Video card refuses to accept its driver CD as valid under W2k

[semi-ambivalent]

Hi all,

I just purchased a Viewsonic 2433wm monitor. I can do hi def 1980p
resolution. I plugged this in to my wife's W2k machine running a PNY
GeForce 5200 PCI video card. Prior it had been running a Viewsonic
VG2230wm monitor without a hitch. I stuck in the driver CD for the new
install it auto-ran and installed the drivers, then let me select the
resolution. It tested it and it displayed the effect for just a moment
then accepted it. At reboot I was presented with a blank blue desktop
and a cursor than has no right click ability. It also can disappear
off the left side of the screen, but not any other side. Well, I
thought, I'll need a 1980p type video card, which is a deal breaker on
this PCI machine (it has an onboard SIS video chipset as well.)

So I hooked up the old monitor but the reboot stops at the windows
splash screen with the progress bar *almost* to the end. So I
rebooted, hit F8 and booted into Safe Mode with network, which it did
fine. But when I tried ti re-install the driver for the 2230wm from
the CD that came with that monitor the install program said it can't
find any files. I have since tried all manners of things and am
currently running the 2230wm off the 5200 vid card, apparently using
the SIS driver. I can also run the 2230wm using the onboard SIS video.
Can anyone tell me what is going on here with the "official" driver CD
and why the install program doesn't accept it?

thanks for any hints.

 

[Paul]

Hi all,

I just purchased a Viewsonic 2433wm monitor. I can do hi def 1980p
resolution. I plugged this in to my wife's W2k machine running a PNY
GeForce 5200 PCI video card. Prior it had been running a Viewsonic
VG2230wm monitor without a hitch. I stuck in the driver CD for the new
install it auto-ran and installed the drivers, then let me select the
resolution. It tested it and it displayed the effect for just a moment
then accepted it. At reboot I was presented with a blank blue desktop
and a cursor than has no right click ability. It also can disappear
off the left side of the screen, but not any other side. Well, I
thought, I'll need a 1980p type video card, which is a deal breaker on
this PCI machine (it has an onboard SIS video chipset as well.)

So I hooked up the old monitor but the reboot stops at the windows
splash screen with the progress bar *almost* to the end. So I
rebooted, hit F8 and booted into Safe Mode with network, which it did
fine. But when I tried ti re-install the driver for the 2230wm from
the CD that came with that monitor the install program said it can't
find any files. I have since tried all manners of things and am
currently running the 2230wm off the 5200 vid card, apparently using
the SIS driver. I can also run the 2230wm using the onboard SIS video.
Can anyone tell me what is going on here with the "official" driver CD
and why the install program doesn't accept it?

thanks for any hints.

Perhaps the old CD is unreadable ? Have you tried copying the files
from the old CD, to your hard drive ?

The monitor driver is usually pretty small, and contains things like
an INF file, an ICM file (for color management). If you right click on
the INF, there might be an "Install" item at the top of the menu.
You can use that, to get the contents of the INF executed. One thing
in there, might be the command to copy the ICM file and so on.

The old driver probably isn't gone from the computer, so maybe there
is a way to select it again. As I only have one monitor, I can't
really reproduce your test case to try it.

With respect to a "1080p" video card, you can still buy PCI video cards.
This one would be a recent release, so has compliance with the latest standards.
It might even have a dual link DVI connector, which could support up
to a 30" Apple Cinema display. The only downside, is the limited
bus bandwidth of PCI. This becomes an issue, if the computer is
pushing a lot of pixels. So there may be some programs that
cause stuttering (i.e. move a QuickTime window around the screen was
the test case that stuttered when I tested PCI video).

H435H512PP HD 4350 PCI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161283

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...d-4350/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4300-overview.aspx

http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-444.shtml

Max. Resolution 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)

So that is an example of a recent generation PCI card you can buy.

