Does my graphics card work? (wires and cords)?

I have a PCIE graphics card that i want to use to boost my graphics for gaming, it has two DVI ports on it, but my monitor is VGA. so i bought an adapter for it that works in this format.

graphics card> DVI cord> DVI-VGA adapter> monitor.

When i installed the Gcard i turned off the pc, unplugged it, grounded myself, installed the card. installed the wires to everything, turned the pc back on, the pc spooled up properly, but the monitor never came on. it was like it had nothing to recognize.

Also.. when i undid all this work and turned the pc back on in normal VGA format, my user profile was slightly corrupted and the pc force logged me in as a clone guest of my original user profile... not sure why THAT happened..

I am told that this did not work because the adapter needs to be ON the graphics card and that i should be using a VGA cord instead. It was not explained why except that the crossbar port on the DVI needs to be hooked up to the graphics card.

(i would assume the interface would be the same since the wire for the Gcard is a DVI and has that crossbar. (+)

i need to know what the issue is before i spend more money on exchanging or simply returning that adaptor.

is the Gcard messed up? or is there a bios problem? or, could it be that i was told correctly that the adaptor arrangment is backwards and the Gcard cant fully interface with the monitor?

in reguards to drivers, i dont know what model this card is other than its an ATI with no logos or model numbers on it. so i will have to wait until i can look at bios to see if it works or not. and then find the driver for whatever it identifies itself as to the bios.

any help, would be really appreaciated on this guys.. thanks.