ATI Graphics Driver needed, I think

[Richard]

Hi,

I running WinXP2-Pro on a no-name system with an Intel Pentium 4, 2-
GHz processor, 1MB RAM and plenty of free hard-drive space.

I just got an error msgbox inviting me to inform Microsoft about the
error. I complied and got a message in return entitled "Microsoft
Windows Error Reporting". It told me "This problem was caused by ATI
Graphics Driver. ATI Graphics Driver was created by ATI Technologies,
Inc."

It further told me to "go to the Microsoft Update website. Click
Custom, click Hardware, Optional, select all ATI Graphics Driver
updates, and then click Review and install updates." However,
following these instructions listed no Graphics Driver updates.

I searched the web and found http://www.geometrygames.org/labs.html
which suggested "To determine who manufactured your graphics adapter,
go to Start : Control Panel : System : Hardware : Device Manager,
click on the '+' next to your computer's name to see the list of
hardware types, and then click on the '+' next to Display Adapters to
see what graphics circuitry your computer has." That indicated I had
a "Rage 128 Pro UltraGL AGP (Microsoft Corporation)"

I tried http://www.atitechnologies.com/ and got an AMD website
offering Drivers & Software. I selected Windows XP Professional/Home
and saw 8 driver-types (presumably) listed, but none for Rage. There
was one listed for Radeon, which offer a bunch of Radeon X???? series.

Questions:
1. Does the Device Manger's "Rage 128 Pro ..." reflect the name of a
Graphics Chip or a driver for a chip?
2. Is Radeon related to Rage? (I saw them both mentioned on a few
sites during my search.)
3. Any other ideas?

TIA,
Richard

 

[You Know Who ~]

I would not get a driver from windows update. go directly to the ATI site.
It is listed under Legacy (they don't sell it anymore) drivers
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html Yes, the board was made by ATI and
called RAGE
Its an older card and i suspect you already have the latest driver.
which makes me wonder why you should update and if there isn't some other
problem with the driver.
can you advise what caused the error?
(and I hope you have more than 1 mb of ram)

 

[Rich Barry]

Richard, you can download a driver here. Rage is an early ATI product.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/RAGE_128RAGE_128_PRO_Windows_XP_Display_Driver/1007015392/1

 

[Richard]

Thanks for your advice. I agree that Microsoft's assessment of a
recent error is suspect. I've been using the current drivers for a
good while without any such symptom.

I didn't save any information about the error beyond what I supplied.
My system seems to running fine. And, yes, I do have 1000 times the
RAM I mistakenly reported

Now that I'm informed that that Graphics card is out-of-date (which I
suspected when an ATI link led to an AMD website), I'm not going to
hunt any further. But I will bookmark the link you provided.

Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Richard]

P.S.

FYI, the link you provide is the same one I had listed. For XP, it
only listed drivers for other types of chips, not RAGE.

Nevertheless, now that I know somebody recommends the site, I will
bookmark it in case some future need for drivers arises.

Again,
Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Richard]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the real source of a driver for my chip. As I mentioned in
response to "You Know Who" previously, since my chip is obsolete
there's probably no need to update my driver. My system is running
fine, so Microsoft's analysis is probably inapplicable.

But I'm happy to know where I can find a driver for the Rage chip.
I've bookmarked the site.

Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

I didn't save any information about the error beyond what I supplied.

Next time PrtScr>Wordpad>Paste>save will preserve all.

Just my 2¢ worth. Larry

Any advice is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Noncompliant]

Whatever you do, DO NOT GET ANY DRIVER SOFTWARE FROM MS UPDATE SITE, EVER.

Go to the ati.com site. Find the driver download in reference to your
onboard ati card. Find the latest software drivers. Download (do not
select open), but do not install yet. Find the installation directions for
it at ATI site. You may need to uninstall the current ATI driver software
first.

 

[Richard]

Next time PrtScr>Wordpad>Paste>save will preserve all.

Just my 2¢ worth. Larry

Any advice is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

Point well taken. Thanks, Larry.

 

[Richard]

Thanks for your response.

As I mentioned in the original post, Device Manager reported that I
had a "Rage 128 Pro UltraGL AGP". Do you agree that describes the
graphics hardware, not merely a driver for a graphics card?

Second, I did try to go to the ATI site but got forwarded
automatically to the AMD site, and the latter had nothing about Rage
processors.

Why do you think Microsoft is a bad place to get drivers, as opposed
to some of the free sites that let you download a driver but "spike"
it with malware attachments?

Again, thanks for weighing in on my question.

Best wishes,
Richard

 

[Nightowl]

Second, I did try to go to the ATI site but got forwarded
automatically to the AMD site, and the latter had nothing about Rage
processors.

Hi Richard

On the ATI site (http://ati.amd.com), in the main menu bar across the
top, click on Drivers & Software, then Find a Driver. A three-column
table will appear.

In the first column select Windows XP Professional/Home; in the second
column select Legacy (Discontinued). You'll then see that drivers for
various Rage graphics cards pop up in the third column.

Hope this helps Let us know how you get on.

 

[Richard]

Hi Nightowl,

You were right on, as far as it goes ... or so I thought at first. I
tried it on Firefox 2.0.0.3 but got nothing when I clicked or double-
clicked the top entry in the right-hand column, Rage 128. Hmmm, I
thought, is Firefox sick?

So I tried the same thing on IE 7.0. Insanity, they say, is trying
the same thing again and expecting different results. But, in this
case, I noticed a tiny, green Go button an the bottom right. Voila!

I don't know why AMD's Web designer didn't simply make the entries in
the right-hand column hyper-links (or make a bigger button, or
activate the button just after presenting the third column's
choices). Weird.

However, all's well that ends well. Thanks for your help.

Best wishes,
Richard