Multiple Video Cards - different drivers?

[Dark Moment 0]

I run FS2002 under Windows XP on a two monitor set-up, with two GeForce 2 cards (one PCI, one AGP). If I let Windows take charge of Nvidia driver updates, it loads the same driver to both cards - predictably. Trouble is, then anything running with DirectX (including DXDIAG) crashes the system. Took me a week to work out that two cards trying to use the same driver causes a conflict - whatever Device Manager says to the contrary. By manually "rolling back" one card to the previous driver, the problem disappeared.Am I right? Is this true? It's certainly working for me now, but it took me an age to find this out for myself - and I did try many forums which didn't raise this issue.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitak.htmlhttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitakv3.jpg

[Guest]

My Experience with XP Pro and trying to install a Geforce 2 GTS with a TNT video card was similar to yours. If I tried to use Nvidia Reference drivers for both cards it would lock up the system. The only way around it for me was to use the built in Win XP driver for the TNT card and then use an Nvidia reference driver for the Geforce 2. Since your PCI card is used for secondary display you don't need all the features of the Nvidia driver versus the Win XP driver. For reasons I won't get into I am no longer using that set up but that was the only way I got it working.Yeah your right, and yes that is true what your seeing. If it's now working ok then you are good to go (or fly that is).Scott..

[Guest SD Sim]

Hi Mark,When I have attempted to run two nVidia GPUs with a single driver, I have not had the system crash you describe, but I have had problems with a significant performance drop for the faster AGP card. I always questioned whether the single driver for both cards might be the source (and suggested as much in at least one of my previous posts), but yours is the first post I've seen that appears to validate this concern. I still have the PCI card, and when I'm in the mood to experiment with my system again, I will give your workaround a shot. Thank you for sharing this information.

[Guest]

That's an excellent discovery Mark!Thank you for sharing!:-wavehttp://fsgateway.com/images/frank.jpg

[Guest]

I thought it was only me. I have been having similar problems with my second monitor addition using a TNT PCI Card and my GeForce2 AGP Primary....running on W98SE. I'm hoping that someone will offer some detailed assistance regarding driver installation procedures.:-zhelp

[Dark Moment 0]

Thanks, all, for your most interesting comments. So, perhaps, there IS something in my "discovery".I know there are many out there with far greater knowledge than I of these matters, and hope we might see more on this. I think the problem for the average user is that most of these driver download sites or installation instructions (if any) are put together by people who deal with this stuff every day; what is complicated and perplexing to us is probably second nature to them, and they forget that things need to be carefully explained to Joe Average.Anyway, so far so good!Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitak.htmlhttp://www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitakv2.jpg

[Guest]

I'm still hoping that someone who is knowledgable of video drivers will see this message string and help out. :-zhelp