Nvidia drivers - Did we ever install them properly in X

[Guest gasebah]

Hi guys,I was experiencing lockups and strange stuff lately. Also whatever driver I installed there seemed to be no change. So I decided to make a completely clean install of the new 40.41 or so I thought. I uninstalled the drivers in system / software and deleted all the Nvidia reg entries just to make sure. Still something did not seem to be right. MY scores in 3DMark went up but some instability remained. Also the 3DMark improvement was only 1000 points, and there was reported a lot more for my card by other sources.Then I stumbled over a thread in 3Dguru.The suggestion was as follows:"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."I followed the above advise and the result has been stunning. It breathed new live in my rig. Obviously I had a lot of overlapping and conflicting stuff in my registry, my driver cache who knows. I guess this can also be a problem triggered by those tweakers. Somehow XP seemed to have loaded at least some of the old driver everytime I updated. I have no idea if this has been a special prob with my setup. So if you feel there is nothing to fix you probably do not need this advise. But if you feel that there is strange stuff going on in your computer and you lost stability over time it might be worth a try.Alex

[Guest flightpro08]

I don't have a C:WINDOWSinf folder. Is that unusual?Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 40.41 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298

[Guest gasebah]

Yeah most unusual. Because you would not have any drivers installed than :-). You have the folder but it is hidden by windows. It is hard for me to give an instruction to make them visible as I have a German version of WinXP but I will try anyway (translation maybe a little uncorrect though):In your explorer window goto extras. Select folder options. Goto properties or whatever it is called in the English version. It is the 2nd thing to select. You will open a window with lost of stuff to click. Mark "Show system folders" and in "hidden files and folders" mark "show all" or something like that.Alex

[Guest flightpro08]

That did it. Thanks Alex. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 40.41 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298

[flyking 0]

Hi Alex,Thanks for the tip. I'd really like to give it a try but I have one question: In my C:Windowsinf folder I don't find the nv3.inf & nv4.inf files that you mention. I do find an nv3.PNF & a nv4.PNF.Please note the "P" instead of the "i" in these file names. Are these files with the "P" the ones I should rename? I'm using XP Home Edition.Thanks in advance for your help.Happy Jet Trails To Youflyking

[Guest gasebah]

Hmm, no the .pnfs are not supposed to be renamed. I have no idea how you cannot have those files, unless you deleted them. Did you make all files visible as described above?I hope Elrond will have a look at this thread sooner or later. I am sure he could shed more light on all this.Alex