Well, that's different... (Dim2400 built in video behavior with add-in PCI card...)

I found an ATI Rage 128 Ultra4X Pro PCI card kicking around and decided to
put it into my newfound Dimension 2400. It came right up and worked like it
should, but I was surprised to see that Windows XP was only reporting 504MB
of memory installed in the system.

A visit to the Device Manager showed a "display adapter" with drivers that
were not installed. On a whim, I decided to install the Intel 845 graphics
drivers--and they worked. The unknown display adapter disappeared. Now the
Display control panel acts as though the Intel video could be used for a
second monitor.

I've never seen that before. I'm used to onboard video systems turning
themselves off or going to "sleep" when an add-in card is detected. This one
does not appear to do that--there is no choice to turn it off in Dell setup
(only "auto" or "onboard" may be selected) and it is still siphoning off
some memory.

Pretty wild...I think I'm going to get a second monitor over here and try
it.

William

> -----Original Message-----
> From: William R. Walsh
> [mailto:newsgroups1@idontwantjunqueemail.walshcompt ech.com]
> Posted At: Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:43 AM
> Posted To: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
> Conversation: Well, that's different... (Dim2400 built in video
> behavior with add-in PCI card...)
> Subject: Well, that's different... (Dim2400 built in video behavior
> with add-in PCI card...)
>
> I found an ATI Rage 128 Ultra4X Pro PCI card kicking around and
decided
> to
> put it into my newfound Dimension 2400. It came right up and worked
> like it
> should, but I was surprised to see that Windows XP was only reporting
> 504MB
> of memory installed in the system.
>
> A visit to the Device Manager showed a "display adapter" with drivers
> that
> were not installed. On a whim, I decided to install the Intel 845
> graphics
> drivers--and they worked. The unknown display adapter disappeared. Now
> the
> Display control panel acts as though the Intel video could be used for
> a
> second monitor.
>
> I've never seen that before. I'm used to onboard video systems turning
> themselves off or going to "sleep" when an add-in card is detected.
> This one
> does not appear to do that--there is no choice to turn it off in Dell
> setup
> (only "auto" or "onboard" may be selected) and it is still siphoning
> off
> some memory.
>
> Pretty wild...I think I'm going to get a second monitor over here and
> try
> it.
>
> William


It will work. That's why I responded to a previous post where they were
having problems that you sometimes need to have a monitor plugged into
both to set it up properly.

"Tom Scales" <tjscales@gmail.com> wrote:

>> From: William R. Walsh

>> I found an ATI Rage 128 Ultra4X Pro PCI card kicking around and decided to
>> put it into my newfound Dimension 2400. It came right up and worked
>> like it should, but I was surprised to see that Windows XP was only reporting 504MB
>> of memory installed in the system.

>> A visit to the Device Manager showed a "display adapter" with drivers that
>> were not installed. On a whim, I decided to install the Intel 845 graphics
>> drivers--and they worked. The unknown display adapter disappeared. Now the
>> Display control panel acts as though the Intel video could be used for a
>> second monitor.
>>
>> I've never seen that before. I'm used to onboard video systems turning
>> themselves off or going to "sleep" when an add-in card is detected. This one
>> does not appear to do that--there is no choice to turn it off in Dell setup
>> (only "auto" or "onboard" may be selected) and it is still siphoning off
>> some memory.
>>
>> Pretty wild...I think I'm going to get a second monitor over here and try
>> it.

>It will work. That's why I responded to a previous post where they were
>having problems that you sometimes need to have a monitor plugged into
>both to set it up properly.

VVVVeeeerrrryyyy IIIInnnntttteeeerrrreeeessssttttiiiinnnngggg
{apologies to Arte Johnson/Laugh-In}. When I bought my D4400, I
got it with the onboard video, since I already had a surplus,
reasonably high-end (for 2001) video card to install. I, too,
found that installation of the new card did not automagically
turn off the onboard video, and, after a few hair-pulling
sessions in bios set-up, found there was no way to turn it off.
Since the only manifestation was the second, onboard "monitor"
showing up when I accessed the "Display Properties | Settings"
screen, and the system always behaved as if the Diamond Stealth
card and the monitor attached to it were its only video, I never
worried about it. I never did do anything fancy with the 4400
that turned up the problem(s) William Walsh is experiencing, but
then I'm a "plain vanilla" kind of PC user.

