Then the monitor is plugged into the nvidia card. That would be it on the inside there.

If you do have that upper port and the nvidia card is not working you can always try plugging the monitor into that upper port although the graphics will be limited.

No damage, but it still doesn't work... so whats the final step, i'm assuming there isn't much more to be done other than replace the card.

Did you try moving the monitor to the upper port?

If so do you notice a difference in the display?

If you get no signal than this port has probably been disabled in the BIOS.

If so return to the card (as it is now) and we can reset the BIOS settings.

no, nothing came through when i used the other port.

Entering System Setup
Viewing Settings
Turn on (or restart) your computer.

When the blue DELL™ logo appears, press <F2> immediately.


If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft® Windows® desktop. Then shut down your computer and try again.

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...up.htm#1138127

Primary Video Controller
The settings are Auto (default) and Onboard.
Auto (default) — If only an AGP card is installed, the computer uses the AGP card; if only a PCI card is installed, the computer uses the PCI card; if both AGP and PCI cards are installed, the computer uses both cards.
Onboard — The computer uses the AGP card.

Try setting this to onboard and then plug back into the motherboard port.

I have just recoeverd from this problem and it was due to me not having the appropriate driver. I put the Windows Xp CD in the drive and then ran upgrade driver. The correct driver was found (probably from on my omputer) and all is fine.