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| Home >> Resources | Support >> Manufacturer FAQs >> FAQ - NVIDIA >> |
Frequently Asked Questions about nVIDIA|FAQ-Intel | FAQ-Logitech | FAQ-ViewSonic | FAQ-Kingston Memery | FAQ-Viking Memery | | FAQ-Western Digital | FAQ-Seagate | FAQ-Maxtor | FAQ-VIA | FAQ-3COM | | FAQ-ACER | FAQ-HP | FAQ-Creative | How do I install the NVIDIA Detonator drivers for Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP? Windows 95 does not offer native AGP support. If you are installing an AGP graphics card on Windows 95, then we suggest updating your Windows 95 to the latest Service Pack, which adds supports for AGP. Contact Microsoft for information on how to obtain this. If you are installing the drivers on Windows NT4, make sure you are running at least Service Pack 5. Older Service Packs will not work with our drivers. You do not need to worry about this for Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP. The NVIDIA Detonator drivers are self-installing drivers. This makes it very easy for end-users to upgrade their drivers to the latest version. Simply download the appropriate drivers from the NVIDIA Web site atwww.nvidia.com, and save the file to your hard drive. Make sure you are not running any download utilities in the background. This tends to corrupt the drivers if not disabled. Once the file is on your hard drive, disable any anti-virus programs running in the background. Certain anti-virus programs will prevent you from making any changes to your system files and can corrupt your drivers. Once you have prepared your system for the driver installation, simply run the drivers you have downloaded by double-clicking on the file. The drivers will automatically update your current drivers and make the necessary changes to your system. If you are running Windows NT4, it will ask you which graphics card you are installing. This is because Windows NT4 cannot correctly detect your graphics card make and model. Once the drivers have been installed, Windows will ask you to restart your computer to complete the changes. Allow Windows to restart. Once you are back in Windows, you are done with the driver installation. How do I tell which driver version I am currently using? From within Windows, click on the Start button -> Settings -> Control Panel. This will bring up the Control Panel. Double click on the Display icon. This will open up your display properties. Inside the display properties, click on Settings -> Advanced, and then click on the tab with the name of the NVIDIA graphics card installed in your PC. On the bottom of this tab, you will see a white box listing the driver files followed by the driver version. They should all display the same number. The last four digits represent the driver version (ex: 4.13.01.2183 means the driver version is 21.83). I am running a GeForce2 Go/Quadro2 Go GPU in my notebook. Do the Detonator drivers support the GeForce2 Go/Quadro2 Go? Where can I locate drivers for the GeForce2 Go/Quadro2 Go? If you are using a notebook equipped with one of NVIDIA's mobile GPUs, including the Geforce2 Go and Quadro2 Go, be aware that you should always obtain drivers directly from the notebook OEM. Most notebook OEMs provide special customizations and hot key support, which NVIDIA cannot supply. I am running a Mac OS. Where can I locate the latest drivers for my NVIDIA-based graphics card for the Mac? Drivers for the Mac Geforce2 and Geforce3 families of GPUs are available from Apple's Web site at:http://www.apple.com/support I have a Quadro-based graphics card. Where can I locate vendor certified drivers for my professional applications? Vendor certified drivers are available for download from:http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=pg_20010527321700 I have downloaded the latest drivers for my NVIDIA-based graphics card and when I run the file, I receive a "This is not a valid Win32 application" error. How can I correctly download the drivers? Generally, this means that you are using a download utility in the background, which is corrupting the drivers. You will need to disable any download utilities prior to downloading the drivers from the NVIDIA Web site. Once you have downloaded the drivers, you may enable your download utility once again. Are there any newer video BIOS upgrades for my NVIDIA-based graphics card? You will need to contact your graphics card manufacturer for the latest custom BIOS for your graphics card. NVIDIA does not provide a reference BIOS for NVIDIA-based graphics cards because flashing a graphics card with an incompatible BIOS can permanently damage your graphics card. Instead, you should contact your graphics card manufacturer for a custom BIOS that has already been tested and qualified to run without any problems. If your graphics card came bundled with your PC, then you will need to contact your PC manufacturer. In most cases, a BIOS upgrade is not needed. Most issues are resolved through driver updates and not video BIOS updates. When I play a game, the screen is not centered. How can I fix this? Sometimes when you upgrade the drivers for your graphics card, your display will become off-centered. Generally, when a screen display is off-centered and you have black borders, you can adjust this through the settings on your PC monitor. Many of today's monitors have controls on the front or back allowing you to stretch and shrink the screen vertically and horizontally and to center the display. You will need to adjust your display size for each resolution and color depth you work at. For example, if you run your desktop at 1024x768 resolution in 32-bit color but you play games at 800x600 resolution at 16-bit color, you will need to adjust the screen size on your monitor for both settings. Once you have made the changes, they will stay in place the next time you use your PC. Check with your monitor manufacturer if you are unsure how to use your monitor's controls to adjust your display settings. Are there any newer video BIOS upgrades for my NVIDIA-based graphics