Correctly reinstall motherboard and video card drivers

[PCNoob101]

I have an Asus M3a78-em motherboard and Nvidia 9800gt video card. I have been experiencing lockups while playing certain games and wanted to reinstall my drivers to rule out any problems. I wanted to know the correct way to do this.

I know the video card drivers are easy to find on the nvida website.

I'm very confused with what chipset drivers to use. CPUz says the chipset is AMD 780g and southbridge is ATI sb700. Asus has a package on their website for the motherboard but it is old compared to the downloads on AMD and ATI websites.

ATI and AMD websites do not show any downloads for 780g or sb700 specifically, just a package they call catalyst, but it looks like its a graphics driver for the video cards. I can't tell what I should be using.


Also what is the proper way to install new drivers. Is it safe to uninstall chipset and motherboard drivers first? How do I do this? Can I use Driver Sweeper? I am very confused.

 

[vailr]

Look for "South Bridge Driver" on AMD's driver download page.
Dated 3/18/2009, the file name is:
9-3_xp32-64_sb.exe
Or: DriverMax 4.92 can find and install the latest drivers for you:
http://majorgeeks.com/download5260.html
Note: free registration required.

 

[Paperdoc]

Originally posted by: PCNoob101
ATI and AMD websites do not show any downloads for 780g or sb700 specifically, just a package they call catalyst, but it looks like its a graphics driver for the video cards. I can't tell what I should be using.

Catalyst is a large package of drivers and software specifically for ATI video cards. Don't download it - you have Nvidia hardware.

 

[PCNoob101]

So I just need the southbridge driver? Do I need another download for the chipset? Should I uninstall the previous drivers or just install on top of them?

 

[PCNoob101]

Vailr, I can't find that driver on AMD's page. How are you getting to it?

 

[Blain]

Why don't you want to use the drivers from Asus downloads for your MB?

 

[PCNoob101]

The only download I could find from asus was this 400mb package version that is from July 08. Other downloads seemed to be more current, but I wasn't sure if they were the right ones. I am looking for some clarification. When I unzip the package there are 13 different folders, mostly names of what Im not familiar with and each has its own setup.exe file. So I dont know which of these I need to be installing either.

 

[Blain]

Your OS is XP 32-bit?

 

[vailr]

Originally posted by: PCNoob101
Vailr, I can't find that driver on AMD's page. How are you getting to it?

Go to:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpud...nglish&rev=9.3&ostype=
Scroll down to "South Bridge Driver".

 

[vailr]

Originally posted by: Paperdoc

Originally posted by: PCNoob101
ATI and AMD websites do not show any downloads for 780g or sb700 specifically, just a package they call catalyst, but it looks like its a graphics driver for the video cards. I can't tell what I should be using.

Catalyst is a large package of drivers and software specifically for ATI video cards. Don't download it - you have Nvidia hardware.

The Asus M3a78-em motherboard uses the AMD chipset.

 

[PCNoob101]

yes xp-32bit

 

[Paperdoc]

Originally posted by: vailr

Originally posted by: Paperdoc

Originally posted by: PCNoob101
ATI and AMD websites do not show any downloads for 780g or sb700 specifically, just a package they call catalyst, but it looks like its a graphics driver for the video cards. I can't tell what I should be using.

Catalyst is a large package of drivers and software specifically for ATI video cards. Don't download it - you have Nvidia hardware.

The Asus M3a78-em motherboard uses the AMD chipset.

Yes, your mobo may have an AMD chipset, but you are not using the onboard video system - you are using an Nvidia video card. So you do not want to install ATI's video drivers unless you have decided to go back to the mobo's built-in video. Even then you'd want to be sure the Catalyst driver set covers the mobo's video system before installing it. The Catalyst drivers are not needed for other southbridge functions. For that you generally would need the mobo chipset drivers provided by AMD (which may include also any drivers necessary for that chip's video functions.)