Video Card Installation Woes

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2007-01-16 10:21pm

So I received my shiny new 7600GS from FedEx today, and of course, proceeded to try and install it. I put everything into it's place, and turn the thing on, and everything is fine, until I hit Windows. The screen goes blank, I can still hear the HD being busy and stuff. Everything still responds, it's just not getting displayed. I figure this is because my onboard video card isn't disabled yet, since I can use the card pre-Windows, so it isn't a physical problem. Now here's the rub - Windows doesn't detect the new video card I put in, so the drivers I need for the video card refuse to install themselves. It doesn't detect the new video card because it's still using the onboard, so I need to disable the onboard. But if I disable the onboard, I can't see anything, so I can't install the new drivers. As you can see, I'm caught in a tricky situation here. I've already tried booting up Windows in safe mode, with absolutely the same results. Any suggestions here would be welcomed.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-01-16 10:44pm

You're not 100% clear in what exactly you've done, so this is why I'm asking: have you tried to boot Windows with the onboard video disabled yet? I've seen computers which will recognize either an onboard video chip or a video card but not both at the same time.

What should happen is that when you disable the onboard video, Windows should boot, detect the video card, and load basic drivers which will allow very limited operation (640x480, 16-color, usually) and then you install the proper drivers for the video card.

What motherboard are you running?

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2007-01-17 01:17am

Uraniun235 wrote:You're not 100% clear in what exactly you've done, so this is why I'm asking: have you tried to boot Windows with the onboard video disabled yet? I've seen computers which will recognize either an onboard video chip or a video card but not both at the same time.

What should happen is that when you disable the onboard video, Windows should boot, detect the video card, and load basic drivers which will allow very limited operation (640x480, 16-color, usually) and then you install the proper drivers for the video card.

What motherboard are you running?

Yes, I've tried to boot with the onboard video disabled. The result was that Windows booted, but without displaying anything through the new video card, which meant I had no means of installing the drivers. And since I need to be able to see what is being displayed, I need the onboard video enabled, but that excludes the detection of the new video card, thus preventing driver installation again.

I've got a DG965SS Intel Mobo.

Edit: I have confirmed that onboard and the PCIe video adapters are mutually exclusive.
Edit Again: I've removed all traces of my old nVidia drivers, still to no effect. I am sure the only way to fix this is to be able to boot into Windows with my PCIe card displaying stuff, unless somebody knows a way to install nVidia drivers without any output from a display.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2007-01-17 09:52am

You did nuke the Intel video driver, correct?

Also, you can try booting up with the onboard video, going to Control Panels ->Add Hardware. Then click on Next, click on "Yes, I have already connected the hardware" and hit Next. Then, scroll down the bottom of the "Installed hardware" window, and click "Add a new hardware device", and Next. Then use the manually select option to get to your Nvidia drivers. This *shoud* get Windows to store the driver. Then reboot, turn off your onboard video, let Windows boot and give it a minute. It should find the driver.

Note: I'm not about to say that this works 100%, but its worth a shot.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2007-01-17 11:33am

Arrow wrote:You did nuke the Intel video driver, correct?

Also, you can try booting up with the onboard video, going to Control Panels ->Add Hardware. Then click on Next, click on "Yes, I have already connected the hardware" and hit Next. Then, scroll down the bottom of the "Installed hardware" window, and click "Add a new hardware device", and Next. Then use the manually select option to get to your Nvidia drivers. This *shoud* get Windows to store the driver. Then reboot, turn off your onboard video, let Windows boot and give it a minute. It should find the driver.

Note: I'm not about to say that this works 100%, but its worth a shot.

Yeah, I removed the Intel driver. Your method almost works - I can select the .inf file, but nothing is listed as possible hardware to install afterwards. In fact, I can't find any nVidia video card listings.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2007-01-17 12:24pm

Hmm...

Do you still have your XP install disks? You should be able to a repair install that will clean out your drivers and load the default ones (this won't affect your installed programs, but you will have to download SP2 and MS updates again, and reinstall all your drivers). Basically, you let XP setup go through its motions, and when it says you already have an install, you select repair. But this has to be with an MS install disk - a recovery disk from Dell, HP and the like isn't going to do it. And you might want to wait and see if U235 or someone else can come up with another way to fix your problem. Oh, and if you do this, make sure your onboard video is off, first.

And to ask a really stupid question (and only because I've done it before): you did move the monitor cable over the other card?

