How to install original drivers for my Nvidia Geforce 7600GS (from original disc)

[GN48]

Okay, I was playing GTA SA... Then while trying to start this mission where you have to kill the manager of Madd Dogg, it just suddenly crashed and said that there was something wrong with the gta.exe file itself. So then I ran the game again, but this time, when it loads, it crashes.... (you know where you click Start Game then Load Game and Save file even tried starting a new game....but failed) Then I started it the third time, and them something was weird about the colours of the game; white became pinkish, black became gray and so on. And then still crashed. So now I can't even run GTA SA without crash...(probably caused by one of the mods I've installed....) Then the fourth time I loaded it, it completely froze the computer... (Ctr + Alt + Del don't work) So then I pressed the reset button on the case of Tower, and reseted. Then every time it comes to finishing loading Windows XP, my monitor goes blank with yellow light flashing on and off...(Must be the graphic card) So I booted it in Safe Mode which actually worked and then I uninstalled the drivers for my graphics card - which this was done in safe mode. It said it wanted to restart to properly uninstall it, so I restarted it, took like 10 minutes to reset my computer...WTF! Then it booted up and this time my screen was on and not in standby mode...Yeepie! (So it was the graphic card) Then I installed the drivers that came with the disc for my graphics card (so I can play GTA SA!) the computer BSOD on ME! This is done WHILE not after or before installation, it was like half way finishing installation and then, Blue Screen of Death a.k.a BSOD! It said there was a problem caused by the file nv4_mini.sys and under that it said: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA if that's any help. I know of one way to fix this is to use System Restore, I know this tempting but if I do this, it will revert all its system changes and all back to that date, including the drivers for my graphics card and I have changed a few thing on the hard drives like moving files and deleting them, I don't want to do that ALL OVER AGAIN! But what I'm trying to really get an answer out of this one is really, why did colours changed in GTA SA like al though with me in Diablo I where once in every 5 times I play it, it changed with all these random colours?

Oh and while you're answering this question, can you define what forceware version is ? Like this website I visited: http://www.nodevice.com/driver/GeForce_7600_GS/get37245.html it says Version: 93.81 is the seemingly the latest, but that there can't be right, coz my later version, (the one that F***ed my Computer up is 178 point something(I got this when I typed in "Updated drivers for Nvidia Geforce 7600GS). And there was another where it said version 8 and version 6.893 and another said version 7.95, What is this? Numbers there to confuse you with random versions? Please make sense in these numbers

If you insist me in manually installing the updated driers for my graphics card, then can you tell me if I did install this it will not BSOD me while installing them, other wise there would be no point in downloading this update if I can't even install successfully!

Okay, if you do approve that it will NOT BSOD on me, then can you give me a link so I can download the my Nvidia Geforce 7600GS drivers only?
I don't want anything like this: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_195.62_whql.html where you have drivers for all these variant of graphics card. I don't want that, It's too big + when will I even use this for other graphics card describe on that page anyway? A waste of download size I bet. I just want like the above link above the one I'm talking about right now that is only and I mean ONLY for an Nvidia Geforce 7600GS for Windows XP 32-bit and version higher than 178 coz I know 93 ain't the latest, and one that will not BSOD me while installing these drivers manually!

I would appreciate this cause I really want on play on my computer! Without them drivers, I can't do S*** with computer other than logon and logoff :haha:

Okay, I've done a system restore and went back to the latest "system checkpoint". Still, no luck. Even System Restore don't work for me.... Here's what happen after doing the system restore: boot up see XP logo and the next thing you see after the XP has loaded, a Blank screen with my monitor some how in STANDBY MODE! OMG! I...I...I think I made it worser! Soooooooo......I pressed the reset button on the tower and it reseted and went I went into safe mode so I can restore it back to another point; they ALL FAILED! So again but instead restored to recent which was today and tada; monitor's not in standby mode anymore, but no drivers for my graphics car except the ones being used by system.

