So I'm working on a friends computer.
He knows nothing, I know a little more than nothing.
He has a beast machine, but he hates windows 10.

The only problem is he uses a TV as a monitor(VGA hookup no hdmi), he doesn't have an integrated video card on the mother board, so the only two visual options are 2x 9800's.

I want to roll his machine back to 8.1, 100% fresh install, he has externals to store all his pictures etc.
but when I delete the partition and do a fresh install, the drivers for the video card will be lost, thus me not being able to see anything when the machine boots for the first time.

How can I get around this?

This post was edited by DaveAlGhul on Feb 27 2017 12:51pm

You should be able to see picture fine, it will just start off with a MS generic display driver and basic resolution (800x600) until the drivers for the GPU are installed.

didnt know it was humanly possible to want 8.1

He wants 8.1 because he's used to it.

Now I'm having this issue - when I try to enter bios to change boot order, there is no signal to monitor so i can't see anything in bios.

fml, might have bit off more than I can chew

This post was edited by DaveAlGhul on Feb 27 2017 02:46pm

did you try all video ports?

Trying them now. But it doesn't make sense because if I boot normally. The monitor works fine, it takes me to the login screen.

It's only when I try to enter bios/advanced start options that I get no signal.

Woot thanks. Different port worked!

Do you think I'm running a big risk by trying to change the operating system while having these issues? I'm scared to mess this guys machine up but I need the money lol

No Windows will default a video driver. Lot of chips don't have integrated

shouldnt casue any additional issue

Thanks guys. Feeling a lot more confident about this.

Going ahead with the 8.1 fresh install.

2 additional questions if you don't mind

1. He has 3 hard drives. 1 built in for OS + some misc stuff
Should I disconnect the 2 external before or does it matter?

2. On C disk (built in) I think its split into two partitions
Should I delete both partitions and start a completely new one or overwrite just the one with 10 loaded?