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2007-01-17 01:23pm

This is why I loath onboard video. Not only is the video hardware equivalent to a crappy card, but it's usually totally useless when you actually get a video card, not to mention problems associated with installation, such as what you're facing.

Anyways, to contribute, Microsoft apparently knows that this is an issue (I'll reserve using "problem," despite the fact that that's what it is), and has posted a possible workaround.

Reading though it, it sounds like you have already tried the second suggestion, which looks like what Arrow suggested. This is beside the fact that the article is for win2000.

If you have another computer handy that doesn't have onboard video, you could put your video card and hard drive into that computer, install the drivers, and then back into your computer. No guarantees on the results. I absolve myself of any liability.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-01-17 01:32pm

Exonerate wrote:Yeah, I removed the Intel driver. Your method almost works - I can select the .inf file, but nothing is listed as possible hardware to install afterwards. In fact, I can't find any nVidia video card listings.

You did uncheck the "Show only compatible hardware" (or whatever that checkbox is called), right? Because Windows isn't going to believe there's any "compatible hardware" with the drivers you've pointed it to, because it's not detecting the video card while the onboard video is working.

Braedley wrote:If you have another computer handy that doesn't have onboard video, you could put your video card and hard drive into that computer, install the drivers, and then back into your computer. No guarantees on the results. I absolve myself of any liability.

Windows probably won't even boot on a different motherboard, on account of the hard drive controller drivers not being correct.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2007-01-17 01:50pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Braedley wrote:If you have another computer handy that doesn't have onboard video, you could put your video card and hard drive into that computer, install the drivers, and then back into your computer. No guarantees on the results. I absolve myself of any liability.
Windows probably won't even boot on a different motherboard, on account of the hard drive controller drivers not being correct.

Hard drive drivers are standardized. They haven't changed significantly since the IDE drivers were introduced, save the switch to SATA. Why? Because hard drives need to be able to be accessed from BIOS, and always have been. All it takes is maybe changing the drive to boot from.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2007-01-17 02:02pm

Uraniun235 wrote: Windows probably won't even boot on a different motherboard, on account of the hard drive controller drivers not being correct.

Not for that reason, but I think Windows demands a reinstall if major hardware changes are detected - mostly the motherboard changing since its the only time its told me to.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-01-17 03:25pm

Braedley wrote:Hard drive drivers are standardized. They haven't changed significantly since the IDE drivers were introduced, save the switch to SATA. Why? Because hard drives need to be able to be accessed from BIOS, and always have been. All it takes is maybe changing the drive to boot from.

O RLY

What happens if I don't do the IDE drivers step?
One of two things.
1. The system will give INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE and won't even boot up.
2. It'll work if you're upgrading between compatible chipsets (ie. i845 to i850 or KT133A to KT333)

Sharp-kun wrote:Not for that reason, but I think Windows demands a reinstall if major hardware changes are detected - mostly the motherboard changing since its the only time its told me to.

It's possible but you want to uninstall the motherboard-specific drivers before changing the motherboard, otherwise Windows will likely shit it's pants.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2007-01-17 04:28pm

I asked for advice on this same card not long ago, and I've just given up on it now and put my GeForce 4 back in, it just will not run. I'm not sure whether this is because the 7600 is just not particularly reliable, or because of something else in my machine. While I was trying to fix it I came upon some advice suggesting that you shouldn't run the latest drivers, but instead go for an older set, if thats any help.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2007-01-17 04:50pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Exonerate wrote:Yeah, I removed the Intel driver. Your method almost works - I can select the .inf file, but nothing is listed as possible hardware to install afterwards. In fact, I can't find any nVidia video card listings.
You did uncheck the "Show only compatible hardware" (or whatever that checkbox is called), right? Because Windows isn't going to believe there's any "compatible hardware" with the drivers you've pointed it to, because it's not detecting the video card while the onboard video is working.

I can't find such a checkbox at all.

I do have the original Windows XP CD, but repairing the installation is my last resort. And yes, of course, I do have the cord plugged into the right place.

Reading other forums, I've come across the possibility that the video card BIOS needs to be flashed. I've already contacted XFX support, but there has been no response so far.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2007-01-17 07:36pm

Problem solved. I went into the recovery console to see if the vga drivers were starting up as they were supposed to, and while I was there, I noticed that the Intel PCIe service was set on manual. I turned it onto "Boot", and now it works.