 

[Rick]

Graphics drivers change like cashiers at Wal-mart. So, forget the drivers on the disc. They are old, outdated and it just doesn't make sense to even have the disc anymore let alone install them.

Yes, you should install the latest ones available for your card. No, I can't tell you it won't BSOD (you may have other problems), but you are far less likely to get a BSOD with the newer ones than with the originals off of the disc.

Lastly, download the entire package. Yes, it contains drivers for many models, but surely you have more than a 100MB of free space. You can delete the installer after it is finished... no big deal. The reason they do this is to avoid the headache of having a billion different driver sets for every model, which would be terribly confusing to many people.

 

[GN48]

Graphics drivers change like cashiers at Wal-mart. So, forget the drivers on the disc. They are old, outdated and it just doesn't make sense to even have the disc anymore let alone install them.

Yes, you should install the latest ones available for your card. No, I can't tell you it won't BSOD (you may have other problems), but you are far less likely to get a BSOD with the newer ones than with the originals off of the disc.

Lastly, download the entire package. Yes, it contains drivers for many models, but surely you have more than a 100MB of free space. You can delete the installer after it is finished... no big deal. The reason they do this is to avoid the headache of having a billion different driver sets for every model, which would be terribly confusing to many people.

Number One: Alright Rick, I'll forget about the old drivers for now
Number Two: I'll uh, try to download the latest drivers for my graphics card alright
Number Three: Yes, I understand now why the entire package contains drivers for many other models, thanks for that :slurp:
And Number Four: What do I do if, after I download the entire package drivers, installed it on my XP system and while installing these drivers, it BSOD me? hmmm?

Is not about the free space, is how long it will take to download the file, that's what I'm worried about....

 

[GN48]

And Number Four: What do I do if, after I download the entire package drivers, installed it on my XP system and while installing these drivers, it BSOD me? hmmm?

Well, it happened! - this was done in normal mode

So I restarted the computer and installed the updated drivers of the entire package I downloaded from the internet in Safe Mode. Once installed, it said it needed to reset, so it restated. I couldn't be bothered pressing F8 anymore since there was no BSOD to unistall the drivers again! So anyway, it loaded up XP and a few seconds later after loading XP, my monitor went in standby mode. WTF?

I don't get it, I successfully installed the drivers in Safe mode but when it boots to normal mode my monitor goes into standby mode! I did all that just to get monitor in Standby mode?

Okay, turned off monitor and turned on again and said no signal
So now I've tried connecting to another monitor that I know works, but still, the other monitor says no signal as well.... Is there something wrong with the graphics card?

 

[Rick]

GTA used to work, right? Then it inexplicably crashed? Then the colors became strange and then the computer froze completely? Etc?

To assume that your graphics card has a hardware problem isn't too far fetched, but you aren't out of options yet. I would suggest using Driver Sweeper to clean up all of the leftover registry settings and files. The instructions look something like this:

1. Use the official uninstaller(s) of the driver(s) you want to uninstall. (Uninstall it from add/remove programs in control panel)
2. Reboot your PC in Safe Mode.
3. Run Driver Sweeper and select what to clean (nvidia).
4. Analyse lists all the entries possible to remove, cleaning removes the entries selected.

Once you are done, restart the computer in normal mode. Give it a few minutes to boot up. Install your drivers and with any luck, you won't get a BSOD. Restart and enjoy.

If you still get a BSOD, then hardware looks very possible. But you won't really be able to isolate the problem unless you do something like a fresh installation of Windows to eliminate software as a possibility.

 

[GN48]

[*]Use the official uninstaller(s) of the driver(s) you want to uninstall. (Uninstall it from add/remove programs in control panel)

Is it alright to do this in safe mode? Coz I can't get into normal mode coz my monitor won't show...

Added: I'll just do it anyway....

