I'm having Nvidia Driver trouble, anyone got any clues?

I want to upgrade to the Detonator 4 drivers. I am running a GeForce2 GTS card with 64mb of video RAM.

I used the Detonator 3 drivers for a long time with no problems, and ran my desktop at 1152x864 for many moons. I can go back to these drivers if I want (and I have) and everything works normally.

But upgrading to the Detonator 4 drivers (Tried the betas as well as the WHQL certified ones dated nov.8 2002) results in a screen that can't go any larger than 720x576. The settings panel only allows that resolution, and only in 32-bit color. I can't change it to anything else.

I would say that it was the result of the monitor not being detected properly, but I have tried every possible combination of monitor driver and "detect plug and play monitor" on/off possible, and none of those options work to allow me to change the resolution. Doesn't matter if I use a generic SuperVGA monitor type, or if I select specific drivers for the monitor, or what. It doesn't care.

In the past, when something like this happened, I was able to go into the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Display\0000 area of the registry and edit the MODES subkey to insert any video modes I wanted. Even this does not work now, all of the modes are there, but they are not offered as options in the driver.

Nvidia says that if this happens, I should download MULTIREZ from Entech. But I'm already running Multirez and it does not offer me any other video options, either.

I've noticed that 720x576 is a PAL video mode. Wonder if that has anything to do with it? (Note that the Nvidia control panel clearly states that I am using an analog computer monitor, not a television display. The driver is smart enough to know that this card doesn't even have a TV-out and those options are grayed in its control panel.)

Any ideas?

Tony,
I don't know anything specific, just a few steps that have worked to solve most of my driver issues in the past. FWIW:

1. Switch your driver to VGA. Reboot.
2.Uninstall old Nvidia drivers from the Control Panel. Reboot.
3. Start to safe mode. Install Nvida driver package. Reboot.

I think you're right about the monitor .inf file though. Have you gone to you monitor's mfg. web site to download thier most recent .inf files?

-Zeke

I think you're right about the monitor .inf file though. Have you gone to you monitor's mfg. web site to download thier most recent .inf files?

Does not exist. Monitor is a Futura-branded Likom model L7055XX. Cannot find an INF for that model. Found some user-created INF for Likom monitors which did not contain that specific model, tried it, no change in the behavior of the drivers. Always locked at 720x576 no matter what.

Note that this is just the windows desktop settings that won't change to that rez. I can go into a DirectX game and it'll do higher rez than that. Just Windows won't let me change the screen rez at the desktop.

I still think that setting to VGA & scrubbing out all the nvidia drivers & reinstalling is a good idea. I've had bad luck installing video drivers directly over older versions.

-Z

I once made an INF file for a HP rebadged Sony Trinitron by puting the scan rates in manually. I attached it to this post. I based it on a Samsung INF file because it had the least ammount of confusing extra crap.

I'm having Nvidia Driver trouble, anyone got any clues?

Gasp, an NVidia driver problem? All my nvidiot friends tell me thats impossible...

Anyhow, I pretty much agree with whats here already. Revert to VGA, and delete every trace of the drivers. That includes searching all *.inf files that contain NVidia. Then check with your video card maker for their version of the Detonator 4 drivers.

That brings up the whole final vendor vs. Nvidia reference driver issue. I've had definite problems over-installing (not switching to VGA first) Nvidia drivers over final vendor drivers. Installing Nvidia over Nvidia has not been a problem for me.

Perhaps this is part of the problem? My problems in the past were strange indeed (i.e. games played fine & resolutions switched ok, but launching a video of any type .mov, mpg, .avi immediately locked the machine - W2k) .

The VGA routine has never failed me. You do need to scrub out old driver files though. The best way I know of is to look at the Device Manager, Display Adapter properties, Driver tab, Driver Details. It can be a long list. I used screen dumps, Paint Shop Pro & a printer instead of copying it all down by hand.

-Zeke

Cool - I'm not that smart though. But I have gone in and simply told Windows what monitor I was using, or picked the nearest similar one - doesn't have to be exact... I've done it a dozen times at least on things at work or for relatives / friends, and never had an issue.