Servers generally don't need to disable onboard video as they don't need any upgraded video. If you need a higher end video solution, look into buying a desktop computer. If you want something with server features like ECC memory and/or SAS drives, check out the Precision Workstation series.
That being said, your best bet it to run dual videocard and tell your OS not to use the onboard one (and hope that the drivers don't conflict).
Many Thanks for the information. Unfortuanately, I can't even get Windows to 'see' the other graphics card. I have an NVidia 8800 GTS PCIe-16x card mounted in an adaptor to go in the PCIe-8x slot which is provided in the T105 server. Maybe that's the issue, although I'm pretty sure that a PCIe-x16 card should work in a PCIx-8x slot albeit at slower speeds which I didn't think would be an issue. Windows only 'sees' the ATI internal graphics card in the Device-Manager. I tried disabling the ATI card in the Windows Device-Manager and rebooting, but that didn't help !! I also tried the NVidia card in another machine with a 16x slot and it worked fine, so the card is not the issue. Is it possible that the BIOS would be able to 'block' graphics cards from being visible in the expansion slots ? Stephen
I'd suggest to purchase a desktop computer in the Inspiron range (do get a regular tower model, not a slim tower) or if budget permits maybe an XPS 420.
So this gets even weirder... I purchased a regular PCI graphics card yesterday and put that in the regular PCI slot on the T105. Surprisingly this graphics card worked and the boot screen appeared on the DVI output of this card. In Windows, both graphics cards were visible, although the ATI internal one 'failed to start' - but that's OK. I only care about the one in the slot anyway. This was an NVidia card also, but not the one that I want to make work. I was just trying this as an experiment. So that leaves me with a puzzle. Why would the graphics card in the PCI slot override the internal one, but not the one in the PCIe 8x slot ? I am going to take a closer look at the PCIe 8x to 16x adaptor that I am using and see if it is defective. I'm also going to get another kind of PCIe 1x card like a wireless network card or something and try it out in all the PCIe slots to make sure they are working OK. Then I can draw some more conclusions.
THere have been numerous posts about onboard video and PCIe video cards in servers and most list the failure of PCIe cards to be recognised. It is something to do with the slots not being enabled for video. PCI cards seem to work.
Generally servers don't require high quality graphics, if tht's what you need along with server class hardware then a precision is the way to go.
Thanks for your post.
I actually gave up on the T105 for what I was trying to do. I bought another socket AM2 motherboard with a real PCI 16x slot in it, took the Opteron 1220 CPU out of the Dell and plugged it into the new motherboard. Worked just fine even though the average AM2 motherboard doesn't tell you it supports Opteron CPU's. Then I bought a cheap Athlon 4600 CPU and put in back in the Dell which also worked just fine and gave the computer to my wife !! So now my expensive NVidia Dual-Link DVI graphics card works in the new motherboard with the 30" HP Monitor that was intended for it and I have my fast CPU. Maybe one day Dell will issue a BIOS update which fixes the problems with the slots. I still don't get why none of the Dell servers don't have a least one PCIe 16x slot.
Good luck with your new machines...I just posted asking if anyone had tried the Opteron 1222 or new 1224 in the T105 yet. Regardless of intended purposes the T105 seems to work great as a entry level server and workstation. I don't do anything high end on this machine and it is exponentially quieter than the three year old Xeon workstation it replaced. This thing runs quieter that my wife's Dell notebook, so I have a hard time getting the keyboard back from her. I am looking to upgrade the processor from the 1210 that came with it and that should do me. I really don't need, nor could I justify the cost for, a quad core processor anytime soon!
T105, Opteron 1210, 2GB ECC, 80GB SATA HDD, 500GB USB 2.0 HDD, 20X SATA DVD-RW, HIS X1550 x1 Video, SB Audigy SE PCI, Server 2003 and XP Pro
All companies offer entry level systems at a lower price but some go out of their way to limit their capability and re-purposing. In my opinion, a perverted view exists within some companies that such entry level systems should only be used in specific ways with limited capabilities. In fact, design effort is spend to remove some features (like disabling on board features within bios) and capabilities (like limiting RAM) to enforce this desire. Such companies probable consider these entry level systems as loss leaders (though not in the true sense of actually costing more than what it is sold for) with the hope of, as i said, limiting re-purposing and or up-selling you at a later time.
Dell in particular seems to have a view that servers are only servers and they can't or won't fathom any one that wants to be able to use their newly acquired property in other ways. Frankly, all on board features should be able to be disabled within bios as a matter of courtesy towards ones customers and all motherboards should support at least one PCIe x16 graphics slot, again as a courtesy towards ones customers. Oh, and they should make their servers quiet otherwise they are complicit towards those that maintain servers and suffer industrial deafness :)' This would earn them more goodwill and future sales than their attitude of artificially limited features and capabilities that only estranges customers and potential customers.
In my situation, the limited graphics was a little easier to resolve as a T610 allows on-board graphics to be disabled so i only had to modify a low power x16 PCIe graphics card to become a x8 PCIe graphics card - no x8/x16 PCIe adapter was used.
As to your T105, why a PCI graphics card works to passivate on board graphics is unclear but the on-board graphics may be PCI based and a conflict results in a failure to launch on the later:) It's likely just a fluke and unfortunately not one repeated with any graphics card in a PCIe slot. Without a bios setting to shut down the on-board graphics, it's always going to be a hit and miss scenario.
And as the customer is always correct, one can only blame Dell as the decission to remove the bios option sits squarely with them. Oh, and do let them know of your displeasure. If enough people do, then Dell may return the standard bios option of disabling the on-board graphics. Then modding a low power x16 PCIe card is a simple thing to do to get decent dx11 capabilities on your server.
Dev Mgr
4 Operator
•
9.3K Posts
0
January 29th, 2008 11:00
That being said, your best bet it to run dual videocard and tell your OS not to use the onboard one (and hope that the drivers don't conflict).
sbrickles
6 Posts
0
January 29th, 2008 17:00
Dev Mgr
4 Operator
•
9.3K Posts
0
January 29th, 2008 19:00
I'd suggest to purchase a desktop computer in the Inspiron range (do get a regular tower model, not a slim tower) or if budget permits maybe an XPS 420.
sbrickles
6 Posts
0
January 30th, 2008 16:00
tommo666
3 Apprentice
•
1.2K Posts
0
February 8th, 2008 15:00
THere have been numerous posts about onboard video and PCIe video cards in servers and most list the failure of PCIe cards to be recognised. It is something to do with the slots not being enabled for video. PCI cards seem to work.
Generally servers don't require high quality graphics, if tht's what you need along with server class hardware then a precision is the way to go.
armentrout2
16 Posts
0
March 6th, 2008 19:00
All,
I have a HIS Hightech H155HMF256EL1N-R Radeon X1550 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x1 Low Profile Video Card - Retail from Newegg.com running on Server 2003 and Win XP Pro. It is in the x1 slot and I also added a SB Audigy SE in the PCI slot for sound. I did not have any luck trying to use x16 to x8 adapter cards either. I just told both OS's to ignore the on-board video and all behaves nicely.
John
sbrickles
6 Posts
0
March 6th, 2008 20:00
I actually gave up on the T105 for what I was trying to do. I bought another socket AM2 motherboard with a real PCI 16x slot in it, took the Opteron 1220 CPU out of the Dell and plugged it into the new motherboard. Worked just fine even though the average AM2 motherboard doesn't tell you it supports Opteron CPU's. Then I bought a cheap Athlon 4600 CPU and put in back in the Dell which also worked just fine and gave the computer to my wife !! So now my expensive NVidia Dual-Link DVI graphics card works in the new motherboard with the 30" HP Monitor that was intended for it and I have my fast CPU. Maybe one day Dell will issue a BIOS update which fixes the problems with the slots. I still don't get why none of the Dell servers don't have a least one PCIe 16x slot.
Stephen
armentrout2
16 Posts
0
March 6th, 2008 21:00
Good luck with your new machines...I just posted asking if anyone had tried the Opteron 1222 or new 1224 in the T105 yet. Regardless of intended purposes the T105 seems to work great as a entry level server and workstation. I don't do anything high end on this machine and it is exponentially quieter than the three year old Xeon workstation it replaced. This thing runs quieter that my wife's Dell notebook, so I have a hard time getting the keyboard back from her. I am looking to upgrade the processor from the 1210 that came with it and that should do me. I really don't need, nor could I justify the cost for, a quad core processor anytime soon!
T105, Opteron 1210, 2GB ECC, 80GB SATA HDD, 500GB USB 2.0 HDD, 20X SATA DVD-RW, HIS X1550 x1 Video, SB Audigy SE PCI, Server 2003 and XP Pro
kaelc
1 Message
0
December 20th, 2011 15:00
Hi John,
How did you tell the OS's to ignore the onboard video? I've tried disabling and un-installing the driver with no success.
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
0
December 21st, 2011 00:00
All companies offer entry level systems at a lower price but some go out of their way to limit their capability and re-purposing. In my opinion, a perverted view exists within some companies that such entry level systems should only be used in specific ways with limited capabilities. In fact, design effort is spend to remove some features (like disabling on board features within bios) and capabilities (like limiting RAM) to enforce this desire. Such companies probable consider these entry level systems as loss leaders (though not in the true sense of actually costing more than what it is sold for) with the hope of, as i said, limiting re-purposing and or up-selling you at a later time.
Dell in particular seems to have a view that servers are only servers and they can't or won't fathom any one that wants to be able to use their newly acquired property in other ways. Frankly, all on board features should be able to be disabled within bios as a matter of courtesy towards ones customers and all motherboards should support at least one PCIe x16 graphics slot, again as a courtesy towards ones customers. Oh, and they should make their servers quiet otherwise they are complicit towards those that maintain servers and suffer industrial deafness :)' This would earn them more goodwill and future sales than their attitude of artificially limited features and capabilities that only estranges customers and potential customers.
In my situation, the limited graphics was a little easier to resolve as a T610 allows on-board graphics to be disabled so i only had to modify a low power x16 PCIe graphics card to become a x8 PCIe graphics card - no x8/x16 PCIe adapter was used.
As to your T105, why a PCI graphics card works to passivate on board graphics is unclear but the on-board graphics may be PCI based and a conflict results in a failure to launch on the later:) It's likely just a fluke and unfortunately not one repeated with any graphics card in a PCIe slot. Without a bios setting to shut down the on-board graphics, it's always going to be a hit and miss scenario.
And as the customer is always correct, one can only blame Dell as the decission to remove the bios option sits squarely with them. Oh, and do let them know of your displeasure. If enough people do, then Dell may return the standard bios option of disabling the on-board graphics. Then modding a low power x16 PCIe card is a simple thing to do to get decent dx11 capabilities on your server.