Nvidia 7600GT problem - need helpful advice!!

I just threw in a new 7600GT (running Win XP) and installed the latest drivers, as well as updated the chip drivers. I cannot get past the "detecting hardware" before getting the error:

"Second Life is unable to run because your video drivers are outdated or unsupported. Please make sure you have the latest drivers installed"

I have uninstalled, and reinstalled the vid card drivers, as well as tried several different versions of SL (even third party ones) ... all with the same result. I have even gone so far as to uninstall drivers, and used a driver cleaner, and started fresh, no luck.

I finally got ahold of a gentleman from the Live chat outworld, (and on the phone a few times with concierge) and he suggested that my driver date in dxdiag was outdated, (oct 4, 07) however Im not sure why that would matter since SecondLife uses OpenGL. I have also tried running another virtual world program, that also uses OpenGL, and it ran fine, which leads me to believe it is SL that is screwy, and not my card.

If anyone has had any similiar occurances, or helpful advice, please share! Ive spent a week trying to sort this one.

If SL does not recognize your card (or recognizes incorrectly) through the drivers then it does that. The same thing happens alot on portable computers which can be sorted out with a patch but in your case original drivers should be fine.

Have you tried a different (slightly older) version of drivers? Perhaps what the video card came with. The latest should be perfectly fine but you never know, just a suggestion.

Good luck

Maybe you have bits of the old driver left in place?
From memory Nvidia have some pretty good instructions on how to upgrade drivers without problems on the website. I'd start by reading those and trying a driver re-install.
Go to Nvidia's site, choose Support, then FAQ & knowledge base, then product "graphics cards" category "installation/uninstallation" and hit search.

You can also get Nvidia clean up utilities to purge any old bits of drivers you might have lurking. I'm not recommending this one because I've never used it, but it's good for a start.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=582

Thank you for the replies!

I have since ran another Nvidia driver file cleaner and started the process over again with fresh installs of the appropriate drivers and secondlife, but again no luck.

As for a general health-check of the machine, it got a good cleaning last night. I just put in a new Raidmax Volcano 630w PS, so yeah everything got a good finger push and blow (lol).

I have tried older versions of drivers, (last was 94. or 93. something?) but the result was the same.

This is rather mind-boggling! I really appreiciate everyones input, and please if anything else comes to mind let me know.

Hello Astry ^_^
Could you please tell us which videocard driver you are using? You can check that either at your Device Manager, or simply look at the drivers name you downloaded.
The latest official Nvidia driver is version 163.75 and you can get it from here:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/163.75/163.75_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe
I hope that will help you to finally be able to log in to SL ^_^

-Asriazh

Hi there!

That is what I have installed at the moment. I have re-downloaded (and installed/uninstalled) that exact driver quite a few times, hoping maybe it was just a bad download. Still same result

However with all the problems Im reading about with the grid, Im not sure Im missing much lol.

I installed it and I got the same error :/

Help me pls

Okies... Hopefully this will work... Get yourself winrar or 7zip, install it, reboot and then use your explorer to go to the folder where you downloaded the driver to. Rightclick and from the selection menu that will appear then, choose "extract to 'insertdrivernamehere'. Open that folder and find the file that says "nv_disp.inf". Open that one with Notepad or whatever and replace the line that says

DriverVer = 10/28/2007, 7.15.11.6904

with

DriverVer = 10/04/2007, 7.15.11.6375

and then save your result. from the folder youre in, start the file that says "setup.exe". Reboot again after the installation process is done. What you did there was to make an older driver look like its a newer one without actually using the newer driver (the 169.4 drivers don't work well with SL. No shaders :/).
I know that SL starts with the 7.15.11.6375 (=169.4) drivers tho, so you 'should' be fine now ^_^

-Asriazh

This didnt work for me.... hopefully it did for the previous poster! At least I'm not the only one with this problem, lol. Thank you again, Asriazh for your time

Okies, next try ^_^
Locate the user_settings folder for SL. The easiest way to do that is to go to SL's preferences window and there to the "Network" tab. To the right you will find the location of your cache. Thats where your user_settings are too. Just not in the cache, but the user_settings folder ^^;; Inside the user_settings folder, you should find a file called "settings_windlight.xml" or whatever you use. In any case its something with "settings*.xml". Open that with notepad and look for those lines:

