Installing a graphics card in an old server

[ttop191]

Hey guys, First time posting and really first time messing around with PC internals in general.

I was gifted a Dell Poweredge T310 server and am looking to turn it into a media hub for my house and possibly some lighter gaming/ 720p low-mid settings.

Its got a Xeon x3460, 16Gb 1333Mhz DDR3, 1TB WD blue HDD, 250gb WD blue HDD

Currently running on a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro

The motherboard has a full length PCI.e G2 x8 slot for slot 2. The only full length slot.

The issue I'm having is adding a graphics card. I have a GT 1030 not sure if DDR4 or GDDR5 I was also given.

I can get into the OS just fine using the on board graphics on the chip and everything runs fine. Device Manager however does not show the GT1030 under display adapter or other. When attempting to install the nvidia driver for the card it fails the compatibility scan saying the card does not exist.

Booting into the BIOS I can see the card in the IRQ priority settings as Slot 2 VGA adapter and also see Slot 2 multimedia.

Additionally if I disable the on-board graphics I can then boot and navigate the BIOS without issue using the HDMI out on the 1030. But after BIOS I simply get a never ending black screen and never boot into the OS.

I imagine it is something I've got wrong in the BIOS settings but I haven't got a clue where to look.

Sorry for being long winded but wanted to give all the details I could.

Additionally here is a post from Tom's hardware where a guy seems to have the same issue that went unresolved.

 

Thanks

[BTGbullseye]

Sounds like the OS itself is refusing to see the card... Have you tried booting to install media using just the 1030?

[ttop191]

Not sure what you are asking me, but I did also try using Ubuntu 18.04 with the same results

Edit: Realized what you meant. Attempted to boot to my windows install usb and same result. Black screen after BIOS when using HDMI out of the GT1030

[ttop191]

Small update:

Tried clearing CMOS and running only a single stick of ram. No change.

I do however believe it is actually booting into the OS just without any display. When I turned on the bluetooth speaker I use with it I got a paired acknowledgement beep from the speaker.

[ttop191]

Hey guys, I have an update.

I updated the BIOS to 1.14 and now it will boot into windows.

New issue however, none of the usb ports work only when using the gpu (embedded video control disabled in BIOS) work fine using on board graphics.

Front panel, rear I/O, even the ports in the tower on the motherboard. They output power (lights on keyboard and mouse turn on), but there is no response from either device.

 

Any recommendations?

[BTGbullseye]

9 minutes ago, ttop191 said:

Any recommendations?

Yeah, buy a new motherboard. It really is a matter of the BIOS not supporting a card that new at this point. On the upside, a Ryzen 3 1200 and cheap motherboard will do the job very nicely for under $120. (far exceeds the Xeon for performance, even in an 8-thread workload too)