Sony Vaio Pcv-Rs510  --  This computer used to be mine however, as my son's thirst for more power increased I decided it was cheaper to give him my computer and take his Dell.  Anyway, he has been bugging me of late to fix an issue with his new graphics card whereby he has two screens because of the onboard graphics Intel chip set.  This soon became a problem.   

So let me take you to the components involved.                                  

1. Sony Vaio  pcv-rs510
2. Nvidia  Geforce4 mx4000 graphics card with 128mb of ram  (PCI version)
3. Intel 82865G graphics controller (onboard video adapter) 

Now the problem begins with a mouse, which goes off screen and items (windows/programs) loading there too.  This is because both cards are active.  So according to most tech people you should disable the onboard video adapter but this doesn’t work with the Vaio because it’s built onto the board (no jumper either) and there is no option in CMOS to disable it either. So, what to do.  After hours of disabling and uninstalling only to have the onboard video adapter re-install itself we finally stumbled upon the solution whereby we have them both.  Your probably saying ok that won’t work, but yet it does.

If you want to save time take your computer to the kitchen (can do this prior to shopping too) and open it up, spray (canned Air) it out (dust bunnies).TIP: you can also use an air pump (the ones for camping) blowing up rafts, and air mattresses. It's cheaper than buying those cans plus you really get the dust blown out.  While you’re waiting. Try to do as little walking on carpet, as possible, because of the static electricity charge.

This is what you will need.

1. Keyboard, mouse, Tower (CPU), Phillips screw driver, monitor (and an extra one if available).
2. Your new video card
3. Software for your new video card

IF you already have the card in and are experiencing this problem then go go to Second Step.

First Step

You may need to borrow a monitor if you don’t have one lying around.  Or you can just plug the adapter from graphics port to the other until you have accomplished the mission.  Some screens will open on the other adapter (screen). So if you think well I clicked that you probably did but it’s showing up on the other screen (adapter).

Ok, since the onboard graphics can’t be turned off in CMOS, or disabled in windows through the device manager, the only logical solution was to leave them both.  But we still had the problem with the mouse and thought it was due to the new graphics program NVIEW, but turns out that:

• When you leave both graphics cards active and go to “Control Panel”  then select “Display” and then “Settings”, you can then select the graphics card that you want to be the primary one (this would be your new one) to use.  There is a catch if you don’t uncheck all the boxes under the old Intel Onboard graphics card (or other)  then you still get the mouse leaving the screen and other programs opening on the other screen.

Second Step

On a normal computer you would not see an option under the word “Display”, however when you have more than one installed you get a drop down box and a new pic showing a “1” and “2” (looks like two monitors) which correspond to your graphics cards.  So select the old one and do the following:

The boxes that must be unchecked are the following:    

• Use this device as the primary monitor 
• Extend my windows onto this monitor

This should make the onboard graphics turn a duller color which indicates that it not being used.

Then:

1. Go to the new card and make sure both of the above options are checked.
2. You can also change the screen resolution and color quality. 
3. When your done select “Apply” then “Ok”
4. Turn off your system
5. Move monitor plug to your new graphics card and turn on your system and your done!!!

IF you’re anything like my son, he had to make sure his mouse was not leaving the screen, so he made the screen smaller on the monitor (options on front of monitor) and was able to determine that the mouse was staying on the right desktop.

Now there are other options with NVIEW but try those first before using a program like NVIEW which is more for when you do want multiple monitors.

 One last thing that i discovered after we finally got the system working was that to access CMOS we had to plug our video cord into the old video card.  Now perhaps there's an option that would redirect permanently but i haven't found it so far.  Will keep you updated.

DELL Dimension: 2400 series

With this particular machine it is easier.  Try this first:

1. Go to control panel
2. Performance and maintenance
3. System
4. Click the Hardware Tab
5. Select “device manager”
6. Display adapter
7. Right click on your adapter
8. Select "Uninstall" or "Disable"  (which ever you would like to try first)
9. Go to add and remove programs and uninstall your graphics driver

• Install your new card software (some cards want you to install the card first)

1. Turn off your computer
2. Open the case (Read NOTE above)
3. Insert your new card into the appropriate slot.  See upgrade? for assistance with identifying the appropriate slot type.
4. You can leave the cover off for now.  (Now would be the perfect time to spray out the inside: gets dusty in there.)
5. Plug your monitor cable into the new card

Start your system.

If for some reason your system doesn’t recognize your graphics card then you might have to go into CMOS and make sure that your onboard video gets turned off.  That’s also assuming there is an option otherwise see if the steps used for the Sony Vaio will work for you too. Check the CMOS section for hints on how to get into your system.