbering idiot when I'm so confident about fixing software!

I'm just in the process of emailing an old friend from the local computer club. I hope he can break me out of this bind, either by helping me to remove the card or by lending me a modern monitor for a few minutes so that I can change the bios settings.

Quite apart from anything else, I need to find out what the processor is and how much memory it has. If the specs turn out to be comparable with my present machine, I might actually switch them and give my old one to my friend. That would be a third possible solution. I already have a flat-screen monitor with a vga cable socket (also a foundling!), so I'd only need to buy myself a new cable with a vga connector at one end and a DVI one at the other.

An important point is that my friend has very limited financial resources compared with me, and she'd feel humiliated if I bought stuff and gave it to her. But if I give her something that she knows came free, she can gradually upgrade it the same way that I upgrade mine: by keeping an eye open for useful equipment going to waste, and occasionally buying a small peripheral for a birthday present.

Put a few choices on a VM at your place and let her try some of them out?

Do a reset of bios to default and the default state would be internal video.

Oh snap! That never happens.

I missed who was doing the support. But we are in agreement.

If you have to support it, Xfce is my vote. It's lighter and faster than say Cinnamon, or Mate.
And it's consistent.

Peace.

Hi Hazel...

You can first go into the BIOS to see if there is a setting that allows the VGA port to be re-enabled but if not, you will need to physically remove the card and see if that helps.

EDIT: I just saw post #18. Is there anyone that you know that can perform this task with you?

The location of this setting might be in the area shown in the pictures here but, as I'm sure you know, setting locations and available options vary depending upon the BIOS and/or computer (or motherboard) manufacturer.

Regards...

Ok, didn't see this until just now. So the video feed to the laptop's LCD screen is disabled as well?

Regards...

More likely broken.

If we assume that there is some other video adapter in this laptop and somehow the ability to set that as default is within bios then a reset of bios would return the setting to internal video display adapter.

I've seen many PC with bios setting to set video adapter, less of them in servers and never have seen it in laptops except ones that have factory expansion device.

It's not a laptop! I don't know where you all got that idea from. It's a good old fashioned tower computer like my Bigboy. That's probably why it got thrown out. Those things are unfashionable now. But they're sturdy and easy to understand.

I have all the peripherals I need: monitor, mouse and keyboard. What I don't have is a DVI cable for the monitor; I only have vga cables.

I wouldn't give anyone a laptop with a broken screen, certainly not someone who's never used a computer before!

hazel,

With regard to your DVI/VGA problem, I can strongly recommend Aquarius Cables:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Aquarius-Computers

I have used them a lot and their service is excellent.

This may be of help.

VGA to DVI:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Aquarius-Co...nkw=vga+to+dvi

If you order before 3.00 pm the delivery is next day.

Hi...

Ooops, I missed that part from your first post, excuse me. Disregard what I said previously. If I understand the situation correctly, simply purchase a DVI to VGA adapter as shown in beachboy2's second link.

Regards...

OK, to fix the wrong bios entry for video choice (even if the extra video card has been removed) you do a reset on bios. The default is the internal video adapter.

And how do I do that if I can't see what I'm doing?

The irony is that if I could pluck up the courage to just manually remove the card, video would revert automatically to onboard vga; it wouldn't need to be reset explicitly. That's what the user manual says anyway. But I'm terrified of fiddling with the innards of a computer without someone to hold my hand. I've brooded over the instructions for removing cards and replacing them and it all looks very complicated with a lot of latches and levers to work.

I've emailed an old friend in the Harrow Computer Club and explained the problem. He knows I am phobic about hardware. But so far I haven't had an answer.

hazel,

Knowledge is power, be confident and get that video card removed!

Switch off mains power, disconnect power lead and open the side of the case to reveal view similar to that shown in attached photo.
If you don’t have an earth strap, simply touch the case a few times to discharge any static electricity.

Example of video card:
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-.../dp/B001V9LQC0

Video Guide:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computi...han-you-think/

From the photo you will see that the silver screw (second down on the left) secures the black plate of the video card.

Turn this cross-head screw anticlockwise and remove it.

NB There is also a plastic retaining clip, probably underneath the card on the right. It should be about one inch in from the right hand edge of the video card, at the rear, next to the motherboard itself.

In my case I need to put my finger on the clip and gently move it clockwise.

You may need to put your thumb on it and move it away from the card (similar to the white memory chip retaining clips (above) at the ends of the yellow and pink DIMM slots.

***There may be an extra cable connection to the video card but it is unlikely.

Next grasp the video card firmly and pull it towards you away from the motherboard.

Job done!

Good luck.

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Well, thanks for all your help but this turns out to be worse than I thought. I had assumed (as the monitor was showing "no signal") that the vga interface was not working. It probably wasn't, with that video card in place, but that turned out not to be the main problem.

I did finally manage to ease the card out and I hoped that would be all that was needed. No such luck! There is still no video signal but now a diagnostic light comes on. Maybe it did before and I just didn't notice; the lights are tiny. There are four of them on the front of the machine and they must be specific to Dell because I've never seen an arrangement like that before on a computer, though a lot of printers have something similar. As with a printer, different combinations of lights mean different things and there's a section in the manual that lists them for you. I had "3" by itself and that apparently means a processor failure.

So it seems the last owner put the machine out by the gate not just because it was obsolete but because it actually doesn't work. I suppose a geek could still use it for spare parts, but it's no use to me.

There's a lot of hope and hard work down the plughole!