Video Card Issue

[bpi]

I installed XP Pro to a desktop PC, PIII, 450 MHz, 256MB. The video card was Diamond Stealth S60 AGP. XP Pro could not detect the video card and installed a vgaSave driver for me. I tried to uninstall the vgaSave driver and reinstalled the S60 driver via the supplied CD. The installation of the S60 could not finish and I got error message saying that I need to install a standard vga driver before going to install the S60 driver.

How could I get rid of the vgaSave from XP and install a standard VGA driver such that I can continue to install the S60 driver ?

Other than this issue, everything else is working fine under XP. BTW, I have the XP service pack 2 installed.

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

 

[BadBigBen]

You should be able to install the correct driver without having to uninstall the build in Windows driver.

Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[bpi]

I just tried the latest driver downloaded from Diamondmm.com, not working at all. :-(

Ching-Ho Cheng

 

[linney]

These are some notes on Vga Save I have collected.

"Users know that to speed things up in Windows 2000 and XP, you can stop services and disable them. Fewer services running equals faster performance. Both operating systems contain a service named VGASAVE, which is designed to load automatically when the default designated video card driver does not work, or if a newly installed video card driver refuses to work -- this should stay off-limits to disablers.


VGASAVE is enabled by default and should not be disabled. If you disable it and reboot, there is a strong chance the system may not boot, since during boot-time it is used as a fail-safe. Many users have reported that they disabled it in the mistaken assumption they were freeing up system resources by doing so, only to discover their system was now unbootable. If VGASAVE was disabled, you can reset it by booting to the Recovery Console and typing enable vgasave service_system_start at the command prompt.

VGASAVE consists of two files, VGA.DLL and VGA.SYS, both of which must be present for the service to work correctly. In the event one or both of these files is deleted or damaged, Windows 2000 will BSOD and return the following error: STOP B4 error, VIDEO_DRIVER_FAILED_TO_LOAD. You can recover these files by booting to the Recovery Console and expanding copies of VGA.DLL and VGA.SYS from the i386 directory on the CD-ROM (stored as VGA.SY_ and VGA.DR_)."


If you need a new video card?

Video Card 101

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/learnmore/videocard101.mspx

 

[BadBigBen]

Ok, go to ATI's Homepage (

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27)

download the ATI Catalyst driver there, before installing (note that you must install Microsofts NetFramework first, there is a link to it on the previous page)...

if you still have problems then please comeback here and let us know...




Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[bpi]

I tried the latest driver from

http://www.diamondmm.com,

and it still not able to complete the driver installation. Even manual installation of the driver failed too because the driver INF file provided no video card selection in the windows XP dialog box. Therefore, the "Next" button was greyed out and could not continue. :-(

I will try the catalyst driver tonight. I hope this driver will work with Stealth S60 video card.

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

 

[bpi]

I tried the latest catalyst driver, same result. The installation could not complete, and I had to install a standard VGA driver first before continue.

Any other suggestion ?

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

 

[BadBigBen]

Ok, now we try it another way...

I am assuming that you have unpacked the ATI drivers...

Now go to the Device Manager, right click on the Standard Graphics card listed there, on the TAB DRIVER, there click on installing/updating Driver (should be the second button)...

the hardware assistant should now pop up, there you place the check on 'Not Now'(third choice) and continue...

next page you answer with checking 'Install Software from another Source (for advanced users)' (second choice)...

now on the next page, choose the second choice (Do not search but install driver directly)...

now it should display all drivers that are compatible to your graphics card... if there is only the StandardVGA driver listed, then hit the button and maneuver to the place where you unpacked the ATI driver (should read something like this: 'C:\Ati\SUPPORT\wxp-w2k-catalyst-8-121-050322a-022141C\Driver\2KXP_INF') and it will display the compatible GFX Card driver, choose the one with the latest date... ignore the warning about Compatibility Question... and on the Hardware Installation Assistent you click Continue...

it should now start installing the driver, and if all goes well you should be up and good to go...



Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[bpi]

Hi,

Must be I did not describe in details. I followed what you did and went to 'C:\Ati\SUPPORT\wxp-w2k-catalyst-8-121-050322a-022141C\Driver\2KXP_INF'. The problem is that Windows XP DID NOT display any compatible GFX card driver(s). The selection box is empty and the Next button was grey out. I could not continue, the only button that I could select was either Back or Cancel.

I just try a older PCI card - ATI Rage II with 4MB video RAM, and Windows XP detected it and installed the correct driver. So, it could be the motherboard issue.

Any other suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

 

[BadBigBen]

No, I don't think so... as it recognizes the older card correctly... this is indeed a strange and weird thing...

I am more or less assuming that the S60 may be defective or incompatible with you MoBo... other than that I have no new idea on getting it to work...

You may wanna list what type of mobo and PSU you have installed, to shed more light on the subject...



Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[bpi]

The S60 is AGP video card, and the old RAGE II is PCI card. The motherboard is PCChips 726MRT and the PSU is the new 300W with light coming out of the fan (My daughter loves the light coming out of the PSU).

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng