PCI card not recognized

[Mansin]

I'm installing a new PCI graphics card so my neighbor can use dual monitors.
It's an EVGA something or other, if it's important I'll post the exact model number, otherwise:

I did the regular new GPU installation, uninstalled old drivers etc etc. When I finally have it up and running (or so I thought), the second card didn't show up in the device manager under Display Adapters.

I restarted the computer and looked in the BIOS to see if the card was recognized in the PCI slot. In the System information PCI slot said "not populated". I can't enable or disable any of the PCI slots so I'm assuming it's already enabled.

I flashed the BIOS, uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers, removed and replaced the card, and so on. I've pretty much tried everything. I made sure the fan was spinning by putting a pencil in contact with the fan, so at least I know the card is getting power.

Now I'm stuck... halp?

[Olo401]

Unless you're deliberately trying to make a Crossfire/SLI setup, in which case you need two of the same GPU card, you can't use two video cards in a system without causing some kind of hardware conflict.

If you want to run dual monitors, you'll need a single card with dual outputs. Most new cards will have that these days.

[Mansin]

I'm running two cards in my current setup without crossfire and it works just fine.

And I'm trying to get it working for him because he needs three monitors for some stock work he does. The problem is just that the PC refuses to recognize the PCI card.

[Olo401]

Ack.. three monitors. That might be tricky for a different reason, but anyways back to the video card itself. Have you tried running just the card that won't work on its own? I mean take out the first card completely and try the second one as the primary, in the first card's slot?

[Mansin]

I haven't tried that, actually. If it worked that would eliminate the problem of the card being defective...
My best guess is the BIOS won't allow two seperate types of video controllers.