ASUS vid cards and NVidia drivers

[Guest Dominik Mann]

Sorry if this should be some kind of a specialized issue, but maybe some of you can give me their thoughts anyway. I have an ASUS V8200 T2 AGP 64 MB GF3 Ti 200 video card currently running off ASUS's V29.40 drivers. In the past I've been experimenting with various driver versions, and at one time I also tried NVidia's own reference drivers instead of those available from the ASUS web sites. However, when I did so, I was getting odd visual artifacts, especially in FS 2002 - such as untextured buildings and runways as well as a black (!) sky. I reinstalled the ASUS drivers I'd been using before, and averything was fine again. From that point on I knew I should stick with ASUS's drivers.I'm still wondering how these effects I just described could happen, though - might it be that ASUS's drivers are customized in some way so that only they will work correctly with ASUS video cards? I apologize if this should be a stupid question, but I'm not really an expert in that field.Cheers,

[Guest gasebah]

Hi Dominik,there should be no problems running the Asus with the original Nvidia drivers, other than that you will not be able to use certain features you might have (Video in e.g.). The problem is that drivers from Nvidia and Asus get mixed up fairly easy. Programs like Detonator destroyer can not handle 3rd party drivers.Try this:I unzip the drivers to a known folder that I create.I then simply go to C:Windowsinf. In that folder I locate the nv3.inf and the nv4.inf and rename them nv3.i_f and nv4.i_f. I then go to Add/Remmove programs and uninstall the XP Nvidia drivers including the remove registry entries when asked.I reboot, letting XP discover new hardware. When the wizard comes up, I lead it to the new drivers folder. The rest is a snap following instructions. Reboot, and use your favorite "tweak" utility to re-tweak your new drivers.I then return the nv4.i_f and nv3.i_f to their original names incase of a problem windows will still install the default XP drivers. I have done this many times.Maybe it soounds a bit confusing to you, but it can be done in less than 10 minutes.If that does not help, there is even more stuff left in your registry and other places left from the old drivers. In this case try this.Run Regedit and navigate to this key.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionNote the locations entered in the "Device Path".Check these locations and if not included check these also.C:WINDOWSSystem32ReinstallBackups (allsubfolders)C:DRIVERSVIDEO (for Dell Systems)C:WINDOWSInf (should be the first entry in the device path)Delete any nv3.inf/pnf, nv4.inf/pnf or nv4_disp.inf files found here.Go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesnv4and delete this key.Then install the Nvidia drivers.Hope that helps. If you are afraid to mess things up even more make a system restore point first.Hope that helps.Alex