Help with Video Card

[Rick Parker]

I'm having a problems with WinXP (Home). I fried my NVIDIA TNT2 AGP card
when it's fan failed. The system would still work sort of the video display
was just very slow. In looking into the problem when checking the hardware
manager I found that the list didn't include display adapters any more.
That's when I dug into the hardware and found the fried video card. I
replaced the NVIDA TNT2 AGP card with a new ATI 9550 AGP card and booted the
system.



The first time while things worked much better it didn't detect the new
video card and the video adapter didn't show up. I played around and now
the Hardware Manager does show a display adapter, but it's unknown. I tried
to install the drivers and other software and keep getting the message that
it can't be done. I've tried to install it several times plus tried to
update the driver etc. It won't let me.



The old NVIDA drivers are still on the hard disk. I haven't removed them.
The programs for that card don't show up when I run the Add or Remove
Programs portion of the Control Panel. I was going to remove them after
booting into Safe Mode but I can't boot to safe mode for some reason. The
arrow keys on my Microsoft Office Keyboard won't work when the boot up menu
that allows you to choose Safe Mode.



I checked the System Info Tool and the Display Component is unknown but in
the Device Driver section it shows NV and NV4 which are NVIDIA drivers.



I thought about booting from the CD and repairing WinXP. I changed the BIOS
to boot first from the CD then HDD and then Floppy. When I rebooted the CD
lights come on but the system automatically loads WinXP. I set the BIOS
boot up sequence to CD for each of the options. I get a message that hit any
key to boot from the CD and when I hit a key it still boots from the HD and
boots up WinXP.



I have everything backed up and can format and reinstall everything but that
's a real pain. I'd like to avoid that option if I can. Any ideas of what
I should try and in what order before I reformat and reinstall everything?
My inital thought is to use Explorer to delete the Nvidia files and see what
happens. But I don't know if that's the best thing to do.

 

[Jerry]

Are you sure some function on the motherboard wasn't fried along with the
nVidia card when it went? The problems you're having sure sound like
something else on the motherboard is bad.

 

[Colin Cogle]

Go to nVidia's web site and look for something like a driver cleaner (I
forget the actual name). It's a program that removes all traces of
nVidia drivers from your hard drive.

ATI has a similar program. If you still have problems, get rid of the
ATI drivers with their program and then, once all traces of videocard
drivers are removed from your computer (nice and clean!), reinstall the
ATI drivers.

I have a TnT2 and it runs perfectly with just a heatsink on the GPU. It
doesn't need a fan. The heatsink gets warm but not hot. Maybe your
system's airflow scheme needs to be improved?

 

[Rick Parker]

There was an extra set of ports on a PCI card in the very next slot. It
didn't allow for the best circulation. The card didn't have a heat sink and
when the fan died things over heated. I've removed that extra PCI card that
I wasn't really using anymore.

Thanks for the tip on the NVIDA driver cleaner. I'll look for it right now.
I ran PC Pitstop and the big flag was that my video was running at about 43%
of what was expected for a system like mine. It's running a whole lot
better right now but nothing like it should. If the driver cleaner doesn't
work then I'm going to reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows and the
new video driver. If that doesn't solve the problem then I guess I'm going
to have to buy a new motherboard.

 

[Feng Mao]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for posting!

I have some suggestion to install the ATI display car driver

First, please go to http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html to download the
latest ATI display card driver. As you are using ATI 9550, you may select
Windows XP -> Graphic Driver -> RADEON Family.

Second, go to Device Manager (might be the hardware manager in your
message) by right clicking My Computer, choose Properties, in Hardware tab,
click Device Manager button. I wonder if you can see your display card at
this moment. If no, click View (menu) -> Show hidden devices (menu). Click
the display card you can see and remove it.

Now, you can run the setup program downloaded from ATI web site and
continue the installation. You need restart your computer after the
installation.

Thanks & Regards,

Feng Mao [MSFT], MCSE
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
=====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



--------------------
| From: "Rick Parker" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
| Subject: Re: Help with Video Card
| Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 13:45:13 -0700
| Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
| Message-ID: <[email protected]>
| References: <[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
| X-Priority: 3
| X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
| X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437
| X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441
| X-Complaints-To: (e-mail address removed)
| Lines: 26
| Path:
cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-onlin
e.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-06!sn-
post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail
| Xref: cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support:456180
| X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
|
| There was an extra set of ports on a PCI card in the very next slot. It
| didn't allow for the best circulation. The card didn't have a heat sink
and
| when the fan died things over heated. I've removed that extra PCI card
that
| I wasn't really using anymore.
|
| Thanks for the tip on the NVIDA driver cleaner. I'll look for it right
now.
| I ran PC Pitstop and the big flag was that my video was running at about
43%
| of what was expected for a system like mine. It's running a whole lot
| better right now but nothing like it should. If the driver cleaner
doesn't
| work then I'm going to reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows and
the
| new video driver. If that doesn't solve the problem then I guess I'm
going
| to have to buy a new motherboard.
|
| "Colin Cogle" <[email protected]>
wrote
| in message | > Go to nVidia's web site and look for something like a driver cleaner (I
| > forget the actual name). It's a program that removes all traces of
| > nVidia drivers from your hard drive.
| >
| > ATI has a similar program. If you still have problems, get rid of the
| > ATI drivers with their program and then, once all traces of videocard
| > drivers are removed from your computer (nice and clean!), reinstall the
| > ATI drivers.
| >
|
|
|

 

[Feng Mao]

Hi Rick,

According to my experience, currently, I cannot see that the problem is
related to your motherboard. Most properly it is the software issue which
prevent you from installing the ATI driver.

I am not sure if you have tried the suggestion I posted on August 8. If it
still failed, properly we need delete some registry key manually.

Thanks & Regards,

Feng Mao [MSFT], MCSE
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
=====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



--------------------
| From: "Rick Parker" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
| Subject: Re: Help with Video Card
| Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 23:06:17 -0700
| Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
| Message-ID: <[email protected]>
| Reply-To: "Rick Parker" <[email protected]>
| References: <[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
| X-Priority: 3
| X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
| X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437
| X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441
| X-Complaints-To: (e-mail address removed)
| Lines: 15
| Path:
cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGXA01.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl!newsfeed00.s
ul.t-online.de!t-online.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!s
n-xit-03!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not
-for-mail
| Xref: cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support:457441
| X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
|
| I thought about that but I haven't the slightest idea of how to test the
| board to figure out if that's the problem. I'd hate to spend bucks on
| something unless I really need it. There is nothing obviously wrong with
| the boad. How can I tell or test it? If it's the main board then I'll
need
| to buy a new one + a new processor and memory. Mines a 1.1 ghz AMD
| Thuderbird which works fine but "need" is a relative thing isn't it <g>
|
| | > Are you sure some function on the motherboard wasn't fried along with
the
| > nVidia card when it went? The problems you're having sure sound like
| > something else on the motherboard is bad.
| >
|
|
|