Continually missing video driver

[jcgamo88]

I'm having trouble with a computer. After various amounts of time the video card driver goes missing according to windows. I download the driver again and within a random period of time ranging from just about a week to several months the snaffu happens all over again.

Any ideas on the cause and how to fix those problems is what I'm looking for.

Card: FX 5200 128MB AGP
Windows XP Home SP2
Driver: Omega Drivers (most current), NGO optimized 1.9147, nVidia forceware 91.47
I'm unable to remember the Mobo, this computer is not at my house currently. What I do remember is a Via chipset VT****.

 

[jcgamo88]

HALP?!

 

[nullpointerus]

I've never heard of this before...

If no one can help you here, you should try posting this in the technical support forum.

 

[rise]

yeah, thats weird. i've had problems with drivers not starting at start up because of psu issuses but not missing drivers.

the drivers physically go missing, ie you can't find them in C: when they go missing? makes no sense that they would uninstall and delete themselves

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I've seen this before. Download 3DMark05 and run it a few times, like 6 at least. See if the 5200 cuts out. It it does buy a new card.

#2, if the 5200 passes the runs of 05 go download AVG free 7.5, AVG Anti Spyware, SpyBot S & D, Spyware blaster , Ad-Aware-Se , and if u can Windows Deffender. Scan your system like never before and after it's all cleaned up do a repair install on windows.

To do this insert the OS disc and start your system as you would to do a fresh install on a system, go thru the setup but skip the first screen where it asks you to "Repair using recovery console" and continue with the setup untill you get to the part where it asks you to hit "F8 to continue" then it shows you the partitions that windows is installed on, on the bottom you should see "Hit R to repair", so hit the "R" key. It will default every windows file leaving all your personal data intact but you start with fresh un-damaged windows files. Go get all of your windows updates again and the problem should be no more.

Personally I re-install windows every 6 months or so.

 

[nullpointerus]

Just to add to Dazed and Confused's suggestion: If you do a repair install of pre-SP2 over SP2, some stuff in the OS like the control panel may crash or give an error message, but when you update to SP2 again, it will work fine. I've done it before--nothing to worry about.

Windows should really have two interfaces: (a) the normal UI, and (b) an advanced system administration UI. The second one already exists, but it's so fragmented and underdocumented that it's useless even for advanced users unless they want to do a lot of searches.

 

[jcgamo88]

Ok, I've run 3dmark, aquamark, pcmark, and various other AMD/Nvidia tech demos all without fail before this started happening. I've even done a complete OS reinstall twice. The card was purchased new to replace the same version that had failed.

Sorry, I didn't even see this was replied to.

In the interim from these replies to now the driver has disappeared once. I haven't run anything beyond AVG free. The only thing this system is used for is email via Incredimail, browsing a Realty site called MLS.com, and microsoft office. I must say, this is the longest it ahs gone without a problem however (~1.5months).

 

[rbV5]

Make sure you clean your old drivers completely with a driver removal utility. Install the latest chipset/AGP drivers for your motherboard <---my guess for the root cause, the latest directX runtime for your OS and then the proper drivers for your graphics card.