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Identifying a video card

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Sashanan

Programmer
Jan 19, 2001
235
NL
When I bought my computer (discount at a supermarket, that was my first mistake), it came with the wrong video drivers installed. It took me roughly a year to figure out that all the fatal exceptions I was getting were due to my video card being run with the wrong drivers. Of course, Windows had no clue they were wrong - once a certain set of drivers is installed on a card, Windows just assumes the appropriate card is what you have.

The card originally came with a driver for an Nvidia Riva TNT2 Pro installed. That driver causes serious problems (as in at least one fatal exception and forced reboot a day). I've managed to stop the crashes from occuring by installing a generic TNT driver, but obviously, this one is not quite as powerful as a specialized driver would be. I'm missing out on many special effects now which the previous driver did give, despite its instability.

I assume that if I can figure out what kind of video card I *do* have (obviously it wasn't a Riva TNT2 Pro), I should be able to get an appropriate driver and combine the best aspects of the two drivers I have now - the stability of the generic driver and the performance of a specialized one. :)

The question is, then, how would I go about identifying my video card? I've found Windows cannot do it for me - if I take off the current driver, Windows mentions on its next boot that it has found new hardware, but cannot identify the kind of video card (it just asks me to come up with a good driver). Opening the computer didn't help much either - I can see the card just fine, but there isn't any description on it. The supermarket obviously cannot help me at all. (Remind me to buy from a *real* vendor next time.)

Does anybody know what I could do to identify my video card? Is there, for instance, a piece of software that could do this?

Thanks in advance for any input!

P.S. Should it make a difference, I am running Windows 98 SE.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)
 
On another thread somebody mentioned SiSoft Sandra 2001.
Another option is the FCC identifier, which will lead you back to the manufacturer.
You might also try windrivers.com for drivers.
You might want to consider that the right drivers were installed , just flakey, and try downloading current drivers. 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.

 
Thanks. I have experimented with drivers quite a bit ( is my usual driver spot, never failed me so far), and I am fairly sure the problem is a misidentified card.

I'll give it a try with the names you mentioned.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)
 
Video drivers are constantly being rewritten and updated by the card manufacturer. It is always a good bet to check with the manufacturer from time to time to see if there is an updated driver. Often it takes a good search to find a driver. The manufacturer may have a CD with a utility to identify which card you have, that can be ordered. I had a modem that I couldnt find drivers for, and for a while I used a driver based on the Chip and not the card manufacturer.

Sometimes the problem may be the motherboard. If you can't tell what type of video card you have then you may not know the motherboard model number either. Sometimes there are improvements in the bios or the AGP drivers to make the motherboard work better with the video card. Sometimes there are settings in the BIOS to improve performance, and sometimes you have to change some lines in the Windows Registry or something. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
Try removing the card from the PC, and carefully noting down the reference numbers/names marked on the main IC(s). Type these into your Internet search engine - you might be surprised what comes back.

ROGER - GØAOZ.
 
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