Northbridge Sans Video

[ChillLead]

How might one go about getting video drivers installed on a new mobo before (or after) loading f6 drivers when the northbridge does not support video?

I.E., I'm building a new box and mobo's northbridge (PT880 Ultra) has no video. Can I install xp or vista then install video drivers? I'm thinking that if there's no northbridge video, how can I expect the video signal to make it from video card to monitor to show bios, f6 etc before installing video driver.

Or might I expect mobo to come with vanilla video drivers (along with bios, f6, etc) to load, if temporarererly?

 

[Lemon13]

yes, xp or vista will use standard video drivers, 256 colors 640*480 resolution, as long it doesnt know ur videocard. u can then install the drivers for the card and everything should be fine.

 

[kmcferrin]

The only thing that you need F6 drivers for is the storage controller, and even then you only need it if it isn't directly supported by Windows. Most IDE/SATA non-RAID controllers won't need the F6 drivers.

Windows will pre-load a set of generic drivers until it detects your hardware. Then after Windows is installed it will load the correct drivers (if they come with Windows, which many do) or prompt you to load drivers as it detects the hardware. The reason that you have to do the F6 drivers for some storage devices is because Windows has to have the correct storage drivers in order to write the files to the hard disk during installation. If the drivers are not part of Windows standard drivers and you don't do the F6 trick then Windows will not see the hard disk.

 

[felixc]

All video controllers have a compatibility mode that goes back to the early MDA and CGA adapters of the original IBM PC. The BIOS uses these modes to display all the pre-OS information on-screen. As it was explained by the others, these compatibility modes are also used by the OS until the drivers are loaded.

 

[ChillLead]

Ok, so I can expect to hook all that stuff up (video care, ddrr 3 latency, 2 RAID 0 hd's, pci sound, optic drives) then pop xp or vista disk in and it'll actually work?

WooooHoooo lyfe is guud.

 

[ChillLead]

Seriously, the install process is, what, to hook one item at at time up then install driver? Seems very tricky esp regarding f6 drivers from bios (as provided by mobo vendor). What? install os until it asks for hard drive parameters then switch disks for bios f6 drivers? Seems odd, like first chicken / egg delimma.

 

[paparazi]

Quote:
Ok, so I can expect to hook all that stuff up (video care, ddrr 3 latency, 2 RAID 0 hd's, pci sound, optic drives) then pop xp or vista disk in and it'll actually work?

Yes! it will!
Especially with Vista, it finds everything or just about everything.
My only concern here is about the two HDD's in Raid 0,
are you trying to save data? or can the array be re-made, reformatted and a clean install applied?
That would be the way to go.
All this F6 talk, I doubt if you will need any 3rd party drivers with Vista but if you do they are added at F6 and the controller drivers (SATA Raid) are taken from a floppy disk not CDrom, so if the HDD's are undetected on install and Vista cannot continue to install, start again but have the proper SATA drivers ready to use of a floppy disk when asked "if you need to install 3rd party drivers press F6"
As I said, I think Vista will already have all the necessary controller drivers in it's data base so will see your drives without issue.
But I still think you will need to delete/remake your Raid 0 array and format before installing Vista.

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[kmcferrin]

Yes, what Martin said is correct. And just for clarification, you don't have to install everything one piece at a time, then install drivers, then install another piece, etc. Just plug everything into your mainboard, configure your RAID array, do the F6 drivers for the RAID controller (if necessary), and let it go to work. The OS will detect it all, and will install most (if not all) of the drivers for you. If it doesn't have the correct drivers built in, then it will prompt you for the drivers, which you can get from the installation CDs from your video card/sound card/mainboard/whatever.

 

[ChillLead]

Quote:

Vista cannot continue to install, start again but have the proper SATA drivers ready to use of a floppy disk when asked "if you need to install 3rd party drivers press F6"


And this is where I'd need that special floppy drive that I can only get on ebay, right?