Bios demands eat up some of the orig. 4 to somewhere near 3.
Unless onboard device g.c.s use own onboard RAM.

Then it's a non-issue. Drivers, etc. will come with the card. Unless the retailer gives you some reason to think otherwise any cooling device will come with the basic unit.

Use your warranty if you have it.

Onboard video circutry is dying (condenser most likely). Time to fork it over for a new laptop. Not really worth the effort/$$ for a repair. You can have your data on old drive connected to new...

Bad AC adapter and/or batt. Insufficient data for anything else.

If you're going to actually use extra graphics card you'll need the extra one to have it's own onboard bios. Otherwise disable the onboard graphics to allow access to the other that you intend to...

You attached graphics were a NO show. An educated guess, if the card fits the slot, yes, otherwised DO NOT force it.

Not really a concern. System RAM is different from Graphics RAM which is on the video card itself. You are NOT using system RAM for the graphics devices that you now use. System RAM is used by the...

Not very likely. Unless the onboard circutry supports it (probably doesn't, otherwise you'd have it already). It's not really worth the effort but you can try a 5.1 or 7.x device connected to audio...

"use the computer till it dies" water damage is considered a non-recoverable circumstance in electronic devices. If it won't do more than post HD is dead also. At this point screen prob. is...

Yes and no, AND it depends on what the card was actually designed to do. Insufficient data provided.

In basic agreement with C_jack. Unless you've some ability to comprehend a wiring schematic of the unit, you're basically shooting in the dark with a blindfold on attempting a do-it-yourself. The...

>>>main power
You mean the AC adapter?

It's been out for a while and a possible cheap way out is another rechargeable batt.

Another thought, have you tried a different GA?

GA = Graphics Adapter (video card)

you've apparently found your prob., i.e. bad cable. until repaired/replaced the fix you've found may not hold too long.
yep, you could at least try the...

aaaaand the prob. is?

Seems like a port/IRQ conflict to me.

BIOS settings?

When booting up the GA uses basic settings, however, when the OS takes hold IT'S using enhanced mode drivers. Try booting in Safe mode for a check.
The drivers may be corrupt and may need to be...

Who said what?????

A bit more info here would help.
Seems a bit more that what software can fix.

The PCI bus is a white plastic card slot, the high end adapter is as was indicated above, brown or a darker color and quite noticably longer.
If you're a gamer or at least into CAD then the hi-end...

Your system board is probably too young for an ISA or Micro-channel slot. Most any PCI card that fits your pocket should be O.K.

Most portable units today have a port for an external monitor. It's worth a try.
Even if the add-on RAM was specifically designed for video it's fairly predictable that you'd end up where you did....

This is hardware issue. Given the age of the machine I'd check for a contaminated set of cooling fins. Short of that I'd take the card back to the retailer for a refund/replacement.

You're not gonna like this. Your suspicion about the GC and/or mobo is right on. Unless the GC is a replacable module then it's a new mobo or it's time to send Mr. Dell (minus the HD) to the dump.

Errant or excess voltage most likely. Not much to concern yourself with unless it gets increasingly annoying.

a few suggestions: bad assembly on ass. line, damage in shipment/storage, old age, etc.

Ram?
U didn't state the amount of system (hardware) ram.

Replace/service the hardware.

Your VGA card is what your monitor is plugged in to unless an onboard setup. In this case a hardware issue could be literal, i.e. bad monitor, connection, cable, etc. Just don't go through that...

You're either using up too much ram or you've a yet undetermined hardware issue.

Games are CPU and RAM intensive. You might do with a little "inside the box" cleaning, dust, lint, etc.
Disengage any extra services that you might be able to do without at least temporarily while...