NVIDIA Display Drivers - Details and Properties ISSUES

[Daniel]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 desktop with Windows XP Home Edition and a
GeForce3 Ti200 64mb AGP card (factory installed). I updated with NVIDIA
graphics drivers (WHQL certified) several times over the 2 plus years I've
had the system, with NVIDIA'S v.53.03 drivers installed until last week, and
have had no real problems.

Last week, I downloaded NVIDIA'S v.56.64 drivers for XP, and did not
discover the WHQL certification did not apply to my particular card until
halfway through the installation. I continued anyway, and here's where the
confusion starts - I don't recall what prompted me to remove the new
drivers, but after restarting Windows, the "found new hardware" icon
appeared in systray, and I went through all types of changes in my attempts
to restore the previous drivers. When all was said and done, I had to use
the Dell Resource CD for Drivers & Utilities to install the drivers that
originally came with my system. Once this was done, I was able to
install/update to v.53.03 drivers - however, I ran into problems when I
tried to use Coolbits to restore overclocking to the Display Properties.
Coolbits is a Registry tweak used to restore the overclocking option in the
GeForce3 Ti200 tab of Display Properties, and it can be downloaded from the
Guru of 3D site: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=201. You can
also restore overclocking by manually editing the Registry as described
here: http://oc3dmark.octeams.com/tip02.html.

However, when I double-clicked coolbits.exe, I got the following error:

"Registry Editor (title bar)

Cannot import C:\DOCUME~1\Daniel\MYDOCU~1\TEMP\coolbits.reg: Not all data
was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system
or other processes."

And when I tried to manually edit the registry by writing a new DWORD value
for NVTweak in the NVIDIA Corporation key's right pane (HKLM\Software\NVIDIA
Corporation\NVTweak), I received the following error, and was not allowed to
do so:

"Error Creating Value (title bar)

Cannot create value: Error writing to the registry."

In the Screenshot shown on the instructions web page, the following appears
in the right pane of the registry for the NVTweak key:
"NcCplExposeWin2kDualView" (without quotes). This does not appear in the
right pane of my registry - only "Default" appears. In the past, when I used
the Coolbits registry tweak, it worked properly and access to overclocking
was restored to Display Properties.

In addition to the issues described above, inconsistent information
concerning the drivers appears in Display Properties. When I click the
Settings tab in Display Properties, and then the Advanced button, the "Dell
M991 and NVIDIA 64MB DDR GeForce Ti200 Properties" window opens, and here's
where inconsistencies appear. If I click the "Adapter" tab, then the
"Properties" button, followed by the "Driver" tab on the new "Properties"
window, it displays the following:

NVIDIA 64MB DDR GeForce Ti200 (Dell) Properties (title bar)

NVIDIA 64MB DDR GeForce Ti200 (Dell)

Driver Provider: NVIDIA
Driver Date: 08/16/01
Driver Version: 1.4.6.2
Digital Signer: Not digitally signed

AND THEN, when I click the "Driver Details" button, the following is
displayed:

NVIDIA 64MB DDR GeForce Ti200 (Dell)

Driver files:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\nv4_mini.sys

Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
File version: 6.14.10.5303
Copyright: (C) NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.
Digital Signer: Not digitally signed

NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN FILE/DRIVER VERSIONS!

I'M HOPING SOMEONE CAN HELP ME UNDERSTAND:

1. Why the driver information differs from one place to another in
Properties, and whether this represents any type of problem...

AND ALSO:

2. How to restore OVERCLOCKING in Display Properties? Will something have to
be done to clean up the registry? Might returning to the original Dell
drivers, and then removing all the registry entries related to later NVIDIA
driver installations, followed by updating the drivers again make it
possible? How can this, or whatever is required, be accomplished? If you
provide a suggestion, please include step by step instructions - my tech
abilities and knowledge are pretty limited.

Any and all suggestions are welcome - if more information is needed, please
let me know, and I'll do my best to provide it - thank you!


Daniel D.
Santa Monica, CA
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Guest]

Have you tried uninstalling the video card drivers in Device Manager, reboot, then reinstall the newest drive (53.03)

looks like both vid drivers are on your computer, causing a conflict

For not having the ""NcCplExposeWin2kDualView" that's a value the new driver 53.03 makes in the registry to use a dual view on the monitor

 

[Daniel]

03/21/04


Hello Vern,

Yes - I e-mailed you directly with details - thank you for responding!

Daniel D.
Santa Monica, CA



Have you tried uninstalling the video card drivers in Device Manager,
reboot, then reinstall the newest drive (53.03)?

looks like both vid drivers are on your computer, causing a conflict.

For not having the ""NcCplExposeWin2kDualView" that's a value the new driver
53.03 makes in the registry to use a dual view on the monitor.

 

[Daniel]

03/21/04


Hello again,

The e-mail sent in reply to your post (I clicked Reply to Sender) was
returned as "undeliverable". Here is the content:

ORIGINAL REPLY

Hello Vern,

Yes, I uninstalled the drivers using Add/Remove Programs, and then, after
restarting my system, the "found new hardware" icon appeared in the system
tray, the Add New Hardware Installshield Wizard opened, and when I tried to
install either the original Dell or the v.53.03 drivers, upon completion, an
error appeared in the Installshield Wizard window stating the installation
had failed and something was wrong with "the parameters".

I was finally able to reinstall the 53.03 drivers after removing the NVIDIA
drivers from Add/Remove Programs, but only after reinstalling the original
Dell drivers from the Dell Resources CD, and when I could not use the
Coolbits registry tweak, I removed the 53.03 drivers again, and tried
installing an earlier driver (40.72) in the hope of restoring the missing
registry value (NcCplExposeWin2kDualView), or another similar value so I
might be able to use Coolbits. It did not work, and after several failed
attempts to re-install either the original Dell drivers (from Resource CD)
as I did the first time (don't have any idea why the parameter error kept
appearing) or the NVIDIA v.53.03 drivers, I finally resorted to restoring my
system (System Restore).

Everything runs alright as far as playing games, etc, but as mentioned in my
original post, the driver details are inconsistent - DIFFERENT FILE/DRIVER
VERSIONS APPEAR ON THE:

Driver tab of the NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 (Dell) Properties window
(to access, click Advanced button on Settings tab of Display Properties, the
Adapter tab, followed by the Properties button, and finally, the Driver tab)

VERSUS WHAT APPEARS ON THE

GeForce3 Ti200 tab
(to access, click Advanced button on Settings tab of Display Properties and
the GeForce3 Ti200 tab)

SEE ORIGINAL POST FOR MORE DETAILS.

I haven't been able to restore overclocking to Display Properties, and
although I'm not totally certain, I do NOT believe the discrepancy in
File/Driver versions existed prior to uninstalling and re-installing the
drivers.

I remember reading instructions (over a year ago, maybe longer) that
involved deleting the keys for the NVIDIA Corporation in two places in the
Registry, but I do not recall WHY - it may have involved some issue similar
to the restoration of overclocking, but this is pure speculationl.
Nevertheless, I have a strong feeling that steps of this type will be
necessary if Coolbits is ever to be restored to Display Properties.

Hope the above information clarifies the issue, but if more is required,
please let me know, and I'll do my best to provide it - thank you for taking
time to respond to my inquiry, and have a great week.


Daniel D.
Santa Monica, CA



Have you tried uninstalling the video card drivers in Device Manager,
reboot, then reinstall the newest drive (53.03)?

looks like both vid drivers are on your computer, causing a conflict.

For not having the ""NcCplExposeWin2kDualView" that's a value the new driver
53.03 makes in the registry to use a dual view on the monitor.