GEForce2 is kerfloowey!!

[baZillionaire]

To make a long story short, my pc fan acted up so a friend looked at it, reseated, etc. and while in there he said he "flashed the bios" and installed SP1 for XP, and defragged.

Now, the video drivers are just windows default, altho I have installed updated GEForce drivers 2 times so far. I can't even see the card in device manager, altho it is clearly operating on some level since the monitor is plugged into it and I can see the screen.

Things don't look too bad overall but the problem I have is that a game I play, Anarchy Online, is unable to launch and I suspect that this is the problem, since when I run dxdiag.exe the video is the only thing that shows a problem, and it says that it is using windows default drivers and to reinstall manufacturers drivers (which i did). I can't find it at all when I do "install new hw" nor can I see it to "add - remove programs". I do see a listing for nVidia nView Desktop manager under settings but it will not launch... just stalls out.

So, do you think my video card is toast? Any ideas? I heard updating bios can mess with these things, is "flash the bios" the same as update?? I am only so-so on hardware stuff, so go easy on me on the answer! TIA - Donna

 

[imverygifted]

i guess its a good thing that cards only worth a few dollars- your card is probably still good maybe you jus need to run some driver cleaners then install the drivers you plan to use. if all else fails jus pick up a new card the geforce 4 mx series still sells really cheap and its an equivelent to the geforce 2 series proetty much

 

[Gamingphreek]

I highly doubt he flashed the VGA Bios. I dont know of very many GF2 bios's out there. I most likely flashed the BIOS for your motherboard in which case it has nothing to do with the problems you are doing.

Flashing the BIOS, correct me if i am wrong guys, sends and electric surge through the BIOS chip which wipes out each thing and then rewrites over it. So it is an update but more complicated as you are rewriting ROM (Read Only Memory). Also ask your friend why he installed SP1 when SP2 is going to be forced to download in the near future. Update to SP2 when you get a chance.

Now you say you cant see your card under device manager. That is impossible because if you are getting a picture windows has identified your card and if all else fails is using some generic drivers. Which drivers were you trying to install for your card. It sounds like the drivers you are installing do not support your card and therefore it installs the apps but the driver itself is not compatible. In my drivers thread i would highly recommend installing the 67.66, or the 75.29 drivers, both of which are excellent.

-Kevin

 

[baZillionaire]

Thank you for clarifying about the flashing the bios thing, that makes sense to me. Regarding not seeing the card under device manager, I DO understand your point... here is what I see, perhaps I don't know I am seeing it!

Well, lessee... under device manager under sound, video and game controllers, it shows the following list:

Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Game Port
Santa Cruz WDM Interface
Video Codecs
Video Codecs

of these, their are only three that mention VIDEO in the name, the first one called Legacy Video Capture Devices says it is working properly, and under the Properties tab it is blank. The first one called Video Codecs says it is working properly and under Driver it says the dirver is Microsoft and the signer is Microsoft Windows XP Publisher, the 2nd one called Video Codecs under properties has a fairly long list of dlls including DivX, iccvid, Indeo 1.263 Video Driver, Indeo video 5.10, ir32_32, ir41_32, and a bunch more that probably arent important to this issue?

So, is one of these the GEForce?? I assumed it would SAY nvidia or geforce or something, like the santa cruz sound card does.... it sure seems that it used to.

Can you tell me what you suggest I do now? I am specifically trying to download and install the correct GEForce2 drivers for XP, and I also have read that i should first uninstall the old drivers before installing new, but they don't show up under software either, and, as i mentioned, the nvidia nview desktop manager under control panel won't launch.... how should I proceed to troubleshoot this?

Thanks so much!! I know this card is older, but it's all I have at the moment! I hope I can get things going again. Donna

 

[imverygifted]

its not under sound, video, and game controllers- its under display

 

[Gamingphreek]

That is because it isn't under Sound Video and Game Controllers

It is under display adapters. Also what drivers were you trying to install.

-Kevin

 

[baZillionaire]

Well that explain that! Here is the thing, I don't have Display Adapters as a category... I do have one with a question mark named Other Devices with one item under it called Unsupported Devices. The troubleshooting button doesn't help cause it says to roll back the drivers (which this unsupported device says there are none installed) or uninstall and reinstall drivers (back to step 1, lol) So...what do you suggest?

So you think I should try something like turn off the computer, unseat and reseat the video card, then restart or something? I am a web developer so this is NOT my forte! But, I CAN follow instructions :-D

Regarding the drivers, I went to nvidia site, and chose GEForce and XP and just downloaded what came up....

 

[baZillionaire]

any ideas on what I should do next? I dont want to make it worse but I am thinking of taking the card out and putting it back in? whaddya think?