 

[GN48]

Okay, I installed and used the driver Sweeper in Safe Mode. I rebooted as I was told so. Then in normal mode, I tried installing the drivers again. While installing these drivers, I got some error message and the monitor started to flash on and off. then it stopped and I could see the errror message clear enough to that it tells me that some program called ATK something something caused a the flashing, and then all of a sudden, my desktop turned to 8-bit colour depth and resolution of 640x480! This was all during the installation of these drivers! I kinda left the popup open and waited for the finish of the driver installation. Then the driver installation finished said that I needed to restart. So I clicked restart computer now, but the problem was that I couldn't find the okay button on the screen, so I guessed I just pressed the enter key on the keyboard and it restarted.... So up came XP logo and XP loaded, but still, my Monitor went into standby mode. Well, atleast this time there was no BSOD! thanks to Driver Sweeper I guess... So what do I do now?

Do I shut down for now or should I press the reset button on my computer and boot to safe mode?
Welll.....anyone?

 

[GN48]

Okay, when I mean strange colours, I mean look at these pictures I got:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/4217308913_e37b8f465c_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2798/4217308661_24cb01f986_o.jpg
you see those two? Normally they are white coloured, but pink!
Here are some more:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/4217308297_748139bfcd_b.jpg
should I ignore that?
The okay button on explorer is missing!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/4217307355_86f9c42a65_b.jpg
Oh, god! 8-bit 640x480!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4218075526_22b4f3d0a3_b.jpg

I did have a video, but I don't know if it plays or not:
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=6b432266ba&photo_id=4217255271"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=6b432266ba&photo_id=4217255271" height="300" width="400"></embed></object>
It said like "Copy and paste this HTML into your webpage" and didn't know what that meant, so took the whole lot! Got this from Flickr....

I can tell what it suppose to show, it's suppose to show you that the drivers are still there in in Driver Sweeper but in normal mode, also I had another query, On my VISTA Operating Laptop, when I installed driver sweeper on it, so I could see what drivers were installed, all I saw was an identical drivers to my XP system....

I don't get it, it's suppose to be different but it exactly the same!

 

[GN48]

Well? has anyone looked at the pictures yet? Can anyone answer that?

I've waited for about a week now, my computer was turned of and unplugged then. After waiting this period, I tried to once again install the drivers for my graphics card. It was an epic fail! :zzz: Same again; monitor into standby mode and I have no other choice but to either press the restart button or hold the shutdown button for 10 seconds so I can shut it down....so now it's, just sitten' down there bored I guess "sigh". If internet forums won't help me, then I guess I have no other choice but to get it to some computer shop like Centurion computers to try installing the graphics drivers.

OR

I could buy a brand new CRT monitor for my computer, what do you think? Should I? If I did wanted a CRT, then I'd want one that's atleast is always on, no standby mode or anythin' like that in the new CRTs and LCDs. So if when I want to either save power or shut down the computer, I can just press the off button on the monitor and that's it, don't need to worry about it going in standby mode. When in use again, just press the button again, and tada! it's on....

 

[dividebyzero]

Who is the manufacturer of the graphics card? Or is it OEM ?
Many manufacturers issue their own drivers that are designed for the cards- Gigabyte are famous for their 5, 6 and 7 series cards not working with Forceware drivers.

 

[GN48]

Who is the manufacturer of the graphics card? Or is it OEM ?
Many manufacturers issue their own drivers that are designed for the cards- Gigabyte are famous for their 5, 6 and 7 series cards not working with Forceware drivers.

uhhhhh.....Nvidia :approve:

Relax, I got the graphics card boxed....(well, not really me, but my dad's friend bought it brand new boxed)

Well, after all, I did download the drivers from the actual Nvidia website did I not, or was that a false website?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_195.62_whql.html
Well, that's where I downloaded and failed to install the driver updates for my NG 7600GS.....

 

[dividebyzero]

" uhhhhh....Nvidia" ???
That implies that the card is OEM (i.e. unbranded), yet at the bottom of your post you describe the card as a "NG 7600GS" - nVidia do not use the prefix "NG"- in fact no nVidia card maker I can find use that prefix- the only reference I can find is from Chinese language sites which doesn't auger well for your chances of finding a manufacturer specific driver.

