Graphics card driver Prob!!!

Hi, jaythaman ...

I consider it a rule-of-thumb to never install drivers for new hardware off a manufacturer's CD unless there is absolutely no other option. Many times, you'll discover that the drivers are dated, and the installer in the driver set doesn't work correctly, or causes problems, primarily due to other programs running at the exact same time the driver files are extracted and installed ... and secondarily, because the installer itself can be corrupted. Corruption rarely occurs with the files on a CD, but it's been known to happen.

There are other ways to install the drivers. In your case, you basically have two options. The first would be to download the drivers directly from the Asus website. The other would be to use the standard nVidia drivers for GeForce cards.

Generally, I use the nVidia drivers, regardless of the brand name of the card. Even drivers on a manufacture's website can sometimes be dated. However, sometimes the drivers off the manufacturer's site can offer additional features meant specifically for that make of card. But I'd suggest making your decision based on the date and build of the driver, for the sake of stability and performance.

The most fool-proof way (IMHO) to install the drivers is to do it manually. First, be sure that you have some kind of unzipping utility installed in the system, such as <A HREF="http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm" target="_new">WinZIP</A> or WinRAR, for example. Then, download the drivers of your preference into a folder reserved for this purpose, like a "My Downloads" folder, so they can be easily located.

Next, create a new folder specifically for the driver files, and name it accordingly.

Right-click the downloaded file, and drag it to the new folder. From the right-click menu, choose to extract the files into the folder.

Next, open the Device Manager. Find your card listed under the Display Adapter listing. Right-click on the video card, and choose Properties. Find the driver tab, and choose to upgrade the driver.

Don't allow Windows to search for the driver ... do this manually. Browse to the new folder you created that contains the driver files. Once the .inf file for the card has been found, choose to open it, and then make sure that Windows has detected the correct "make" of the video card.

If the driver is installed correctly, Windows will need to reboot. Afterwards, you'll need to adjust your display, such as the color depth, screen resolution, refresh rate for the monitor, and the settings for the D3D and OpenGL under the Display Properties tab that lists your video card. (Strictly for these kind of applications, of course, but a good habit to get into, I think.)

Be aware that it is always a good idea to temporarily disable running programs before installing or ungrading a driver. Third-party appplications like an Anti-Virus or a firewall can interfere with an installation and cause it to fail.

Another method (after the files have been extracted into a folder) which can be used is to open the Add/Remove Hardware applet in the Control Panel, choose to install a Display Adapter, and again, guide Windows to the new folder that contains the driver files, instead of just allowing it to search for the files (which it almost certainly will not detect, since they are not already in the Windows System folders.) However, I think the first method has a higher degree of success, as Windows has a tendency to have problems locating driver files upon occasion, even using the Add/Remove Hardware applet.

<A HREF="http://www.asus.com/support/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us" target="_new">Asus files</A>
<A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp" target="_new">nVidia files</A>

Note 1: Never use a third-party download manager to download driver files like this from a website.

Note 2: With older operating systems, such as Windows 98 and Windows ME, it may be necessary to first install a standard VGA display adapter with Add/Remove Programs, reboot the system, and then choose to update the VGA adapter driver in the Device Manager to one that is <i>SVGA</i>. (Which will happen when the new Asus/nVidia drivers are installed.) This isn't necessary with WinXP, but it's something I've often encountered with Win9x.

Questions?

Toey

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