Graphics Card is Missing from my computer...

Alright, so I posted here a little while ago about my dad's computer's sound. The help I received was brilliant, and they are functioning perfectly!

The problem I'm having now is his graphics card went missing. Like, it's gone. I can't play Terraria (it's the game I tested). Now, the first thing you're probably thinking is, "Was there ever a graphics card?" But I've played Gears of War and Hellgate: London (shut up, I liked it!) on this computer YEARS ago. Can a graphics card go missing? Or is this the same kind of thing that happened with my speakers (they just stopped working)?

If the graphics card is gone... your computer won't pass its Power On Self Test.

So, you have graphics on your computer, it's just not doing its advanced stuff, right? You can get into Windows just fine, see a desktop, it just won't play games?

Can you hop under Control Panel/System/Device Manager and tell me what is says under Display Adapters?

@Zelyre:

That's why your games aren't working. You don't have drivers for your video card installed, so Windows is using bare basic ones.

Do you know what video card is installed in your PC? If so, just grab the video card drivers, install them, and you're good to go. Well, cept your NIC doesn't have seem to have drivers installed, either.

Start, run, type in DXDIAG and hit enter. Under Display, it should say the model of your video card, if memory serves me correctly. It's been a while since I've dealt with XP.

@Zelyre:

You could try a third party system scan tool like WinAudit or open the side of the PC up and see what it says on the card.

What XDsk said. Its that, or opening up the case, looking at the card, and seeing what it is.

@Zelyre: @Xdsk: Looks like I'm opening up the computer!

@Xdsk: @Zelyre: Alright, so after opening the computer, it said it was nVidia. What's next?

http://www.geforce.com/Drivers

Try the auto detect opition.

@Gav47: Already tried, and it didn't work

@Zelyre: @Xdsk:

This is the video thing after checking the specs in the manual.

nVidia integrated video (DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3.0 Graphics Processing Unit)

What driver do I download?

What Gav said.

@MatPaget: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19

Try the driver under "Chipset".

The video card is integrated into your motherboard which doesn't have the proper drivers, which explains why your NIC is also not installed properly as pointed out by @Zelyre.

edit: Once that is installed, the auto detect may or may not work and have an updated driver for you. The one I linked is super old, but is likely to work since it is specific to the model of your PC.

Oh yeah, duh. I totally forgot that Dell has that and I didn't even bother looking at the model.

The link Scrawnto gave you will give you everything you need.

The chipset drivers are different than the video ones. If the auto update doesn't find it once you've updated your chipset drivers...

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=TC7RC&FileId=2731093976

@Scrawnto: I'm not sure I understand, but when I click on "Primary Download Site" beneath Downloads, it just sends me back to the nvidia homepage. The English UK download just sends me to a Server Error page.

@Zelyre:

@Scrawnto: @Zelyre:

Alright, tried both of your methods. Neither worked. Looking back at XP, now, just makes me realize how shitty it was.

@MatPaget said:

@Scrawnto: @Zelyre:

Alright, tried both of your methods. Neither worked. Looking back at XP, now, just makes me realize how shitty it was.

Pretty sure all this is not XP's fault. Sounds like user error too me.

I've never heard of someone having their graphics card get jacked before. How weird would that be?

@Atramentous: I've never had any problems with any other OS like the ones I've had with XP. Sure, the OS may not be to blame on this, but this is ridiculous.

And I assure you, I am not making any errors.

@MatPaget said:

@Atramentous: I've never had any problems with any other OS like the ones I've had with XP. Sure, the OS may not be to blame on this, but this is ridiculous.

And I assure you, I am not making any errors.

Im not trying to be an ass here but you already made the mistake of thinking you had a graphics card. On-board graphics don't really just stop working. If they stopped then you wouldn't be seeing a desktop or anything. Somewhere somehow someone disabled the drivers or installed incorrect drivers. Your best bet is to restore the appropriate drivers from the restoration disk or like has been said before download the correct drivers from Dell.

1. Install GPU-Z, observe as it shows you your chipset model

2. Google for the drivers

@Atramentous: This isn't my computer I'm trying to fix. I have no idea what happened to it, nor what it has. Furthermore, I'm not really that knowledgeable when it comes to computer specifications. Actually using a computer is easier for me than fixing, or diagnosing one.