At the now defunct antique shop I worked at until Dec, the owners
bought a second hand 2400. I'm inheriting it, now that it is
surplus. Mebbe when I get it I'll do a little pooking around.
Or mebbe not, on the "sleeping dogs" theory. I do wonder though,
since apparently the 2400 and 4400 both manifested this, whether
the 8400 did also, thus making it a generational quirk.

--
OJ III

"Ogden Johnson III" <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c0o5245ae7rl6v08bi3gjd4r12v2t3uv0m@4ax.com...
> "Tom Scales" <tjscales@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> From: William R. Walsh
>
>>> I found an ATI Rage 128 Ultra4X Pro PCI card kicking around and decided
>>> to
>>> put it into my newfound Dimension 2400. It came right up and worked
>>> like it should, but I was surprised to see that Windows XP was only
>>> reporting 504MB
>>> of memory installed in the system.
>
>>> A visit to the Device Manager showed a "display adapter" with drivers
>>> that
>>> were not installed. On a whim, I decided to install the Intel 845
>>> graphics
>>> drivers--and they worked. The unknown display adapter disappeared. Now
>>> the
>>> Display control panel acts as though the Intel video could be used for
>>> a
>>> second monitor.
>>>
>>> I've never seen that before. I'm used to onboard video systems turning
>>> themselves off or going to "sleep" when an add-in card is detected. This
>>> one
>>> does not appear to do that--there is no choice to turn it off in Dell
>>> setup
>>> (only "auto" or "onboard" may be selected) and it is still siphoning off
>>> some memory.
>>>
>>> Pretty wild...I think I'm going to get a second monitor over here and
>>> try
>>> it.
>
>>It will work. That's why I responded to a previous post where they were
>>having problems that you sometimes need to have a monitor plugged into
>>both to set it up properly.
>
> VVVVeeeerrrryyyy IIIInnnntttteeeerrrreeeessssttttiiiinnnngggg
> {apologies to Arte Johnson/Laugh-In}. When I bought my D4400, I
> got it with the onboard video, since I already had a surplus,
> reasonably high-end (for 2001) video card to install. I, too,
> found that installation of the new card did not automagically
> turn off the onboard video, and, after a few hair-pulling
> sessions in bios set-up, found there was no way to turn it off.
> Since the only manifestation was the second, onboard "monitor"
> showing up when I accessed the "Display Properties | Settings"
> screen, and the system always behaved as if the Diamond Stealth
> card and the monitor attached to it were its only video, I never
> worried about it. I never did do anything fancy with the 4400
> that turned up the problem(s) William Walsh is experiencing, but
> then I'm a "plain vanilla" kind of PC user.
>
> At the now defunct antique shop I worked at until Dec, the owners
> bought a second hand 2400. I'm inheriting it, now that it is
> surplus. Mebbe when I get it I'll do a little pooking around.
> Or mebbe not, on the "sleeping dogs" theory. I do wonder though,
> since apparently the 2400 and 4400 both manifested this, whether
> the 8400 did also, thus making it a generational quirk.
>
> --
> OJ III




Not to split hairs here, but neither the Dimension 4400 or 8400 featured
integrated video. Both systems had only a dedicated graphics card (AGP and
PCIexpress). There were no slim-line/small form factor options for either
of those models.


Stew

Hi!

> I never did do anything fancy with the 4400
> that turned up the problem(s) William Walsh is
> experiencing, but then I'm a "plain vanilla" kind
> of PC user.

A simple "William" would do. :-)

That said, I'm not having a problem. I just saw this and thought it
was, as you said, "very interesting". I've *never* seen Intel chipset
based video stay alive when another video card came in to the picture.

(It's also worth noting that the Intel integrated video systems *can*
in fact have dedicated memory. I've seen Dell and eMachines systems
with the solder pads for said memory. However, only Compaq ever seems
to have used that feature in their Deskpro EN lineup. Those Compaqs
take a so-called "AIMM" VRAM module that plugs into the AGP slot.)

And I'm guilty as charged when it comes to being a tinkerer instead of
a "plain vanilla" PC user.

William