Device Driver - version nubmers

[Guest]

Hello Forum,
When I go to the Dell Download site to update my video driver, the version
number and release date listed there doesn't correspond to the version
listed in device manager after the update. The driver has updated - the
version number and release date ARE new - they just never correspond to the
number listed on the Dell site.
What's with that?

XP Pro SP2
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 video card.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

NVidia Display Drivers 61.77

Welcome to the NVIDIA software download page.
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

 

[Guest]

The driver is already updated. I just don't understand why the version
numbers listed on the Dell site and listed in device manager don't
correspond. They seem to be an enitrely different number system.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Since the drivers are NVidia, I would ignore whatever Dell says.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I suppose so. Odd - the NVIDIA site has one numbering system. Dell
another, and my Device Manager yet a third.
BTW - is it safe to assume that my NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 is the same as
the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 listed on the NVIDIA site. (There' s no "Go"
before the 5200.)
Thanks!

 

[David Candy]

The Nvidia version number is the last 4 digits of the full version number.
6.14.10.6177 is listed by Nvidia as 61.77

 

[Guest]

Ah ha! And device manager takes the last four digits and separates them by a
dot (6.1.7.7) Thanks!!

 

[Guest]

Okay now someone figure this one out:

Dell has release date of 67.42 as 12/1/04. My device driver calls the
release date of the same 6.7.4.2 as 10/26/04. I figured that one was the
date NVIDIA released, the other the date Dell released, EXCEPT NIVIDIA
currently has on their website 66.93 (earlier version?) as released 11/9/04.
So that blows the theory... trivial matters, I know, but I when I don't
understand something, I can't help but try to dig up the answer!

 

[David Candy]

The device manager date is the date on the file.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys
Is the driver file (other files are support files).

Cut and paste this to start run
explorer /select,C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys

Look at the properties of this file.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Yes, I suppose so. Odd - the NVIDIA site has one numbering system. Dell
another, and my Device Manager yet a third.
BTW - is it safe to assume that my NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 is the same as
the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 listed on the NVIDIA site.

NVidia now has a unified driver for all the GeForce cards for XP. A
specific card maker (and I would exclude Dell from this) *might* have a
Tweaked version to go with their particular implementation, but I would
always get the ones from nVidia unless I kew exactly what I was doing in
the specific case

 

[Guest]

Sure enough.

The device manager date is the date on the file.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys
Is the driver file (other files are support files).

Cut and paste this to start run
explorer /select,C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nv4_mini.sys

Look at the properties of this file.