System basics:
Windows 98SE
800MHz Pentium3
384MB RAM
A few days ago I replaced an ailing hard drive with a new Seagate and used the drive copy utility (by CMS) on the install CD to copy it to the new one.
Since that swap the settings functions for the Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card (which I'd installed a couple months ago and had been working fine,) have disappeared. The video is working fine, but the Nvidia icon is missing from the taskbar, and when I go into the Windows Control Panel and click the Nvidia icon (which is still there,) I get the hourglass for a couple seconds, then nothing. It won't open.
When I start a game - currently Tomb Raider:Chronicles - and go into Settings, most of the fields in the settings pop up are blank:
The top one, "Graphics Adapter," reads:
"NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 - nvdisp.drv (0.0.00.0000)"
- The Output Settings field is blank, but when you click the dropdown arrow, "Core Design MMX Hardware Card Emulation" is still there;
- Output Resolution and Texture Bit Depth fields are both completely empty;
- Sound Device has both "Primary Sound Driver" and, in the dropdown, "SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio (1480)," as normal.
All other instances in which the Nvidia settings tabs were formerly present are gone - in the display preferences, the system properties, hardware profiles, everywhere.
What I've tried thus far:
I uninstalled everything (even removed and re-seated the Nvidia card,) tried the latest Nvidia driver 77.72 which I downloaded directly from the Nvidia website;
I uninstalled that and tried the old one from the CD that came with the card, which is 66.94;
I uninstalled that and went to the archives at the Nvidia site and tried the previous version, 71.84, released March 2005 which was about the time I first bought the card.
All of these came up exactly the same - the screen graphics work fine but there are no Nvidia settings tabs anywhere to be seen, only the Nvidia icon in the Windows Control Panel - and the game settings popup window has the blanked-out fields as described above.
What I haven't tried, but will later this morning (I'm on the vampire shift right now):
Since I'd heard that Nvidia drivers are maddeningly difficult to uninstall completely and that remnants lodged in odd nooks and crannies completely hose up newly-installed drivers, I did a net search for a comprehensive Nvidia driver uninstaller program. I found and downloaded a program called "DriverCleaner" from DriverHeaven.net (I didn't have time to start it up and try it before coming to work last night.)
Is this just a case of an incomplete driver uninstall -or something else?
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can offer.
<***>
Windows 98SE
800MHz Pentium3
384MB RAM
A few days ago I replaced an ailing hard drive with a new Seagate and used the drive copy utility (by CMS) on the install CD to copy it to the new one.
Since that swap the settings functions for the Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card (which I'd installed a couple months ago and had been working fine,) have disappeared. The video is working fine, but the Nvidia icon is missing from the taskbar, and when I go into the Windows Control Panel and click the Nvidia icon (which is still there,) I get the hourglass for a couple seconds, then nothing. It won't open.
When I start a game - currently Tomb Raider:Chronicles - and go into Settings, most of the fields in the settings pop up are blank:
The top one, "Graphics Adapter," reads:
"NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 - nvdisp.drv (0.0.00.0000)"
- The Output Settings field is blank, but when you click the dropdown arrow, "Core Design MMX Hardware Card Emulation" is still there;
- Output Resolution and Texture Bit Depth fields are both completely empty;
- Sound Device has both "Primary Sound Driver" and, in the dropdown, "SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio (1480)," as normal.
All other instances in which the Nvidia settings tabs were formerly present are gone - in the display preferences, the system properties, hardware profiles, everywhere.
What I've tried thus far:
I uninstalled everything (even removed and re-seated the Nvidia card,) tried the latest Nvidia driver 77.72 which I downloaded directly from the Nvidia website;
I uninstalled that and tried the old one from the CD that came with the card, which is 66.94;
I uninstalled that and went to the archives at the Nvidia site and tried the previous version, 71.84, released March 2005 which was about the time I first bought the card.
All of these came up exactly the same - the screen graphics work fine but there are no Nvidia settings tabs anywhere to be seen, only the Nvidia icon in the Windows Control Panel - and the game settings popup window has the blanked-out fields as described above.
What I haven't tried, but will later this morning (I'm on the vampire shift right now):
Since I'd heard that Nvidia drivers are maddeningly difficult to uninstall completely and that remnants lodged in odd nooks and crannies completely hose up newly-installed drivers, I did a net search for a comprehensive Nvidia driver uninstaller program. I found and downloaded a program called "DriverCleaner" from DriverHeaven.net (I didn't have time to start it up and try it before coming to work last night.)
Is this just a case of an incomplete driver uninstall -or something else?
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can offer.
<***>
