Video Controller not recognized.

[normloman]

I reinstalled windowx xp professional yesterday and today I noticed
that my refresh rate on the monitor was awfuly slow. When I went to
change it, It wouldn't let me - In the advanced section of display
settings where one normally changes the refresh rate, it lists "use
hardware default settings" and nothing else. It also lists my monitor
as "default Monitor".

So I went to device manager, and I couldn't find my monitor on the list
at all. I did however find "Video Controller Vga Compatible" but it had
a question mark on it. It was not recognized, I suppose, and I cant
find drivers for it on the windows xp disk or on windows update.

I am assuming that before device manager can recognize my monitor, it
must recognize my video controller. I dont have a separate video card -
Video is integrated through the motherboard. Problem is, I dont
remember having any drivers come with my motherboard (i got it
used...figures) and I'm not even sure what kind of motherboard it is.

From what I can tell, it is a microstar, according to the numbers I get

when I boot up award bios, and the chipset is apparently one of these:

VIA KT400 / VIA KT600 / VIA KM400 / KM266Pro / KM400A

Also, I'm certain that Im using an AMD processor. I have no idea
weather that helps narrow it down.

I really no nothing about motherboards, so this kind of doesn't make
sense to me. Can anyone tell from this information what kind of
motherboard I have, and where video drivers can be found for it? If
nobody can figure out, I suppose I can just open the machine, but Im
lazy, and I hope many can sympathize with that.

My real question though is - If i get the correct driver for the video
controller, will I then see my monitor in the device manager? Will this
also affect to which degree I can set my refresh rate?

Thank you in advance to anyone who has anything to say concerning
this... I have a feeling that when I find the answer to my video
problem, it will be very obvious, and I'll know how much of an idiot I
am.

 

[JS]

Processor, memory, video card, Sound Card, motherboard, Etc.
You can use Belarc Advisor to get help and info about your PC with this:
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Then hopefully you should be able to get the drivers that you need.
As for the monitor you made need the .inf file from the manufacturer.

JS

 

[glee]

A couple of ways you can go.....you can use Belarc Advisor as mentioned in the other
reply, to identify your video adapter, and try to locate the correct display driver
based on those results. I much prefer Everest Home Edition for this, due to the
greater amount of hardware info it gives:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads9.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/EVEREST_Free_Edition_d4181.html

Another option is to use Everest to identify exactly what motherboard model you have
along with the video chipset, and then go to the motherboard maker's support site
and download the integrated display driver for that model.

Post back with the identity of the motherboard and video chipset.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I reinstalled windowx xp professional yesterday and today I noticed
that my refresh rate on the monitor was awfuly slow. When I went to
change it, It wouldn't let me - In the advanced section of display
settings where one normally changes the refresh rate, it lists "use
hardware default settings" and nothing else. It also lists my monitor
as "default Monitor".

So I went to device manager, and I couldn't find my monitor on the list
at all. I did however find "Video Controller Vga Compatible" but it had
a question mark on it. It was not recognized, I suppose, and I cant
find drivers for it on the windows xp disk or on windows update.

I am assuming that before device manager can recognize my monitor, it
must recognize my video controller. I dont have a separate video card -
Video is integrated through the motherboard. Problem is, I dont
remember having any drivers come with my motherboard (i got it
used...figures) and I'm not even sure what kind of motherboard it is.
when I boot up award bios, and the chipset is apparently one of these:

VIA KT400 / VIA KT600 / VIA KM400 / KM266Pro / KM400A

Also, I'm certain that Im using an AMD processor. I have no idea
weather that helps narrow it down.

I really no nothing about motherboards, so this kind of doesn't make
sense to me. Can anyone tell from this information what kind of
motherboard I have, and where video drivers can be found for it? If
nobody can figure out, I suppose I can just open the machine, but Im
lazy, and I hope many can sympathize with that.

My real question though is - If i get the correct driver for the video
controller, will I then see my monitor in the device manager? Will this
also affect to which degree I can set my refresh rate?

Thank you in advance to anyone who has anything to say concerning
this... I have a feeling that when I find the answer to my video
problem, it will be very obvious, and I'll know how much of an idiot I
am.

You need the chipset drivers for your motherboard. The board model and
manufacturer's name is normally silkscreened on the motherboard itself. To
see this, you'll need to open the case. Often it's between the slots.

As noted, you may also be able to determine the board type from BELARC or,
if you can find a copy, Everest. But it's probably written on the board.

HTH
-pk

 

[normloman]

Wow! Thank you everyone for your responses! I tried Belarc Advisor and
it identified my board! A Microstar MS-7061 ! This is all I need to
solve my problems! Thank you all for introducing me to Belarc. I will
reccomend it to anyone with a similar problem!

 

[Guest]

Hi. I have read all the messages on this topic as I am having the same
problem. It started when my daugher got a digital camera for Christmas and
it told her to go into safemode and remove the old drivers. This lovely
instruction removed the drivers for my video controller. The problem is, I
am not as computer literate as the rest of you and I don't know how to tell
what product I have in order to find the driver on the Belarc Advisor. Can
anyone tell me how to find this information on my laptop? It's an ACER and
it too was a used model. Any help would be greatly appreciated.