XP won't identify video card anymore !! Help !!

[pcmangler]

Hi,

I've just installed XP SP2 on system with a GeForce 2 400MX AGP card
in it. On the install, XP correctly recognised the card and used it's
own drivers. Later, I tried the latest Nvidia drivers (77.77) and
found them to be a little sluggish in comparison. So, wanting to
return to the original XP ones, I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers via
control panel. On the reboot, XP detected the video card as a "Video
Controller (VGA Compatible)" and *not* as an "NVidia Geforce 2 MX 400"
(which it did on the install).

No matter what I do, I cannot get XP to recognise the card properly
again, nor install any drivers for it. I can however reinstall the
Nvidia ones and it is once again correctly seen as a Geforce 2 MX 400.

Remove them, and I'm back to "vga compatible" !!

I've tried 'sfc /scannow' to restore any critical files, but no joy.

If I tell it to automatically install drivers for it, it says it can't
find any, and likewise if I try manually ("I will choose the driver to
install") once I choose Display Adapters in the category list, it says
"no drivers are available" (or something to that effect).

It's driving me nuts !!!!

PLEASE !!! - Can someone help ? !! I'm presuming that the uninstall
of the Nvidia drivers took something with them that XP uses to
identify the card, but I don't know what !!

Cheers,

Kev.

 

[pcmangler]

Hi,

I've just installed XP SP2 on system with a GeForce 2 400MX AGP card
in it.

Sorry.. I meant to say it was a complete install of XP (with SP2 built
in), rather than imply I was just applying SP2.

 

[Brian P.]

You went wrong when you removed the Nvidia drivers using Add/Remove
programs. You should have just uninstalled the device in Device Manager. Try
System Restore or a manual system restore from the recovery console.

Brian P.
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[pcmangler]

You went wrong when you removed the Nvidia drivers using Add/Remove

programs. You should have just uninstalled the device in Device Manager. Try
System Restore or a manual system restore from the recovery console.

Brian P.
A+, Network+, MCP

Wouldn't XP just then have then redetected the card and used the
*still installed* Nvidia drivers ? Besides, everywhere I've looked
all say to use add / remove programs, and I've done this before on
other machines without any problems - it's always gone back to the
default XP drivers. I can't do a system restore now, I've put too
much software on since then and don't want to reinstall everything !

Surely the 'official' way to uninstall drivers is via add/remove
programs, and not via device manager ??

 

[Brian]

No actually the proper way is using the device manager as
95% of your drivers do not have a nice little installation package that will
appear in Add/Remove programs. A system restore should not wipe out your
programs and files, unless you use the restore files from the
%windir%\repair folder in the recovery console. Go to the Nvidia website and
search the archives for a previous release of the drivers you need.

Brian P.
A+, Network+, MCP