Display Drivers.... 1

[Kjonnnn]

Here's my story.

Someone at my church bought a computer and donated it a few years ago. Evidently, the computer guy made it, since it bears no computer company name. I had several issues concerning this cheap thing over the years. (This is the computer I posted a few months back that the computer guy blamed the HP print drivers "we" installed" for corrupting the hard drive. So I really don't wanna talk to him anymore if I dont have to.)

Recently, W98 crashed after I tried to remove multiple versions of MS Office someone had installed on it. (I found out some of the w98 system files were in the Office directories... HUH). So wiped it and installed W98SE.

Anyway my problem is this. I can't find the display drivers. It doesnt have a video card. I've look for the name of the motherboard, and I see a SiS 620 chip on it.

Does mean Sis made this board and the display drivers? I went to the SiS site and found the drivers for this board.

I want to know if Im doing the right thing to get the display drivers (for more than 16 colors and different resolution)? Or should I look elsewhere on the board.

 

[xscape]

After your reinstall in Win 98SE it should boot and go into Windows without any drivers installed. The res will be low and low colour too, but it should bring up a screen that says new diplay adaptor detected. It should give the name of the Display Adaptor. Write it down and do a search on the Net for new drivers for it.

You don't have to install the drivers straight away, you can click cancel and it'll probably ask for other drivers (sound etc). When you've got hold of the drivers you should be able to go into Windows, go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab and it should show the item up with a little exclamation mark. I think that should work, but feel free to correct me!

Oh, and if you have another look on the motherboard at some of the other chips they may have something different on them other that SIS which is the Chipset manufacturer. Usually the display chipset is made by someone else.

Hope it works for ya!!

 

[edfair]

This is a display chipset that was incorporated by the M/B manufacturer.
If win can't find drivers in the catalog it will install the vga generic. You then go into display and update the drivers.
There should have been a cd containg the full set of drivers packaged with the M/B. Or possibly floppies. But the builder may have kept them, or they may have been lost.
You may need to dig into the M/B to find the manufacturer, then download the full set of drivers for the specific board.
This is a pain, but it is the only way.
Has been my experience that churches are the absolute worst place to get involved with computers. It requires a superb command of the english language to express the frustrations that you encounter. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Kjonnnn]

Thanks. I already installed 98 and its using the standard vga driver which only gives 16 colors and the 640 resolution. I've tried other display drivers but none work.

Normally they consult me regarding computer matters, but this computer was purchased and donated by a member, (who's gonna turn down a free anything), and the builder didnt give any driver or restoration disks with the machine.

I was told to find the manufacturer of the motherboard, and SiS is the other name that seems to pop out under the hood. I went to their site and they seem to show a board that has the same specs and look as ours.

 

[xscape]

I just had a very quick look at the SisS site and found this. It's the grahics drivers apparently for the 620 chipset which I believe is what you've got. Just download all 8 files (!) and they should be what you're after. It looks to me as though they've been split to fit onto floppy disks. Shouldn't take too long to download though as it looks to be about 10 megs worth. Should be what you're looking for I hope!

Link:

http://www.sis.com/support/driver/620.htm

Good luck with it!

 

[dakota81]

Sorry to say, but there are many various cards out there that use the SiS chipset. I once had to search for drivers to a mysterious card with a SiS chipset. I had to search and find drivers from many different places before I finally found which company made the card. For me it was just trial and error, for drivers from different manufacturers would not work even though the cards used the same SiS chipset.

I wish you good luck because if the SiS reference drivers don't get the card working, it may be difficult to find a usable driver.

 

[edfair]

You could tear down to see if there is a FCC registration number, the use the FCC site for manufacturer. Sometimes it helps. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Psychosylph]

Run into this problem myself a few times... When it happens we usually just start taking numbers that are printed on the board itself (not the chips, etc.) and start plunking them into search engines. 90% of the time one of them will come up with the manufacturer of the board and you can hunt your way to drivers from there. This also works alot of the time with assorted cards.

 

[Kjonnnn]

Thanks Guys.

The files I downloaded from the the SiS site did the trick.