Inspiron 660 - No video from Onboard Graphics

If your onboard video is hosed, can I make a suggestion? Do NOT buy any AMD card prior to an HD 7750; Windows 10 doesn't support anything less than that (thanks AMD!). So, if you haven't already updated to Windows 10, you are severely limiting your update possibilities. If you have updated already, you're in for a BIG surprise.

Do yourself a favor and get an R7 or later series of AMD card or an nVidia GTX 7 or later series card.

https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Win10-Driver-Support.aspx 

Hope this helps!

Monitor is not an issue. The VGA port was connected to using a cable and monitor that both work fine with a different PC. The HDMI port was connected via cable to the HDMI port on my TV - this cable and TV HDMI port work fine with a laptop that I have.

Appreciate your suggestion and steps to reset the BIOS. I re-performed the BIOS reset sequence exactly per your instructions (I had previously performed all of the individual steps in some combination but thought I had better repeat following your steps exactly). In addition I also cleared the CMOS settings using the jumpers on the mother board before I reconnected power. Unfortunately none of this made any difference.

Thank you for confirming that the add-in video card should disable the onboard video ports and video output should automatically be directed to the card. The card I mentioned (Radeon HD6450) appears to be compatible with Inspiron 660 under its current OS (Windows 8) but I obviously need to consider fhill's comments before making a purchase decision.

Thank you for pointing out that an AMD card prior to HD7750 will not be supported under Windows 10. This Inspiron 660 is currently running Windows 8. The system is not used for gaming and does not require blazing 3D graphics. Any graphics card that provides a capability that matches the existing onboard GPU will be adequate. My four requirements for the add-in video card are:

• VGA port & HDMI port
• Dimensions of 2.72 x 5.71 x 0.71 in
• Ideally cost less than $60
• Supported under Windows 10

Any candidates come to mind?

In that case, you have a multitude of options but - assuming that cost is a consideration - I'd get this:

www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

It is a latest generation nVidia card (might as well get the best you can for the money) and, as you can see, it's very affordable. I've had good luck with MSI products, and I think nVidia writes better drivers than AMD (though I have owned both).

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thank you fhill for your specific suggestion of the MSI-nVidia card. That is certainly one I will consider. When I used to work in a software organization, we used nVidia cards in our PCs and workstations almost exclusively for testing our 3D graphics applications. I don't recall ever hearing of an nVidia card failing and during my time there we must have used well over a thousand nVidia cards. We used that many in part because the systems and video cards became outdated well before they failed. I still have a couple of nVidia cards running on XP systems (built around 2002)  today! 

I know it sounds a little strange that I had to pose the question in the current discussion when I have personally worked with many dozens of graphics cards. But the situation was that all of the systems I worked with came pre-installed with 3D graphics cards (which we sometimes upgraded). Because of our 3D requirements, we never relied on the on-board graphics capabilities even if we had any systems that had them.

Thanks everyone for your help

Sorry my suggestions didn't help...

Good luck choosing a new video card. Post back and let us know which one you get and that your system is running again.

Good luck, happy holidays, and very glad I could be of help. As an FYI, I'm typing this from a PC with a Gigabyte AMD HD 7750, and it has been great. But, I've have had more consistent luck with nVidia cards over the years and, in particular, I like the quality and support that eVGA gives. But, that MSI card is a steal! :)

I ended up purchasing the MSI nVidia GEFORCE GT 710 video card (MSI-GT 710 1GD3H LPV1). This is a low profile 1GB PCI-E card. Video Output supported are HDMI(max 4096x2160@24Hz), Dual-link DVI-D(max 2560x1600@60Hz), and VGA. All 3 ports worked fine.
Since my primary goal was to resurrect my Inspiron 660 desktop from its dead on-board video at minimal cost, this more than met my needs and at $35 it was perfect (what can I say - I am CHEAP).
The card dropped straight in with no modifications and nVidia driver installation using the included driver CD was straight forward and completed in just a few minutes on my Windows 8 system. Other user reviews indicate it also works fine under Windows 10 Creator (but I did not test that myself). 

Happy Holidays and thank you all!

Guess Santa came early, and cheap is good!