ATI Radeon 5550 (gfx card) works, but 3200-series (onboard) doesn't

Gateway DX4300 with ATI Radeon 5550 (gfx card)
3200-series (onboard) -
Display Driver (device mgr): AMD Radeon HD 5500 Series and ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics (working properly)
2 Gateway HX2000: 1 DVI-D, 1 VGA - both detected and named properly
Third monitor: Dell 1905FP VGA only - not currently detected (but it's the onboard, not the monitor, see below)
AMD CCC version 2015.0728.2244.39078
8.00 GB RAM (7.75 GB usable)


* Installed Win10 Home x64 over Win8.1 (which was over 8, which was over 7, x64 Home Prem versions). Three monitors worked, just as they had in 7, 8, and 8.1, until restart with WinUpdate forced update, then onboard stopped working. Doesn't matter which VGA is plugged into it, no joy.

* Clean install of Win7 (only disk I had because 8 & 8.1 were downloaded upgrades). Onboard didn't work at all after this, not even initially.

* Backed all files up and clean installed Win10. Again, all three monitors worked initially, until machine restart.

When the Dell VGA is found, and when it was part of the three monitor setup that was working initially before the restart, Win10 detects it, names it properly, and it works, presumably, off the ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics display adapter. However, when it's connected (or when the VGA Gateway HX2000 is connected) to the onboard, after that initial working period before restart, the one on the onboard is not detected at all.

This led me to conclude it's the onboard, not any of the monitors, which all worked in tandem with extended desktop through 7, 8, and 8.1. It's only with the newer software for the AMD/ATI (which had not been upgraded since they first offered 8.1 for free) has "broken" my onboard.

However, if I pull the card, restart, the onboard works fine, and detected (and properly names under Monitors) whichever VGA I connect. So they aren't working together, at least after that initial period.

I've spent nearly 5 days working on this, Googling answers, and trying different stuff. I'll even take a simple fix that makes me feel stupid at this point, if only I could have all three working again.

The only alternative I'm left with at this point is to run the third off a USB converter, but that's not the most ideal way to go, IMO, and will restrict how well the third monitor works.

TIA for the long read. :)

AMD dropped current driver support for their HD 2x/3x/4x series years ago -- which is why you'll find no Win10 driver for those.

I had trouble, when I was still using an onboard HD 4390 installing the drivers in Win8 -- but the solution was NOT to use their installer, but instead, to use Control Panel, Device Manager, Update driver and select the .inf file for the driver package. That actually installed the drivers.

Mark Phelps said:

-- but the solution was NOT to use their installer, but instead, to use Control Panel, Device Manager, Update driver and select the .inf file for the driver package. That actually installed the drivers.

Thanks for the fast reply!

Since it's not detecting the monitor at all after restart, how do I update a driver that isn't there? Should I delete CCC fully, pull the card, and just do as you say for the onboard, then replace the card and do as you say for the card? How do I block Win10 from updating with CCC?

Okay, I've been at this for the last few hours, and I think ... I think ... I've worked it out. I did all the convoluted things with the card out, then back in, and in the end it was uninstalling the 3200 AND deleting the driver with Device Manager, restarting, and then letting 'look for new hardware' and letting it put the best driver it found. As of now, I've restarted, and it is working. Whether it will stay that way is another story, because I'm not satisfied that Win10 won't try to auto update it to the newest software again.

But at least for now I have my three screens back so I can work more efficiently.

Thanks!