trouble installing 8500LE in WinXP pro

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isaac

I'm trying to transfer my working 8500LE from a Win98 box to a brand
new WinXP Pro installation. My new machine was running a Nvidia Riva
TNT2 m64 AGP card, and so I removed the drivers via the control
panel/Add-remove programs. I turn down the machine, pop in the new
agp card. When I boot up again, the new card is not detected as new
hardware; the standard vga driver is being used. I see video in 256
color, 640x480 but can expand to 1280x1000 with no problems, however
it's very slow ( makes sense ).

When I try installing the newest Catalyst drivers, the Setup program
craps out during the WinXP video driver install stage, saying it
"couldn't complete the installation: make sure standard vga display is
selected as display driver and try again".

I've tried rolling back with system restore and removing the nvidia
drivers in safe mode, and installing the catalyst drivers in safe
mode, to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Isaac
 
isaac said:
I'm trying to transfer my working 8500LE from a Win98 box to a brand
new WinXP Pro installation. My new machine was running a Nvidia Riva
TNT2 m64 AGP card, and so I removed the drivers via the control
panel/Add-remove programs. I turn down the machine, pop in the new
agp card. When I boot up again, the new card is not detected as new
hardware; the standard vga driver is being used. I see video in 256
color, 640x480 but can expand to 1280x1000 with no problems, however
it's very slow ( makes sense ).

When I try installing the newest Catalyst drivers, the Setup program
craps out during the WinXP video driver install stage, saying it
"couldn't complete the installation: make sure standard vga display is
selected as display driver and try again".

I've tried rolling back with system restore and removing the nvidia
drivers in safe mode, and installing the catalyst drivers in safe
mode, to no avail.
Click to expand...

That's a strange one. Sounds like you did everything correctly. It might
help to delete the display adapter in device manager to force Windows to
redetect the card. Then cancel out of the hardware install wizard and run
ATI setup.

There's an app called Detonator Destroyer that will completely scrub the old
drivers, including registry entries. Good insurance.

If none of the above helps, try physically removing and reinstalling the
Radeon.
 
BTW, I realized last night that the driver being used while in safe
mode is not the standard VGA adaptor, but something called "VgaSave".
I can find no way to switch to standard VGA. Maybe this is the
issue because when ATI setup starts, it complains I should try
switching to standard VGA first.

Any ideas? I will get a copy of detonator destroyer tonight and try it
out.

Note, also that the Device manager currently shows no display adaptor;
however, the Control Panel->Display settings show VgaSave as the
adaptor.

Isaac
 
One more thing I noticed:

(BTW My mobo is a shuttle an35/Ultra 400 with latest drivers all
installed today, and directx 9.0b installed today. )

I tried installing via Add new hardware->Have disk, but strangely,
when I "browse" and locate the appropriate .inf file ( CX_11774.inf
for catalyst 3.9; atii9xag.inf for original ati radeon drivers on cd
), the window that's supposed to allow you to choose the manufacturer
/ device shows nothing, just a blank list!

Couple that with the fact that I cannot get vgasave not to run in
either safe mode or enable vga mode, that means I cannot think of any
other way to install the drivers. Any ideas, fellas? Any help would
be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Isaac
 
The answer was so close and I kept on over looking it. While working
on a machine with a K7S5A PRO M/B, I kept on having trouble with
VgaSave coming up as my Vid driver. After the second install of
Windows XP and still having the same problem, I was about to pull my
hair out. Ok... enough on what and let me get to the fix that cured
my problem.

The AMI BIO on the K7S5A PRO M/B is the location of the fix.
In the AMI BIO settings, Open -> PCI / Plug & Play Setup, and put the
values as follows.

Plug & Play Aware O/S = Yes
AGP 4X Control = Enabled
Primary Graphics Adapter = AGP
Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA = Yes (I had this set to ‘NO' and all would
not work for me)
PCI IDE Busmaster = Disabled

Install the O/S
1) Install Windows XP
2) Use the M/B CD-Rom setup and let it auto install all the drivers.
It will reboot a couple times, let it until all is complete.
3) Install Vendor Vid Drivers

I got this machine in for support and even though I attempted to use
the 'Load Optimal Settings' from within the BIO. The 'Allocate IRQ to
PCI VGA' was set at a value of NO. The sad thing about the EC M/B
manual is that it does not tell you the default settings and the
description for this BIO setting is off. To use a AGP card apperently
this setting is needed at a value of Yes.

Hope this helps
CaBetz
 
Thanks for the tip, but my previous ( working ) card was an AGP also.
Glad yours worked though!
 
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