In terms of OS support, recently released cards have drivers for
WinXP or later. For Win2K or Win98, you could well be out of luck.
This is one of the reasons I had to buy a copy of WinXP. Not
because WinXP was so great, but because it was becoming impossible
to support gaming on Win2K (between the crappy DirectX and company
design decisions, like hard coding checks for WinXP, and getting
drivers for newer cards).

That is where your FX5200 is a winner, in that there is an old driver
for Win98 and so on. The FX5200 *may* have a limitation as to
the DVI resolution it will drive, but I don't have an easy way to
look that up. That may become apparent once you get the driver
installed.

You can always go to the Nvidia site, if you wanted an FX5200 driver.
Even if you cannot find a driver via their main menu, there are
ways to find something.

Scan down through the driver archive...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html

until you find something supporting FX5200. See if this
will install to your FX5200. When the driver has a supported
hardware list, you can see what the driver covers. Sometimes
they tell lies, and in fact other stuff is supported, but
just not listed.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html

So if you wanted to shop for a PCI video card, you'd have
to balance "newness" versus the driver situation. And I don't
have an easy method to identify the last Win2K supported
video card for both ATI and Nvidia. Maybe a 6200 PCI is
the next best thing. I think they're at the very bottom
of the list for Nvidia driver support right now, so
for the latest OSes, there is still driver support for
a thing like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130466

Have fun,
Paul

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Perhaps the old CD is unreadable ? Have you tried copying the files
from the old CD, to your hard drive ?

The monitor driver is usually pretty small, and contains things like
an INF file, an ICM file (for color management). If you right click on
the INF, there might be an "Install" item at the top of the menu.
You can use that, to get the contents of the INF executed. One thing
in there, might be the command to copy the ICM file and so on.

The old driver probably isn't gone from the computer, so maybe there
is a way to select it again. As I only have one monitor, I can't
really reproduce your test case to try it.

With respect to a "1080p" video card, you can still buy PCI video cards.
This one would be a recent release, so has compliance with the latest standards.
It might even have a dual link DVI connector, which could support up
to a 30" Apple Cinema display. The only downside, is the limited
bus bandwidth of PCI. This becomes an issue, if the computer is
pushing a lot of pixels. So there may be some programs that
cause stuttering (i.e. move a QuickTime window around the screen was
the test case that stuttered when I tested PCI video).

H435H512PP HD 4350 PCIhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161283

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-4000/hd...

http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-444.shtml

    Max. Resolution   1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)

So that is an example of a recent generation PCI card you can buy.

In terms of OS support, recently released cards have drivers for
WinXP or later. For Win2K or Win98, you could well be out of luck.
This is one of the reasons I had to buy a copy of WinXP. Not
because WinXP was so great, but because it was becoming impossible
to support gaming on Win2K (between the crappy DirectX and company
design decisions, like hard coding checks for WinXP, and getting
drivers for newer cards).

That is where your FX5200 is a winner, in that there is an old driver
for Win98 and so on. The FX5200 *may* have a limitation as to
the DVI resolution it will drive, but I don't have an easy way to
look that up. That may become apparent once you get the driver
installed.

You can always go to the Nvidia site, if you wanted an FX5200 driver.
Even if you cannot find a driver via their main menu, there are
ways to find something.

Scan down through the driver archive...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html

until you find something supporting FX5200. See if this
will install to your FX5200. When the driver has a supported
hardware list, you can see what the driver covers. Sometimes
they tell lies, and in fact other stuff is supported, but
just not listed.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html

So if you wanted to shop for a PCI video card, you'd have
to balance "newness" versus the driver situation. And I don't
have an easy method to identify the last Win2K supported
video card for both ATI and Nvidia. Maybe a 6200 PCI is
the next best thing. I think they're at the very bottom
of the list for Nvidia driver support right now, so
for the latest OSes, there is still driver support for
a thing like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130466

Have fun,
     Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the fabulous reply (and links too, no less!)

r