Did my laptop's video card die?

I have a Dell C640 with a Radeon 7500 molbility 32mb video card installed.
I have pluggeg into my pcmcia slot an addition 2 port usb card.
At the very moment my daughter stuck a paper clip and touched on of the usb ports the laptop shut off. When I rebooted it said it found new hardware...the video card. It said searching for drivers (which I have installed) and came up with an error saying it couldn't be installed because a device on my system was not functioning properly. Device manager shows only video controller (vga adapter) video adapters. Weird becaus eit says it's found the mobility 7500 etc...
Is my card shot and replacing it will likely get me back to normal?

 

Hi Joe,

First, do you have the video card's installation\drivers CD?

If so, then go to Control Panel | System. Within System, click on the "Hardware" tab, followed by "Device Mangler." Click on the "Display Adapters" located on the list of features there. You should see your card's name listed. Right-click the name, and select "Uninstall." Then, restart your computer.

When you bootup, you'll have the Standard Display drivers from Microsoft. Then insert your video card driver disk and install. Then reboot.

If you don't have the disk, then download the drivers from Dell. Or, if you know where the drivers are on your computer, reinstall the drivers from that folder. If there's an ".exe" file in that folder, click on that. Or, when in Display Adapters, click on Update Drivers and direct it to the folder; it's looking for an ".ini" file.

Or, replacing the card with a 64MB or higher is a good way to go, plus the graphics will be a little better. Price is always a consideration. I've seen 32MB PCI cards for as low as $20.

Just make sure the card you're replacing is the same: i.e., PCI, AGP, PCI Express. If you have an AGP slot on your board, then go with an AGP card.

 

@PeteC: I checked before I posted and it seemed the video card was a separate entity. I even went "shopping" and saw replacement "cards" for as low as $22.

However, I called DELL (unbelievable brain damage getting to talk to someone) and they said the graphics are integrated into the mother board.

So, Arie's advice would be the first step, then yours, Pete.

DELL Parts Dept.: (800) 288-4410, ext. 7260623

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the people talking for DELL didn't know what they were talking about! The VGA connector seems to be integrated on the motherboard, but I'm almost fairly certain the video card itself is removable. I too saw several on eBay in the $20 range.

I will retry the reinstall as instructed by the first message but I was fairly sure I did all that the correct way before posting.

Then I'll try DELL's diagnostics and report back.

THANKS ALL.

 

Hi Joe,

Ya think?

I'm fairly certain that the drivers may just need to be reinstalled. However, if you do get a new video card, just make sure it'll fit.

 

ALL,

I'm pretty sure it's half dead. I reinstalled 2 different ways and it gets to a certain point and says there was an error installing...blah, blah, the device is not functioning properly. I ran the standalone exe file with the driver install and seperately manually pointed to the driver file as what to use and it continues to fail.

When I install a new card, I'll report back.

 

Still haven't installed new...

More proof it's shot? Every start up it detects the cards, then says nope, couldn't install...it's not working properly.
Yellow ! in device manager...

 

Hi Joe,

Well...?