Video driver update

Now, Fink, you are asking me a very good question. I have NO idea (i dont even know what it means!)

Open the cover and take a look.
Does it look like this one?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf-JAVA.../c00068996.gif

Do you have the MS-6577 v4 on the motherboard?

If it does, then you can only upgrade to a PCI video card.

Where i found the specs.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...440263&lang=en

Mine has 4.1 instead of 4. I guess it is the same then?

Yes it is. But still, there are some right good PCI video cards available.

Example to let you know they exist, but there are a couple losers in the list also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...09642&name=PCI

And to refer back to my previous question, is that something that a non-techie can install?

What do you mean by "there are a couple of losers"?

Yes as a mater of fact you should be able to.

The GeForce FX 5200 video card is the worse card Nvidia ever released IMHO.
The GeForce MX4000 is just a tad better.

How does it compare to the one Photolady mentioned?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814133245

Looks like the same card to me.

Go through the instructions here.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2110128_upgrade-video-card.html

Since your old one is on board there will need to be a couple changes. But that will give you the general drift.

OK. So i can go ahead and order that card.

Now, with the differences since my video card is onboard vs the instructions you refer to, would it only be a matter of "not having to remove the old one" or a bit more involved than that?

You can't remove the old one but you need to remove the old onboard's drivers. Just go to Add/Remove and uninstall the drivers from there.

Remove the drivers.
Shut down.
Disconnect all wires.

After you get the card in and attach the monitor to it, so the first thing you do is boot to the BIOS [called setup also] and disable the on board video.
Save and exit the BIOS.
Boot up.

Now the drivers you want are here.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

I guess i have to order the card first! :)

Now, maybe a silly question: "boot to the BIOS" means what? No rush in answering since i dont have the card yet!

OK somehow, i cannot seem to be able to use my Paypal at Newegg. Weird. Since i am totally lost in those looooooooooooong product codes, and cannot seem to find anything identical (with the same code) somewhere else, i might not be looking for the right thing. Could you direct me to another source for that video card?

Same card is available from TigerDirect and they do ship to Canada.

Here is the same card:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0190&CatId=319

For getting into the BIOS what was meant was getting into setup. When you restart your computer or first boot your computer you should see a key to allow you to enter setup/BIOS. Sometimes it's the "del" key, sometimes its F1, F2, etc. those are for Dell or other brands.

For your HP, HP says this:

Quote:

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When the first screen displays, immediately press the F10 key if your computer was built in 2006 or later (came with Vista). Press the F1 key if your computer was built before 2006 (XP or earlier).

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And since Train said you need to turn off your onboard, I couldn't see anyway to do this in an HP setup utility. But there is a way to allow your video card to work. (Note some motherboards you don't have to turn off the onboard), you need to change a setting in the Advanced settings option of setup. It's called "Primary Video Adapter" HP's is set to PCI, so all you'll need to do is remove the drivers for the onboard via Add/Remove then shut the computer down, unplug all electric from the computer and install the card. Then install the drivers.

Here's link to see HP's BIOS setup options:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...en&lc=en&cc=us

GRRRR. trying to find the same thing on TigerDirect.ca, and i can't. What else is comparable?