card? You will need to contact your graphics card manufacturer for the latest custom BIOS for your graphics card. NVIDIA does not provide a reference BIOS for NVIDIA-based graphics cards because flashing a graphics card with an incompatible BIOS can permanently damage your graphics card. Instead, you should contact your graphics card manufacturer for a custom BIOS that has already been tested and qualified to run without any problems. If your graphics card came bundled with your PC, then you will need to contact your PC manufacturer. In most cases, a BIOS upgrade is not needed. Most issues are resolved through driver updates and not video BIOS updates. How do I check which video BIOS version I have? Right click on the desktop with your mouse and select "Properties." This will bring up your Display Properties. Click on Settings tab -> Advanced button and then click on the tab with the name of the graphics card you are using. On this window, you will see the BIOS version listed as well as the model of video processor, amount of video memory your card has, which type of TV encoder it uses (only on cards that feature TV-out), and the driver version you currently have installed. After installing my NVIDIA-based graphics card, every time Windows loads, I get an error stating that my graphics card is not installed properly. How can I fix this? Check in your motherboard's BIOS for the option "Assign IRQ to VGA" and make sure it is enabled. If you do not see this option in your motherboard BIOS, please contact your system/motherboard manufacturer to see if this option is available on your system. All NVIDIA-based graphics cards need to have an assigned IRQ to operate correctly.Also, conflicts with drivers from previous graphics cards can also prevent the NVIDIA drivers from installing correctly. Please remove any drivers from previous graphics cards before installing the NVIDIA-based graphics card. If you are unsure how to do this, contact the manufacturer of your graphics card for assistance with removing their display drivers correctly. I am running in Multi-Monitor mode/Twinview mode but my OpenGL games won't run. How can I fix this? Under Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/NT4, when using a dual monitor setup, certain OpenGL games will not run. This is not an issue with the drivers themselves, but with the OpenGL API, which can only accelerate one hardware graphics card at a time. To fix this problem, simply disable the second monitor and your OpenGL 3D program will work again. Direct 3D does support multi-monitors and should not experience this type of problem. Some OpenGL applications will operate in dual monitor mode but will revert to software rendering where the performance will be at a reduced speed. Most OpenGL applications however, will detect that the renderer is not working and simply refuse to execute, such as Quake III Arena. My system has 512MB of RAM or more and I only get 16 colors when I try to install the NVIDIA drivers using Windows 95/98/Me. How can I fix this? This is a known Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me issue when a system is configured with 512MB of system memory or more. Please visit the following link to find out how to fix this: My system keeps crashing/locking up. How can I fix this? There are dozens of reasons that can cause a system to lock up, especially under intense graphical situations. First of all, verify that your system supports the minimum requirements provided by your graphics card manufacturer. Primarily, make sure if your graphics card is an AGP card, that your motherboard meets the AGP 2.0 specification. If your motherboard does not meet the AGP 2.0 specification, then it may become unstable,especially when you are running 3D applications. If you are unsure if your motherboard is AGP 2.0 compliant, please contact your motherboard manufacturer and ask them if your particular motherboard is AGP 2.0 compliant. Also, your system should be running at least a 235-watt power supply (250-watt is preferred.) If your motherboard does meet the AGP 2.0 specification, then check that your motherboard is using the latest BIOS. You can locate the latest BIOS from your motherboard company's Web site or from the Web site of the company that assembled your PC. Please contact the maker of your motherboard for assistance in flashing your motherboard with the latest BIOS.Flashing a motherboard BIOS is very difficult, and if performed incorrectly,can permanently damage your graphics card. NVIDIA assumes no responsibility for any problems incurred as a result of flashing your BIOS. You may also need to update the AGP controller drivers for your motherboard. Some smaller computer retail stores that build custom PCs often tend to forget to install the drivers for the motherboard. This will lead to lockups when running in 3D mode. Please check with your motherboard manufacturer for the make and model of your PC chipset, and download the latest chipset drivers from their Web site. The drivers are available from:
Be sure that there are no programs running in the background that can affect the stability of your system. Virus protection programs, peer-to-peer software, and crash guard utilities can affect the stability of your system when playing 3D-intensive applications. Disable these utilities and any other programs before you run any 3D applications or games. With more devices being included in today's PC systems, it forces system builders to install components that share IRQ's with other devices. Some components do not like sharing IRQ's and can lead to system lock ups.. To check this, click on the Start button -> select Programs ->select -> Accessories -> select System Tools and then choose System Information. Click the plus "+" sign next to Hardware Resources to expand the list and then click on IRQs. Look for your graphics card on the list. Generally, the graphics card should have its own IRQ and not be sharing one with any other device. The only thing that should be sharing the same IRQ as the graphics card is an IRQ holder for PCI steering.If you have anything else sharing the same IRQ as the graphics card, you must change that device's IRQ assignment. The easiest way to do this is to simply to move the device, which is sharing the IRQ with the graphics card, to a different PCI slot. Some motherboards also allow you to force an IRQ. Check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if this feature is available on your motherboard. The graphics card will only allow me to choose 60Hz refresh even though I know my monitor will support a higher refresh rate. How can I fix this? In most cases, if Windows is only allowing you to select 60Hz for a refresh rate, it means that it is not detecting your monitor correctly and/or the drivers for your monitor are not properly installed.Please contact the maker of your monitor for available drivers and proceed to install them. If this does not resolve your problem, then you may download the free utility MultiRes available from: http://www.entechtaiwan.com. This free utility allows you to change the refresh rates and resolutions of your monitor via the Task Bar on the lower right hand corner of your monitor. TV-out on my graphics card is not working. How can I fix this? To test the TV-out feature of your graphics card, turn off your computer. Then connect the S-VIDEO cable from your graphics card to your TV. If your TV S-VIDEO to Composite adapter. Once you have all the connections you need, connect your graphics card to your TV. Make sure there are no other devices in between, such as a VCR or switchbox. Then, unplug the PC monitor from your graphics card leaving only the TV connected to your PC. Make sure your TV is set to AUX or Line-In. Otherwise, your graphics card will not detect the presence of a TV. Turn on your PC. The system should automatically detect your TV and send the video signal to your TV. If it does display the video signal onto your TV but stops once you boot into Windows, it may simply be a driver issue. You should download the latest drivers for your graphics card from: http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=drivers If you do not get a video signal on your TV when you turn on your PC, then this means that either your TV is not sending a video signal back to your graphics card to let it know that a TV is present, or that the TV encoder that handles TV output is not functioning. If you have a different TV to test with, please perform the same test to see if the TV-out is working. Check that none of the pins inside the video cable are bent or missing. If you cannot get TV output from any TV, then your TV encoder is probably defective. Contact your graphics card manufacturer or retailer where you purchased your graphics card from for possible graphics card replacement if your card is still under warranty. Which NVIDIA graphics driver is compatible with Microsoft XP Service Pack 2? Answer: The driver version 61.77 released on July 27, 2004 or LATER is compatible with XP SP2. Note: Windows XP / 2000 61.77 is not WHQL certified using DirectX 9.0c. The WHQL tests for DirectX 9.0c were not available at the time this driver was built. Drivers provided by NVIDIA on the NVIDIA.com downloads page have been fully tested by NVIDIA for operating on Windows XP. However, on occasion, we may release a driver which has not been digitally signed by Microsoft, which will result in a Microsoft Windows XP warning message being posted during installation of the NVIDIA driver. This warning message can be safely ignored. Alternatively, you can disable this message from appearing as follows: 1. Go into your Control Panel. 2. Double-click on the System icon. 3. Click on the Hardware tab. 4. Click on the Driver Signing button. 5. Choose the Ignore option and then press the OK button. Where can I download the latest video BIOS for my video card? Answer: You will need to contact your graphics card manufacturer for the latest custom BIOS for your graphics card. Flashing a video card with an incompatible/untested video BIOS can permanently damage your video card. Typically, newer BIOS' are made to support newer design configurations. Most fixes are provided through driver updates. If you are experiencing issues with your video card, you may want to try updating your video card's driver to the latest version. How do I overclock my video card? Answer: For Windows 2000/XP users, download the attached nvtweak.reg file to your computer: PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK. OVERCLOCKING CAN PERMANENTLY DAMAGE YOUR GRAPHICS CARD. Once the file is on your computer, run the file to update your system. After your system is updated, go into your Display Properties -> click on the Settings tab -> click on the Advanced button -> click on the tab for your video card (i.e. if you have a GeforceFX 5900 Ultra, click on the GeforceFX 5900 Ultra tab) -> there you will see a small window appear on the left side -> choose the "Clock Frequencies" option -> this will bring up the Clock Frequencies panel -> check the option "Allow clock frequency adjustments" -> Windows will ask you to restart your computer to confirm this change -> click on the "Restart Now" button. Once you are back in Windows after rebooting, go back into the Clock Frequencies panel and you will see a slider for the Core Clock Frequency and Memory Clock Frequency. Some of the newer NVIDIA graphic cards support thermal monitoring which allows them to automatically adjust your video card to a safe overclock speed setting. To enable this feature, click on the "Auto Detect" button -> then click on the "Apply settings at startup" to retain this settings at start up. PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK. OVERCLOCKING CAN PERMANENTLY DAMAGE YOUR GRAPHICS CARD. (Source:nVIDIA) Related Items : | nVIDIA Video | |FAQ-Intel | FAQ-Logitech | FAQ-ViewSonic | FAQ-Kingston Memery | FAQ-Viking Memery | | FAQ-Western Digital | FAQ-Seagate | FAQ-Maxtor | FAQ-VIA | FAQ-3COM | | FAQ-ACER | FAQ-HP | FAQ-Creative | Go to Top | |
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