Grrrr...

[Alpha_Monkey]

Right, I know it probably doesn't belong here (lock it if ya like), but I need some technical advice...

Recently my comp has given me lotsa trouble, which I fixed, and it worked fine for a few days. Then I thought I may as well get some new drivers for my GF2MX, since my current ones were a bit crap (23.11?). Anyway, I download 'em, then got rid of the old ones, like you do. Safe mode, deleted hardware profile...

So I restart, and it detects new hardware. Fine...
Thing is, for some reason, instead of picking up my GF2MX, it finds a "Generic PCI VGA piece of crap", hence those shiny new drivers won't be much use...and I'm stuck in 16colors for the time being.

To make matters worse, I need to use my graphics package to finish up some coursework for wednesday...*smacks head against desk*

Why won't it detect my card, and how do I fix it???

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm tempted to once again become a dreaded console-ite...

[ÜberJumper]

Take the latest Nvidia detonator drivers and install them. That should fix your problem.

[Alpha_Monkey]

Ahaaa...
sorry, its been a while since I did this last...

Right, it's detected my card, but when it comes to installing my drivers, which I downloaded, it asks for a file from "NVidia compatability disk 1", which I've never heard of. I assumed it meant the disk my card came with, but that does sweet diddly-squat. I don't remember any other d/l-ed drivers needing a disk. WTH?

EDIT: WTBH...tried again, worked this time. Great. Cheers Uber...;)

[TheBob]

If your still stuck in 16-bit color mode, go My Computer->Control Panel->Display->Settings->Advanced->Adapter->Change and select your MX.

Meh=:cylon:

[oneredpanther]

Then I thought I may as well get some new drivers HAR. That'll teach ya, then.

You shouldn't get drivers because you thought you "might as well". You only ever get them when there's actually a NEED to.

Would you upgrade to some buggy new OS that's only been around for a few weeks and is untested, just because you "might as well"? absolutely not.

Treat drivers the same way.

[IgnusDei]

had a similar problem with those "latest" drivers. Fullscreen ran like crap for some reason. Lucky for me i kept the older drivers?
The lesson here is DON"T DELETE THE OLD ONES! EVER!

[Walker]

I have the first version of det 4. I learnt my lesson with interim versions with det 3, not including the very last 12.x's.

Personally, I leave doing critical things like driver updates or major overhauling of my stuff to reformats, which I do fairly regularly. That way I don't have old versions or defunct but secret files swimming around, and everything is always crisp and clean. To be honest, it's more of a psychological thing, but I'd point out I never have these sorts of problems, or any others. It's routine I've learnt from past experience.

[TheBob]

Call in NVIDIA tech support and b*tch, it'll get some stress out if nothing else.

[ÜberJumper]

nVidia provides no support for their Generic Detonator drivers. Support of the actual card and it's drivers is up to the company that built it. nVidia just supplies the technology and the basic detonators to the companies that build the cards.

[SquidDNA]

So is there a general rule as to which drivers will give you better results, or is it a case-by-case basis?

[Walker]

If you mean card-specific driver versions then always go for the latest version. Your manufacturer will not approve a card-specific update using a new nVidia release unless that release improves the performance on that specific card. They can do that. nVidia can't plan for every flavour and generation of card that uses their chipsets out there.

If you mean generic nVidia releases, a really BIG advance will be marked by a new official set, for nVidia that's Detonators. There have been 3 such improvements since nVidia started making cards compatible with their unified drivers, which I think starts with the chipset prior to the first TNT's (don't remember its name, some years ago now). Those are must-haves. The latest one was not long ago, about last October I think, the Detonator 4's, which supported the GeForce 3 and it's new capabilities, and WinXP.

Apart from those big official releases, it's pretty much an individual basis. With the Det 3's, there were 6.xx, 7.xx, 8.xx, 9.xx, 10.xx 11.xx and 12.xx releases after the official version (6.xx), all supposedly improvements on the previous set, but with differing performance across peoples systems. Some people had better stability and performance with 7.xx's than with the 12.xx. Some people had better performance but less stability with the 12.xx than anything else. Etc.
Sometimes there'll be an unnofficial release that is WHQL approved, which means it's been tested by Microsoft and certified to work with anything they could throw at it tolerably well. But they don't necessarily offer assuredly better performance or stability on all systems.