Graphics card detection problem

[Alistair401]

Hi everyone!
I've just finished building a friends computer. He needed new stuff like a new processor and thus a new motherboard. He had a Nvidia Gt440 (Not a great card I know) installed before in the system and it worked fine. After carefully removing the card from it's PCIe slot and replacing it in the new motheboard (An 880GM-USB3L from Gigabyte) windows was unable to detect the graphics card anywhere (device manager or driver installer). I'm usually pretty good at solving these problems but here I am with no clue as to what's wrong. To attempt to solve the issue I've already:
-Reset the BIOS to optimized defaults
-Installed all the motherboard drivers
-Uninstalled any remaining Nvidia software and attempted to reinstall the drivers ("the graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware")
-Removed the graphics card again and put it back in ensure it was properly fitted

Useful information: We're running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) and it's the same install the of the OS as with the old motherboard.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

EDIT!:

My friend's new R9 270x has arrived and he has installed it in the motherboard. The results aren't good. The computer boots to Windows (we can hear the sounds of Windows starting) however there is now no display from either the integrated graphics or the new card. We need help! The card has both it's power connectors connected to the psu, no other changes have been made, the card is fitted properly, the display adapted is fitted correctly. My opinion on what the problem is is that the computer is attempting to use the new dedicated card for graphics but we haven't got drivers installed (The card needs to be in the computer for the drivers to be installed) so the integrated graphics disables itself and the card can't provide graphics.

Help would be even more greatly appreciated now!

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"Useful information: We're running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) and it's the same install the of the OS as with the old motherboard"

Very useful information actually. When you change the motherboard you then have to re-install Windows from scratch so that Windows Setup can familiarise itself with the new hardware and write a new Product ID to the Registry (the existing Product ID was for the old motherboard and is therefore invalid now).

 

[Alistair401]

Thanks Phillip. Unfortunately I have evidence that that is at least not completely true. I have myself installed new hardware on the same installation of Windows before. I was just about to edit my post to say we fixed our problem as well (on the same install of windows). For some reason the default graphics provider on Gigabyte 880GM-USB3L is the PCI slot not the PCIe or integrated graphics. What we did was to set the graphics to integrated with the card installed, download and install the drivers, switch back to PCIe and we were in business. For people wondering (the official documentation is horrible) this is done by entering BIOS, going to Advanced BIOS features > Init Display First > OnChipVGA and then switching to PEG later on. I suspect our motherboard is slightly faulty as it shouldn't have detected anything in the PCI slot and gone straight to integrated or dedicated graphics... who knows... who cares... it works now

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"Thanks Phillip. Unfortunately I have evidence that that is at least not completely true. I have myself installed new hardware on the same installation of Windows before."

New hardware, I've done that too. Any new hardware except a new motherboard. It's specifically the change of motherboard that requires a re-install of the OS for the reasons I've already explained -- ask any expert here if you don't believe me. If you didn't bother you'll soon start getting errors about activation being invalid. Your worry not mine.

 

[Alistair401]

"Thanks Phillip. Unfortunately I have evidence that that is at least not completely true. I have myself installed new hardware on the same installation of Windows before."

New hardware, I've done that too. Any new hardware except a new motherboard. It's specifically the change of motherboard that requires a re-install of the OS for the reasons I've already explained -- ask any expert here if you don't believe me. If you didn't bother you'll soon start getting errors about activation being invalid. Your worry not mine.

Honestly your probably right. Thanks a million for the help anyway. The computer is working well. Same OS; entirely different hardware (including the motherboard). Maybe we were lucky? I honestly don't know. You have the credentials of a more experience builder so no arguments there and I'm going to assume you're right and we just fluked it.