Resolved Screen looks strange

As much as I am a proponent of using a good UPS with AVR on all computers, they are not perfect nor equal. It does sound like your UPS may have failed to protect your system properly. I have a 150W lightbulb that I plug into UPS for testing. If the bulb stays lit when I pull the UPS plug from the wall, the UPS is probably good. You might want to test your UPS in a similar manner. Do note that the batteries for most UPS need to be replaced about every 3 years.

As for your question about the UPS providing protection when powered off note that most UPS have two sets of output connections. One provides battery backup and the other surge and spike protection only. If you turned off the UPS, then it should have disconnected power completely from the battery side. The S&S side would depend on the UPS model. Most cut power to all outlets if the UPS is turned off. But some may still keep it live on the S&S side, and since most S&S protectors are "passive" devices (they don't use power to operate), they should still provide protection to devices plugged in.

That said, NOTHING can stop a direct lightning strike so if your UPS took a direct or near direct hit, who knows what could have happened. I would temporarily try your computer with the UPS bypassed.

I would also suspect your PSU has failed. You can buy a tester, take it to a shop to be tested, or swap in a known good one. I do not recommend using a multimeter because to do so accurately, the PSU must be tested under a true load and that means sticking highly conductive meter probes into the heart of the computer while it is running.

I say PSU because you are having problems with both your graphics card and the on-board, and you tried another monitor. I always want to ensure I have good power when troubleshooting hardware problems.

As for your on-board graphics resolution, I suspect you need to install the drivers for it. I generally recommend getting drivers from the PC or motherboard maker as they may have been modified. If Gateway does not have them, then the link Pete provided is probably fine.

 

I updated the onboard video drivers as suggested and that seems to have solved the problem. Some of the colors in some programs still seem a little off, but I figure maybe that is because I'm using the onboard video instead of the video card I removed. Everything seems to be working, though, and that is what is most important.

I am going to take this as a sign that maybe it is time to start thinking about buying a new computer. This one is eight years old. Over the years I have replaced the power supply, dvd burner (twice), the monitor, added memory, a video card, sound card, and a hard drive. I think I've got my money's worth out of it. At least now that it is working again, I can take my time shopping and do a little research. I always find that it is better to not be pressured or rushed into a purchase like this.

I will mark this as resolved and thank all of you for all of your help.

 

The choice of graphics solution should have nothing to do with the colors you see. The primary difference you might likely see, assuming both support your monitor's native resolution, is in performance - that is, how fast the full screen is displayed or updated, or keeps up with changes with animated images. But blue skies, green grass, and flesh tones should look the same, regardless the graphics solution - from monitor to monitor, and to printer, for that matter. That said, it is with monitors and printers where color differences will surface. The performance cut comes from the fact that most cards have a better GPU than on-boards and also because cards come with their own dedicated RAM tweaked for graphics processing. On-board graphics solutions, especially on older motherboards, steal large chunks of your system RAM to use for graphics processing. Note that new motherboards often come with dedicated graphics RAM too, but still, a card typically offers superior performance. That said, if you don't game, do graphics editing, or computer aided design or engineering (CAD/CAE), a modern motherboard with a decent on-board graphics solution and lots of RAM will do just fine for most people - even in high-end home theater systems.

 

Good point - or untweak them as the case may be!