<!--Query current hardware configuration on application startup-->
<ProbeHardwareOnStartup value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutBadPCI warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutBadPCI value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutDirectX9 warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutDirectX9 value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutOldGraphicsDriver warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutOldGraphicsDriver value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutPCIGraphics warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutPCIGraphics value="FALSE"/>

If they don't exist, please add them. If they say "TRUE" change them to "FALSE". Save the whole thing and hopefully SL will start next time ^^;;

-Asriazh

Well, I can't seem to locate the user settings file manually. I also can't get into the user prefs at the log-in screen (it won't let me get that far before giving me the outdated driver error)

I have however, already tried to add "-noprobe" to the target name, and that bypasses detecting hardware, but still gives me the same error without loading the splash screen or anything. :/

It's inside a hidden folder. You have to enable "show hidden files and folders" at the control panels folder settings.
I think it was something like "documents and settings/yourloginname/application data/secondlife/user_settings/settings.xml"

-Asriazh

Hello,

I don't have settings.xml on my folder
I only have crash_settings.xml

Can you send/copy your settings.xml please ?

Regards

Let's see if the code doesn't get messed up...


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<settings version = "101">
<!--Data streaming rate of uploaded audio samples (thousands of bits per second)-->
<AudioDefaultBitrate value="2"/>
<!--Audio level of streaming music-->
<AudioLevelMusic value="0.35"/>
<!--Enable streaming audio-->
<AudioStreamingMusic value="TRUE"/>
<!--Enable streaming video-->
<AudioStreamingVideo value="TRUE"/>
<!--Used to distribute cache validation-->
<CacheValidateCounter value="20"/>
<!--Camera position when last logged out (global coordinates)-->
<CameraPosOnLogout value=""/>
<!--Show chat history window separately from Communicate window.-->
<ChatHistoryTornOff value="TRUE"/>
<!--Chat bar is visible-->
<ChatVisible value="TRUE"/>
<!--Rectangle for chatterbox window-->
<ChatterboxRect value="0 37 570 340"/>
<!--Log permissions for selected inventory items-->
<DebugPermissions value="TRUE"/>
<!--Disable the normal bounds put on the camera by avatar position-->
<DisableCameraConstraints value="TRUE"/>
<!--Particle effects color-->
<EffectColor value="1, 1, 1"/>
<!--Specifies that you have not successfully logged in since you installed the latest update-->
<FirstLoginThisInstall value="FALSE"/>
<!--Login first name-->
<FirstName value=""/>
<!--Display avatar and attachments below neck while in mouselook-->
<FirstPersonAvatarVisible value="TRUE"/>
<!--Specifies that you have not run the viewer since you installed the latest update-->
<FirstRunThisInstall value="FALSE"/>
<!--Rectangle for Advanced Sky Editor-->
<FloaterAdvancedSkyRect value="50 0 700 220"/>
<!--Rectangle for Advanced Water Editor-->
<FloaterAdvancedWaterRect value="42 247 700 240"/>
<!--Rectangle for Audio Volume window-->
<FloaterAudioVolumeRect value="1294 21 180 225"/>
<!--Rectangle for build options window.-->
<FloaterBuildOptionsRect value="0 600 272 151"/>
<!--Rectangle for Buy Contents window-->
<FloaterBuyContentsRect value="587 431 300 250"/>
<!--Rectangle for chat history-->
<FloaterChatRect value="3 845 539 190"/>
<!--Rectangle for avatar customization window-->
<FloaterCustomizeAppearanceRect value="0 60 494 540"/>
<!--Rectangle for Environment Editor-->
<FloaterEnvRect value="92 186 600 150"/>
<!--Rectangle for Find window-->
<FloaterFindRect2 value="394 274 780 570"/>
<!--Rectangle for gestures window-->
<FloaterGestureRect value="0 120 320 480"/>
<!--Rectangle for Object Inspect window-->
<FloaterInspectRect value="358 432 577 370"/>
<!--Rectangle for inventory window-->
<FloaterInventoryRect value="868 220 387 492"/>
<!--Rectangle for lag meter-->
<FloaterLagMeter value="820 726 350 150"/>
<!--Rectangle for About Land window-->
<FloaterLandRect5 value="0 203 460 385"/>
<!--Rectangle for world map-->
<FloaterMapRect value="600 380 200 225"/>
<!--Rectangle for avatar control window-->
<FloaterMoveRect value="320 0 160 58"/>
<!--Rectangle for mute window-->
<FloaterMuteRect3 value="0 4 300 300"/>
<!--Rectangle for Open Object window-->
<FloaterOpenObjectRect value="481 344 511 423"/>
<!--Rectangle for pay window-->
<FloaterPayRectB value="539 327 300 140"/>
<!--Rectangle for Script Error/Debug window-->
<FloaterScriptDebugRect value="0 74 450 133"/>
<!--Rectangle for snapshot window-->
<FloaterSnapshotRect value="0 400 215 510"/>
<!--[DO NOT MODIFY] Controls layout of floating windows within SL window-->
<FloaterViewBottom value="52"/>
<!--Rectangle for world map window-->
<FloaterWorldMapRect value="49 171 797 520"/>
<!--Camera focus point when last logged out (global coordinates)-->
<FocusPosOnLogout value="284279 264245 652.261"/>
<!--Display fractional grid steps, relative to grid size-->
<GridSubUnit value="TRUE"/>
<!--[DO NOT MODIFY] Version number for tracking hardware changes-->
<LastFeatureVersion value="14"/>
<!--Controls which find operation appears by default when clicking "Find" button -->
<LastFindPanel value="events_panel"/>
<!--Login last name-->
<LastName value=""/>
<!--Last selected tab in preferences window-->
<LastPrefTab value="2"/>
<!--Version number of last instance of the viewer that you ran-->
<LastRunVersion value="Second Life WindLight 1.18.5.74054"/>
<!--Disallow selection of objects beyond max select distance-->
<LimitSelectDistance value="FALSE"/>
<!--Version number of cache-->
<LocalCacheVersion value="5"/>
<!--World map zoom level (pixels per region)-->
<MapScale value="256"/>
<!--Rectangle for notecard editor-->
<NotecardEditorRect value="176 575 511 423"/>
<!--Number of successful logins to Second Life-->
<NumSessions value="29"/>
<!--Your avatar plays the typing animation whenever you type in the chat bar-->
<PlayTypingAnim value="TRUE"/>
<!--Rectangle for script preview window-->
<PreviewScriptRect value="401 350 511 423"/>
<!--Rectangle for URL preview window-->
<PreviewURLRect value="0 0 440 495"/>
<!--Query current hardware configuration on application startup-->
<ProbeHardwareOnStartup value="FALSE"/>
<!--Rectangle for inventory item properties window-->
<PropertiesRect value="0 20 350 320"/>
<!--Controls level of detail of avatars (multiplier for current screen area when calculated level of detail)-->
<RenderAvatarLODFactor value="1"/>
<!--Do you want to set the graphics settings yourself-->
<RenderCustomSettings value="TRUE"/>
<!--Distance of far clip plane from camera (meters)-->
<RenderFarClip value="96"/>
<!--Additive strength of glow-->
<RenderGlowStrength value="0.3"/>
<!--Maximum number of particles to display on screen-->
<RenderMaxPartCount value="1024"/>
<!--Which graphics settings you've chosen-->
<RenderQualityPerformance value="2"/>
<!--Detail of reflection render pass.-->
<RenderReflectionDetail value="3"/>
<!--Detail applied to terrain texturing (0 = none, 1 or 2 = full)-->
<RenderTerrainDetail value="1"/>
<!--Controls level of detail of terrain (multiplier for current screen area when calculated level of detail)-->
<RenderTerrainLODFactor value="2"/>
<!--Controls level of detail of vegetation (multiplier for current screen area when calculated level of detail)-->
<RenderTreeLODFactor value="2"/>
<!--Controls level of detail of primitives (multiplier for current screen area when calculated level of detail)-->
<RenderVolumeLODFactor value="2"/>
<!--Reflect the environment in the water.-->
<RenderWaterReflections value="TRUE"/>
<!--[DO NOT MODIFY] Controls which grid you connect to-->
<ServerChoice value="2"/>
<!--Display results of find classifieds that are flagged as mature-->
<ShowMatureClassifieds value="TRUE"/>
<!--Display results of find events that are flagged as mature-->
<ShowMatureEvents value="TRUE"/>
<!--Display results of find all that are in mature sims-->
<ShowMatureFindAll value="TRUE"/>
<!--Display results of find places or find popular that are in mature sims-->
<ShowMatureSims value="TRUE"/>
<!--Display mini map on login-->
<ShowMiniMap value="FALSE"/>
<!--Display starting location menu on login screen-->
<ShowStartLocation value="TRUE"/>
<!--Whether to use the old Second Life particle clouds or not-->
<SkyUseClassicClouds value="FALSE"/>
<!--Amount of memory to use for textures in MB (0 = autodetect)-->
<TextureMemory value="0"/>
<!--Maximum allowable downstream bandwidth (kilo bits per second)-->
<ThrottleBandwidthKBPS value="800"/>
<!--Rectangle for tools window-->
<ToolboxRect value="0 229 272 550"/>
<!--Size of UI relative to default layout on 1024x768 screen-->
<UIScaleFactor value="0.95"/>
<!--Turns on "Debug" menu-->
<UseDebugMenus value="TRUE"/>
<!--[DO NOT MODIFY] Controls resizing of local file cache-->
<VFSOldSize value="100"/>
