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Help Please. Question about FX5900 XT (SE) Install

A

AnnoyedGrunt

Senior member
Hi,

Been reading the forums for a while, but just joined today to post this question.

A couple weeks ago I bought an eVGA FX5900 SE card (5900 XT GPU) with CoD from newegg. I tried intalling the card after updating AGP drivers, using driver cleaner to get rid of old drivers (Leadtek GF3 ti200), and downloading the 53.03 NVIDIA reference drivers. When I booted up my computer with the new card, the BIOS said it was an FX5900. When I go into WinXP it is also detected as an FX5900 (no XT suffix). When I try to install the drivers, I get most of the way through and then get the install quits with the following message. "Windows is unable to install the hardware. The data is invalid."

I thought that the problem was with the new card's BIOS, since it was reporting itself as a FX5900 instead of am FX5900XT. However, even if I manually install the 5900XT drivers, I get the same error (maybe because of the BIOS mismatch). I therefore RMA'd the original card (and sent back the CoD CD's). Today I recieved a new card, and of course their is no CoD. Furthermore, I'm getting the exact same problem as before. I'm almost ready to format the HDD and do a fresh install, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet.

So, here's my question: Does anyone else have a card that uses the FX5900XT GPU? Do you know what your BIOS says when your computer boots up? Do you know how Windows detected you card? Is it possible that I got two different cards with the same problem (they have different serial numbers, so I know they didn't just ship me back the same card)?

I posed this question to eVGA, and they told me to test the card in a different machine (which I don't have) or to just send it back to newegg for a new one. The problem is that I've now paid an extra $5.00 for shipping my first card back, lost the CoD CD, and still have the same problem.

I'm hoping you guys can at least tell me if my card is being detected the same as yours, so I know what next step to take.

Thanks,
D'oh!
 
I'm pretty sure it's not the drivers. I tried the drivers on the install CD that came with the card, I downloaded the drivers from eVGA and had the same problem. I downloaded the reference drivers from NVIDIA and had the same problem again. I used the Driver Cleaner program between all the installs, so between that and the 3 separate downloads I doubt there was a corrupt file. However, it could be a possiblity. If nothing else works I may try buying a similar card @ Fry's since they have an great return policy. At least that way I can test to see if it is just bad luck with the two eVGA cards or if it is something with my system.

I'm hoping that someone with the same chip (FX5900XT) will be able to tell me if theirs posts as an FX5900 (no XT) and is detected in Windows as an FX5900. I'll also try checking with eVGA again, but last time they weren't any help. It seems weird that the drivers have a separate file for 5900XT, but when my card is detected it wants to install the 5900 (and when it posts the cards BIOS says 5900). That also leads me to believe it is a card BIOS problem and not a system problem, so I'm hoping some of you can confirm that.

Thanks for the ideas, and keep 'em coming.

Later,
D'oh!
 
Grunt, I have a se and the bios reads 5900 as do the adapter in device manager and in the driver general page. It has the 5900 gpu just like the 5900. It has the 5900 bios. When you ran driver cleaner2 did you do it in safe mode and did you select the nvidia fix first in driver cleaner menu? p.s., I sent you a personal message.
 
Got your message.

To answer your questions:

1. I was not in safe mode but was using default MS VGA drivers when I tried to use driver cleaner.

2. I had just upgraded my leadtek drivers and therefore was under the impression (from reading the driver cleaner readme) that I didn't need to use the special filter.

Also, just to clarify, the first time I tried the install I simply changed my leadtek card to a VGA card, and uninstalled all the leadtek drivers. Then turned off the computer, installed the new card, and turned the computer back on. I then used the eVGA install CD, which failed. Then I started looking around the net for ways to fix the problem. I started grasping at straws, and nothing worked. I used the cab cleaner in Driver Cleaner, and in the middle of running the program crashed, so now I have no cab file (although that doesn't seem to make a difference).

At that point noticed that the 53.03 drivers had a separate file for the 5900XT but mine was trying to install the 5900, and I thought maybe that was the problem. At that point I RMA'd the card but since the new one has the same problem I'm guessing that maybe something with my system is hosed.

I'm about ready to reformat and reinstall everything, but then I'll have 2 years of WinXP service patches to download (via dialup) and install, so I'm not sure if a reformat is worth this trouble.

Anyhow, I'm a little frustrated, and also a little surprised since this is the first time I've ever had a computer problem that I wasn't able to figure out myself. A bit humbling, but hey, if I can get this working with everyone's help, than at least I will have learned something.

Thanks,
D'oh!
 
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