I've only got 16 colors

[gbnine]

Laptop Dell Latitude C800 Intel Pentium 3, 1000Mhz
128 MB (PC100 SDRAM)
nVIDIA GeForce2 Go Video Adaptor
Operating System: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

My problem is that I’m only getting 16 colors from my graphics card. In Device Manager there is a yellow exclamation mark against Video Controller (VGA Compatible). I’m not sure how to take out the video card and when I try to reinstall the drivers, I direct it to the correct directory but it's redirected to C:WINNT/inf and then says Windows cannot find a driver for this device.
My video driver isn’t in the Add/Remove Programs list and the Video Adapter is not in Control Panel.
So, if anyone can help me to improve the graphics quality on my laptop, I’ll be very grateful.

 

[rmdl51]

This problem is because you Don't have any video drivers installed. Every time you see that yellow exclamation mark is because either there's no driver or you have a conflict with the driver installed. Also there's no way to take out your video card since it's onboard. You have many options to proceed:
1- First one and I don't know if it's under your possibilities to upgrade to XP, it's more reliable and I'm pretty sure XP has the driver for this onboard video card and will be automaticaly installed.
2- If you want to/have to keep Win2000 then go to the nvidia web site and select your operating system and version of the card and download the drivers.
3-In case you have the original restore cd's fron you Dell, those discs have the appropiate drivers for your onboard graphics card.

I hope I give a start about how to solve this, it's not too complicated if you need more help let me know. Good Luck

 

[CCT]

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=LAT_PNT_P3C_C800&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

 

[gbnine]

Thank you for your help so far. I seem to be getting into deeper trouble than before.
I've downloaded the drivers for my nvidia geforce2 go graphics card but when I try to install them and select a location to where the drivers are, that location is ignored and windows searches a different location and then says that the drivers cannot be found.
Now when I restart the computer I get Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard. This wizard will complete the installation for this device: Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
No drivers can be found for this either. I've tried going to Windows Update but it says 'Windows was unable to locate a driver for this device'
I've disabled the device and attempted to reinstall with the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard.
When Windows finishes searching, the yellow exclamation mark comes up against the Video Controller. I select it and it tells me that the drivers are not installed.
So, as you can see, I'm going round in circles, not getting anywhere.
Am I doing something wrong? Please could you guide me with step-by-step instructions so I can get this problem solved?

 

[rmdl51]

I can surely help you with a step by step, but unfortunately right now I'm at work and kind of busy, Just let me tell you something, don't use the device manager to install your drivers windows is very stupid to do that by itself, and it's because the file you download might be a self-extract or .exe, try to double click the file you download and see if you can follow the wizard. If you get lucky it will install the drivers if not then you'll have to extract the driver files which are usually .inf files. I'll give you more details about the installation a little bit later.

 

[rmdl51]

Ok. I'll try to explain this driver installation as best as I can:
1- Download the correct file for your laptop video card from the web site CCT provide you, but make sure you select the correct OS since you have Win2000 ok.
2- I Don't have or had a C800 to know for sure but the specs says the C800 have an ATI Mobility, are you sure your video is Nvidia? Well if you find out the video is ATI download this file:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen
then double click it and follow the wizard instructions.
3- I'm sure if you Laptop doesn't have any other problems all you have to do is a couple of clicks on next and then restart your computer and that's it.

I hope that can help. Good Luck

 

[gbnine]

No Luck

Thank you for your help so far. I did everything you said and installed the correct driver. I followed the instructions but once again it ignored the location where the file is and relocates to C:WINNT/inf and then says Windows cannot find a driver for this device.
Something I've also noticed:
There is no entry for a Display Adapter or a Monitor in device manager?

 

[rmdl51]

There is no entry because you haven't installed yet, that why you only see VGA video controller that entry will become your display adapter entry.
Somehow I believe two things are happening here, first I suspect you still trying to use the update driver feature from the device manager and this will never work unless you have the .inf files required. Second if you really downloaded the correct drivers when you double click the file R54215.exe (that seems to be your file from the dell website) it will unzip the files then open up a wizard where it's supposed to automatically recognize and install you video drivers if this doesn't happen it could mean only one thing: those are not the video adater driver files you need.
I hope I could help more, Good kuck and if there's something else I can do to help please let me know

 

[gbnine]

Thank you so much for your time and help so far. I'm going to try and find the drivers for the vga video controller, install those, and then install the drivers for my graphics card. Is this the correct procedure? I'll get back to you and let you know how I get on.

 

[rrrobbo]

Install all Dell drivers

It would probably be a good idea to install all Dell drivers including up to date BIOS and chipset. They come on the RESOURCE CD with the laptop or you can download them from support.euro.dell.com.

You might even find Windows Update finds one for you.