 

[GN48]

" uhhhhh....Nvidia" ???
That implies that the card is OEM (i.e. unbranded), yet at the bottom of your post you describe the card as a "NG 7600GS" - nVidia do not use the prefix "NG"- in fact no nVidia card maker I can find use that prefix- the only reference I can find is from Chinese language sites which doesn't auger well for your chances of finding a manufacturer specific driver.

NG - short for Nvidia Geforce if I you couldn't decipher that.... I couldn't be bothered typing out the whole words, so I just used them NG.... Sorry......

and what else should I add then, hmmmm? I am quite show it's 100% retail, not OEM. It did come in a actural box, did it not? of course it did, the box is still brand new not without a scratch, well, it kinda has now.... but that's not to say it's OEM! It's retail, My Dad's friend paid good money for that retailed Nvidia Geforce 7600GS and it's original box of how it came to the shops. You know with the plastic wraps thingy and all....

In fact, I have the actual damn box here right now as I am typing, is just sittin' there blindlessly! Do you want me to get a picture of that box for you or not, tis reason is not OEM but Retail.

 

[dividebyzero]

In that case you may find earlier drivers incompatible with any updates to XP.
Use driver sweeper again to clear out the old driver and load 195.62 (the latest whql) - Before you start bleating on about filesize and you don't use 3D, PhysX etc etc.. it is still contains the optimised driver for the latest hotfix updated XP 32-bit OS.

 

[dividebyzero]

If the driver update doesn't work then most likely the card has a hardware fault - so it's basically toast.
Unlikely to be a power supply problem as I think the card suck's most of it's juice through the PCIe slot (+ a 4-pin molex ?)

 

[GN48]

In that case you may find earlier drivers incompatible with any updates to XP.
Use driver sweeper again to clear out the old driver and load 195.62 (the latest whql) - Before you start bleating on about filesize and you don't use 3D, PhysX etc etc.. it is still contains the optimised driver for the latest hotfix updated XP 32-bit OS.

I don't think the old drivers are still there after like what, 20 times of using this coz of BSOD when trying to install the 195.62 forceware version, and besides, the old drivers are probably overwritten by now, after damn 20 times installing the latest and BSOD! But still, even if I did use Driver Sweeper, the Nvidia drivers wil still be there for some apparent reason.... No matter how many times I try to clean all Nvidia trace of drivers, it's there, I alway load up Driver Sweeper just to be sure it did get rid of the new ones and the old ones. but it's there, can't be cleared, everytime, no matter how many times I do it, is as if there is a virus there that keeps the nvidia drivers there to show on Driver Sweeper! but there's no drivers as I recently scanned it with both Spybot and AVG 9.0 Free, and plus how can it get viruses any ways? Is not even connected to the internet!

 

[GN48]

If the driver update doesn't work then most likely the card has a hardware fault - so it's basically toast.
Unlikely to be a power supply problem as I think the card suck's most of it's juice through the PCIe slot (+ a 4-pin molex ?)

How can it be toast? It works like brand new when the 195.62 forceware drivers aren't installed the monitor doesn't go into standby mode(thank god.....), (so it's basicaly using the VGA controller adapter for rendering the images)(also means used drivers Sweeper as well) and when it does gets its latest drivers installed, my monitor just gos into standby mode, WTF!

It's through a PCI-E x16, doesn't have an external power source directly from the power supply though, so it sucks juice from the PCI-E x16 slot on my motherboard.

 

[dividebyzero]

When you are "basically using the VGA controller adapter for rendering the images" the card is acting virtually as a pass through which is why the display is 640 x 480. The hardware of the card plays virtually no part in the display- the card only ramps up once the driver is installed and 2D and 3D settings can be accessed-at this point the power draw kicks in.
Has the psu been checked?
Secondly- have you uninstalled/reinstalled the monitor's driver- there's always the possibility that the video driver isn't picking up the monitor properly, or that the display parameters of the display have somehow changed (refresh rate etc) and are not compatible with the display mode.
Thirdly- Have you tried connecting the monitor using the other DVI (or VGA) port ?

