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Vista Won't Install Driver For X1950 Pro

Big Kev

Big Kev

Big Kev

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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In my other thread, I decided to take the plunge and get an X1950 Pro (AGP) for my ageing system.

I uninstalled all my Nvidia drivers and used Driver Cleaner in safe mode.

I then installed the X1950 Pro and it's picked up in Device Manager, but when I try to load the driver software, I get a BSOD (Atikmdag.sys) and can only get into Windows in safe mode.

I've tried the latest 7.8's and also the 7.4's on the installation disk, no joy.

My feeble specs:

Abit NF7-s
Barton 3000 @ 2G
2G Geil Value PC3200
Enermax 465 psu
Xtrememusic
Vista HP

I thought the psu could be the problem, but I've didn't have this problem with my 6800GT and I thought the power on the X1950 wasn't supposed to be that great.

Any ideas?

Ta
 
dont know if tyhis is anything to do with it or not but i know if you iusing the full set drivers that comes with catalyst control center aswell you need to have the microsoft .net framework installed version 2. can get it from microsoft site if you dont have it all ready
 
thefishdude said:
dont know if tyhis is anything to do with it or not but i know if you iusing the full set drivers that comes with catalyst control center aswell you need to have the microsoft .net framework installed version 2. can get it from microsoft site if you dont have it all ready
Click to expand...

Vista is shipped with all the .net packages and version 3 as standard :) so that shouldn’t be a problem, I would try and install the driver package in safe mode if you can though CCC can be funny to install in safe mode.

Try the Nvidia cleaner in safe mode as well maybe you still have some files lurking :P
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745
 
It says that I have the Framework installed as part of the OS.

Looks like I might revert to the 6800GT at this rate.:(

Cheers anyway.
 
Did you try to install drivers, not by running the drivers package but by choosing windows to autodetect new hardware.

This has worked for others.
 
ACESHIGH said:
Did you try to install drivers, not by running the drivers package but by choosing windows to autodetect new hardware.

This has worked for others.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've tried that as well.

I've also noticed in safe mode, it states that it failed to load detection driver.:confused:
 
It should install no problem, I installed vista on my box with a x1950pro from the DVD so no updates will be needed.

Def sounds like a software problem, tried a driver cleaner?
 
It might be due to the lack of drivers for the nforce 2 chipset in vista.

though surely if that was the problem, the 6800 wouldn't work......hmnmn

just a thought anyway
 
Try driver cleaner pro and boot up in VGA mode and keep trying to remove everything a few times till it appears to run basically ok then try installing again.

I have a 450w psu with the pci-e x1950pro and it really doesnt seem to suck a lot of power.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/11032/10 said:
With this smaller 80nm GPU, ATI has trimmed peak power use considerably. The Radeon X1950 Pro draws about 20 fewer Watts when running a game than the Radeon X1900 GT, despite performing slightly better. The GeForce 7900 GS still uses less power than the X1950 Pro, but only by about 15W under load.
Click to expand...

5xzw7y1.gif


I thought it was less then that but its more efficent then the previous ATi card at that level. Im not sure how the 6800gt compares, what nm is it? I went from a 6800gs and I reckon its similar power and Ive seen a graph somwhere to that effect.

With a 450w, 5 drives and 1.6v on a dual core it runs ok on mine as far as power goes
 
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did you get the sapphire card? do you have 2 molexes plugged in?

also from another thread, someone mentioned the 7.8s being a problem with agp cards. mine works fine though.... :p still might be worth trying the 7.7s. :)
 
It is the Sapphire and both molexes connected.

As I stated earlier, I've constantly been using Driver Cleaner in safe mode.

I did actually load up the 7.6 drivers, but then can't get into Windows, except in safe mode.

Back to the 6800GT it is then, although I was getting plenty of crashes using that.

Might see the X1950 Pro in the MM soon I think and I'll stick to the old card until I do a full rebuild.
 
7.8 driver caused all sorts of problems for me.

driver 7.7 works great on ly x1950pro agp and im using the same motherboard as you, a nf7-s v2 with a [email protected].

do try again mate using the 7.7 driver all i did was uninstall my 7600gs driver then shut down the pc, swap cards then install 7.8 driver, has lots of hassle with it but then loaded 7.7 driver and all is brilliant now.
 
The performance of the nForce2 board is pretty naff under vista. Only basic drivers from ms so barely no agp acceleration. If trying to force the last xp agp driver in then it seems to install ok, but the gfx card it self wont be detected.

youll get a lot more performance out of the card, well whole machine really under XP. Vista is too much for a 3 year old config.

the difference running Vistas own Halo2 is massive. under xp youll play with all settings maxed, and under vista , it will stutter with everything on low.
 
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I've put my old card back in for now, installed like a dream.

I might have another go in the next few days, but I've had graphics driver problems before and all that will happen is that I'll lose my rag. I just wish Nvidia/ATI would sort their act out and make these user friendly.
 
Kev mate I came across a similar problem on a friends system, Vista will have native support for your card so with everything un-installed just boot vista & run windows update & it should download it's own drivers from Microsoft (they're pretty old but don't worry for now) & let them install , Then if your lucky the latest drivers can be installed over the top of them.

Can't say 100% it'll work but it has for me in the past on fussy systems & you've nowt to loose:).
 
don't bother installing the 7.8 driver. many of us agp users are shafted when its been installed. stick to the 7.7 driver and you will be safe.
 
dont know if ati secretly updated the drivers, but 7.8 cats worked fine with AGP X800 in both windows and xp on my NF7 based machine.

Incidently with everything updated, i ran pcmark05 to compare what difference between xp and vista is currently at. I suppose i didnt really need a benchmark to show that vista performs bad on this config but interesting to see a comparison non the less. I suspect the lack of a decent agp gart driver doesnt help one bit. Vista = Light Grey XP = dark grey

nf2benchmark.JPG
 
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