figuring out correct video driver after rebuild

[therowguy]

Is there any way to figure out the exact type of video display/card that is embedded in my MB? I just rebuilt a friend's PC but I forgot to take note of the video driver that he had installed. He has no documentation on his PC, which was a custom built system. Win2K is currently installed on his machine.

 

[Hungster]

remove the video card out of the computer and try to find who is the manufacture and usually there is a little number on the corner some where to tell you the model
if not, the chipset usually has a number on it

 

[therowguy]

Hungster, the video is embedded on the MB. I can't remove it.

 

[Hungster]

oh in that case
there is a chipset somewhere on the mb will show it
if not, WinXP will tell you right away what it is

 

[therowguy]

ok, I'll check when I get home from work tonight. BTW, I installed Windows 2000 not XP. Thanks for your help.

 

[craigey]

What's the make & model of the board. You can go to the manufacturers website and sholul be able to get the specs of the board (which should include the on board graphics card).

Hope that's usefull

 

[therowguy]

the PC was a custom built machine so there is no manufacturers website. however, i popped the case off yesterday and saw the make and model on the MB. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[mainegeek]

Did he get a mobo utility cd with the PC? If so,
the display drivers will be on it.

 

[Hungster]

mostly S3 or ATI

 

[therowguy]

There was no utility disk with the PC...it's the first thing I looked for.

Hungster: yes it was an S3 Trio, and of course, it is not compatible with Win2K. I checked Microsoft's HCL and 98 is the latest version of windows that is compatible with the display. I guess this is a prime reason why I should've checked the HCL before I rebuilt the machine. Looks like I'll be putting 98 back on his PC.

 

[Hungster]

wouldn't that be easier to just get a used PCI or AGP if it is available ?

 

[therowguy]

Yes it probably would...i'm checking all my options right now...I've been upgrading my friend's PC (adding more RAM, and he needs a new CD-ROM drive, etc..)

 

[Hungster]

oh boy, you shouldn't have done that, it will probably costs him more than a good economy AMD system
unless parts are free from throw away

 

[knightshifters]

EASY STUFF
THERE IS AN S3 TRIO CHIP DETECTING UTILITY IN THEIR SITE

http://WWW.S3.COM

GET IT AND IT WILL DETECT THE RIGHT TYPE
NOW SEARCH FOR THE CHIP TYPE

 

[therowguy]

Hungster:
The total cost of RAM and a new CD-ROM are $50 bucks. The machine is a PII 450. This baby still has much of its life left. Besides it's mostly used for word processing and e-mail.

 

[Hungster]

oh P2 450 is not bad, if you have enough ram to load either win2k or winxp on then it will go fast, for winxp, make sure you turn all the crap off under performance tab

if i have a S3, i can test it out for you under winxp
so far i find winxp has a good driver base

how much ram do you have now ?

 

[therowguy]

right now the PC has 64mb RAM, but I'm upgrading him to 128 or 192, depending on the pricing (i usually buy RAM from crucial.com, they seem to have the best prices). As I said before though, i checked microsoft's hardware compatibility list and the video card isn't compatible with W2K or XP. So unless I buy a new display card, I'll have to go back to 98.

I am curious about what you said about turning "all the crap off under performance tab." I am running XP Pro on my machine which has a P3 550 with 256mb. What things would you recommend, under the performance tab, that I stop to increase performance?

 

[craigey]

when the HCL says the s3 card isn't compatable, it means that windows 2000/xp does not contain drivers that will allow you to use the device correctly. It does not mean that you can't run 2k/xp if you have a particular item that's on the HCL. Just get some updated drivers from S3's website

 

[therowguy]

craigey,
i did not know that...thanks.

 

[craigey]

that's ok, it's what we're here for!