Driver problems

I just had Windows re-installed and now after loading sl again I can't log in. It says something about my drivers not being up to par. But I didn't have any problems logging in before I had windows put in again.

Anyone know whats the problem here?

I mean, I know its something to do with the drivers but why now? Did the drivers change when windows was installed? Or what?

I check the dxdiag and it says no problems on anything on the computer.

Many thanks for your help.

When you reinstalled Windows you lost the driver you were using. Windows picked up a driver that would work but not the best driver for anything other than what Windows needs. Windows merely installed a compatible driver from their Windows Update data base.........those drivers are often very old.

We need more information on your system to help much more.

Yes, the drivers most likely would have changed when you reinstalled Windows. You overwrote your existing ones with whatever was on the Windows install disk, which are probably just generics from Microsoft. It's possible they're branded drivers, not just the generic Windows ones, but either way, their age will date back to the day the CD was pressed. There's no way you'll have a modern version until you install one.

To get a new video driver, go to the website for your video card's manufacturer, and download an installer package. Do the same for your motherboard, sound card, and whatever other devices you have.

Do not try to automatically update drivers through Device Manager, Control Panel, or DXdiag. That almost never works properly. You need the actual install files, directly from the device makers.

Thanks a lot for your responses, I do appreciate the help. Unfortunately, my knowledge of computer is limited.

This is some of the specs on my computer copied from the computer manufacter documents:

Dell Dimension 8300 Series
Intel Pentium 4
Processor at 2.66GHz
120GB
Windows XP

Video Card:
Radeon 9200
AGP8X

With this info above maybe you can tell me a bit better exactly where I can go and what I can do, please explain it a bit if you have the time and care to.

Also

I bough a good video card with Dell's recommendation, after all who would know better then them since they sold me the computer. But after buying the the video card I found out the power supply I have which I believe is 250 or 225 is too weak and I needed a power supply of 400. I then picked up a power supply of 410 but after 2 weeks the computer shutdown. I had it fixed and it did it again so I took it off permanently. I don't know if it keeps over heating or what but here I now have a good video card and I cant seem to use it.

The game I got it for was Vanguard, a new game which required a strong computer so I don't know if the game caused the breakdown as maybe it needed a lot to keep it going or it pulled a lot and tasked my computer to the point it shut down.

Now, would sl be ok for this video card or can my computer not take it?

I did some research on several tech sites back then and was told my computer with the correct power supply could work with this card but as I stated it did work but playing that game is broke down. First time it shut down completely but after a few mins, I restarted the computer and it was fine. About 10 days later it shut down again, both times while playing that game but this time it didnt start at all.

After taking it to fix the computer guy said it had messed up Windows when it shut down and he would need to restall another one which he did.

Any info you can provide on both this video card and the driver problems I'm currently having would be much appreciated guys. On the driver problem if you could help me with a few baby steps it would defintely help me.

So many thanks

Any info on why this keeps happening with this video card below?

BFG-7800GS 256MB AGP TV DVI

I've decided to have someone install the drivers from the video card which should do the trick. I have the CD which came with the video card. I could probably do it myself but I dont like messing with things I dont know anything about.

But on the other video card I wrote about, any info anyone can provide I would much appreciate very much. And to the two people who offered their help, thanks alot, I owe you guys one.

Installing the drivers that came with your new nVidia 7800GS card will certainly be old drivrs.......that card came out over 3 years ago. Don't let the date the card came out influence how good the card is.......it's got quite a reputation as being one of the best (despite it's "age". But in the 3 years since there has been numerous features added or enhanced with driver updates.......SL may or may not work with those old drivers. It's worth a try but don't be disappointed if the drivers are not up to par.

Here's a link to the most recent driver for that card:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_182.08_whql.html

And here a link to the listing for archived (older) drivers for that card:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

Both links are useful. Most of the time the most recent driver is the one to have......but sometimes, due to individual computer setups, the program you are using that requires specific features, the most recent just does not work well. You need to find the most recent "older" driver that will work for you and your computer setup. Hence my listing of the two links for you.

Replacing drivers is not hard, though, if not done correctly you could create more problems than you had in the first place. The nVidia recommended way to update your driver is to first uninstall your older driver (if you have more than one driver listed, then uninstall all of them). Your computer monitor will work.....just at some poor quality until you get the proper driver installed.

My method:
Go to nVidia's driver download site and find the driver you want and download it to your hard drive (save it......don't do any auto install from any site).
Uninstall your current driver. You will be required to restart for the uninstallation to be completed and when your computer boots again Windows will "find new hardware" and want you to allow Windows to search for a driver.......don't let it do it. Just close the box.
Install the driver from the downloaded file you saved.
Again you will be required to restart for the installation to be completed.

You're done.....but you may want to configure your settings. Do that with the nVidia Control panel.

Now if you find the most recent driver does not work for you then you will have to find one that does. That's why I gave the link to the archived drivers. Download a few of the older drivers in reverse order and save them to your hard driver like you did before. Then one at a time uninstall the current driver and install another until you find the first one that works for you. A little tedious but it's about the only way I know of to get the proper driver for your system.

I use nVidia 8600GT with driver version 178.13 with success in SL. It might work for you too. It's listed in the archive for your card.

Only comment I have on the ATI 9200 card is that I had the 9250 when I first started SL. It worked but over about 6 months time, with all the SL updates and upgrades the card was getting rather flakey........struggling greatly to keep up. That was about 3 years ago. I would say that card would perform quite poorly with today's SL (if it worked at all).

Hi I also have this problem my friend cannot connect heres a description of it

Microsfot XP
Professional
Version 2002
SP3

Computor
Amd Sempron tm 2800+
2.02GH , 512 mb of ram

Oh yeah the graphics card its
Nvidia Geforce4 MX 440 with AGP8X

I am having a problem with sl telling me my drivers are out of date, I recently upgraded my video card to a geForce 7600 512 mb agp 8x card, downloaded the newest drivers from the manufacturers web-site. I have tried numerous time to connect, I have even un-installed and reinstalled sl with no difference.
My system is as follows:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 3
AMD Athlon Processor 1.5 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
GeForce 7600 GS : Driver version 182.08
Bus : AGP 8X
Any help would be most welcome