FYI - Any number of faults on a graphics card can still allow the card to output video. Dodgy voltage circuits, memory interfaces and the like may not show up until a reasonable power draw goes through the card.

 

[GN48]

When you are "basically using the VGA controller adapter for rendering the images" the card is acting virtually as a pass through which is why the display is 640 x 480. The hardware of the card plays virtually no part in the display- the card only ramps up once the driver is installed and 2D and 3D settings can be accessed-at this point the power draw kicks in.
Has the psu been checked?
Secondly- have you uninstalled/reinstalled the monitor's driver- there's always the possibility that the video driver isn't picking up the monitor properly, or that the display parameters of the display have somehow changed (refresh rate etc) and are not compatible with the display mode.
Thirdly- Have you tried connecting the monitor using the other DVI (or VGA) port ?

Firstly, When I try to rack up the resolution to 800x600 32-bit, (recommended by the bubble on the lower right corner of screen in taskbar) my monitor just completely goes into standby mode, I airn't trying that again, so I can't get pass 640x480 in screen resolution (NOT GOOD coz I can't get to the OK button at the bottom of a window!)!
Secondly, How do you uninstall/reinstall the monitor drivers? Ain't monitors plug n play? So how am I suppose to find the drivers for this monitor (If you must know, my Monitor's a HP71), if it doesn't even use them!
Thirdly, Yes, my Monitor's a CRT and I love them, better than those LCD screens.... And yes, I've tried *****ically 20 times connecting the the VGA cable to the back of my Nvida Geforce 7600GS, well of course there are no other VGA ports except on my graphics card, which means that I, don't have a onboard video chip.

 

[dividebyzero]

Your card has a DVI and VGA out ports no? Are you telling me that you've not tried the DVI port for want of a DVI-VGA Adapter?
Explaining that you have a CRT monitor earlier would have helped with the troubleshooting.
If every driver you have tried results in the card being non-functional then the cause is either 1. the parameters of the software have changed in which case you'll most likely have to bite the bullet and do a System Restore (FYI -a little late, but before updating any driver it's always a good idea to create a restore point) or,
2. The card(or power supply) has a hardware fault. You can easily rule this out by doing the system restore. If the card is at fault it may have exhibited symptoms earlier (artifacts, graphics that flicker, colour changes, empty or partially filled areas, colour shifting) due to RAM or GPU corruption.
"Firstly, When I try to rack up the resolution to 800x600 32-bit, (recommended by the bubble on the lower right corner of screen in taskbar) my monitor just completely goes into standby mode"...........Just out of interest...........
Why are you trying to push 32-bit colour (even at 800 x 600) through a card that has no dedicated driver installed?

 

[GN48]

Your card has a DVI and VGA out ports no? Are you telling me that you've not tried the DVI port for want of a DVI-VGA Adapter?
Explaining that you have a CRT monitor earlier would have helped with the troubleshooting.
If every driver you have tried results in the card being non-functional then the cause is either 1. the parameters of the software have changed in which case you'll most likely have to bite the bullet and do a System Restore (FYI -a little late, but before updating any driver it's always a good idea to create a restore point) or,
2. The card(or power supply) has a hardware fault. You can easily rule this out by doing the system restore. If the card is at fault it may have exhibited symptoms earlier (artifacts, graphics that flicker, colour changes, empty or partially filled areas, colour shifting) due to RAM or GPU corruption.
"Firstly, When I try to rack up the resolution to 800x600 32-bit, (recommended by the bubble on the lower right corner of screen in taskbar) my monitor just completely goes into standby mode"...........Just out of interest...........
Why are you trying to push 32-bit colour (even at 800 x 600) through a card that has no dedicated driver installed?