<!--[DO NOT MODIFY] Controls local file caching behavior-->
<VFSSalt value="605905141"/>
<!--Test SSE/vectorization performance and choose fastest version.-->
<VectorizePerfTest value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enable vector operations for avatar skinning.-->
<VectorizeSkin value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enable/disable all GLSL shaders (debug)-->
<VertexShaderEnable value="TRUE"/>
<!--Enables AboutBadPCI warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutBadPCI value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutDirectX9 warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutDirectX9 value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutOldGraphicsDriver warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutOldGraphicsDriver value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables AboutPCIGraphics warning dialog-->
<WarnAboutPCIGraphics value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstAppearance warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstAppearance value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstBalanceDecrease warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstBalanceDecrease value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstBalanceIncrease warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstBalanceIncrease value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstBuild warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstBuild value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstDebugMenus warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstDebugMenus value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstInventory warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstInventory value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstLeftClickNoHit warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstLeftClickNoHit value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstMap warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstMap value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstOverrideKeys warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstOverrideKeys value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstSit warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstSit value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstStreamingMusic warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstStreamingMusic value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstStreamingVideo warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstStreamingVideo value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstTeleport warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstTeleport value="FALSE"/>
<!--Enables FirstVoice warning dialog-->
<WarnFirstVoice value="FALSE"/>
<!--SL viewer window height-->
<WindowHeight value=""/>
<!--SL viewer window maximized on login-->
<WindowMaximized value="FALSE"/>
<!--SL viewer window width-->
<WindowWidth value=""/>
<!--X coordinate of lower left corner of SL viewer window, relative to primary display (pixels)-->
<WindowX value="0"/>
<!--Y coordinate of lower left corner of SL viewer window, relative to primary display (pixels)-->
<WindowY value="0"/>
</settings>

Hmm, not quite what it looks like when i open my settings_windlight.xml, but it should work still, hopefully for non windlight viewers too. Sorry, i dont have any other clients running right now ^^;

-Asriazh

didn't work

Thanks anyway

Hey Astry,

I used to have that 7600GT video card and I remember having the same issues you are having. My problem that when I had the current drivers installed SL wouldn't work, so I had to go back a coupe of versions. I can't remember now but it was a 93 or .94 version and then it worked fine.

Sorry about the lack of info but I hope it helps somewhat )

Lydiah

For me my games require the last driver, so..

End of Sl for me

That last suggestion Asriazh was a no go. *bangs head on desk*

To Lydiah: I have tried .94 version, and that didnt help. I havent tried (or found) .93 version.

Hmmm, maybe its a DirectX messup. You could download the latest version from here

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cb7397f3-0949-487b-9247-8fee451bf952&displaylang=en

Who knows? Maybe this will help ^^;;

-Asriazh

P.S.:
Oh, btw, you can almost all Nvidia videocard drivers that every walked this earth here ^_^

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=31

Maybe SL uses some part of Direct X in reading or interpreting driver info.