Number One, System Restore - Done that a few times, and the results are all fail, meaning, if install drivers (when I mean drivers, I mean all, one on the disc and the ones downloaded from the net) again, monitor will go back to standby mode every f***** time!

Number Two, It probably has a hardware fault; due to the colour changes if you haven't seem post #8 (The one that has alot of links compared to other posts), you'll see I have provided some images when boting to safe mode and such.

And the last one, out of your interest; why you'd rather 16-bit and not 32-bit (32-bit kinda looks better, doesn't it, or am I ignorant and not know the limits of my computer?) or maybe the 8-bit style, though don't know if it does goes down to that.

 

[dividebyzero]

And the last one, out of your interest; why you'd rather 16-bit and not 32-bit (32-bit kinda looks better, doesn't it, or am I ignorant and not know the limits of my computer?) or maybe the 8-bit style, though don't know if it does goes down to that.

I believe once you opt of 16/32 bit colour you automatically ramp the cards memory to 2D settings.
If I had to take a wild guess I'd say that you were pushing too many pixels on your GTA:SA mod.
I ran a full conversion of the game- reworked textures, very high poly vehicles, weapons and skins, and even with dual GTX280's and an i7 at 3.8GHz it's damn hard to push the game at 1920x1080 to the fps limit.
The same modded game MINUS the vehicles of 60k + poly count running on a 9800GTX+/Q9550 is still enough to throw up artifacts at 1680 x 1050. The short answer is the 7600GS (or for that matter all 7 series cards, possibly excepting the 7800GTX 512Mb) is not built to handle the fillrate you are trying to impose on it- it has neither core speed or bandwidth- which is why the advice you have been given (and have ignored) is to test the card and power supply. My guess is as I stated earlier that it's the card- most likely the VRM or a memory chip, neither of these faults would be apparent until they have voltage pushed through them-see my first sentance.But it's a little hard to tell as I also asked whether you noticed the card artifacting before fritzing out completely (also not forthcoming)- if it had for instance then downclocking the card could help.
You seem to be looking for a magic bullet cure-all.
Good luck

 

[GN48]

I believe once you opt of 16/32 bit colour you automatically ramp the cards memory to 2D settings.

Sorry, but can you explain what this means? Does this mean my Nvidia Geforce 7600GS is useless?

 

[GN48]

If I had to take a wild guess I'd say that you were pushing too many pixels on your GTA:SA mod.
I ran a full conversion of the game- reworked textures, very high poly vehicles, weapons and skins, and even with dual GTX280's and an i7 at 3.8GHz it's damn hard to push the game at 1920x1080 to the fps limit.

Um, hehe.... can explain that?

oh and, what's that a Nvidia Geforce GTX 280 you got? nice! Does that graphics card support XP 64-bit? (for my future gaming computer)

 

[dividebyzero]

Your video card has GPU core and Vram speed presets for 2-D and 3-D applications.

As to whether your card is useless...who knows? While it sits there untested it is more than a little difficult to ascertain.

If you want to find out then I suggest you follow the troubleshooting advice given earlier in the thread.

1. Change out the card with another known to be working and see if the problem remains.

2. Check to the power supply for adequate 12volt power delivery- via a hardware based tester is best. Software based testing requires a BIOS that monitors psu voltages, or a software that can be used in an OS enviroment (like OCCT, Speedfan).

3. Was the card artifacting prior to the driver install/reinstall -this is a biggie, as it would indicate that the card in cooked. I would be surprised if you ran GTA:SA in modded form without it artifacting to be quite honest. A 256Mb card with limited shader/pixel pushing capabilities being worked in such an intensive game. Just how prevalent the artifacting was and whether you combatted it by dropping some of the mods, or by some ineffectual means (raising clockspeed or dropping to 16 bit colour).

4. If the card will not accept a driver then you cannot test the card by downclocking the core and vram. Which leaves you option 1 or 2.