Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Purp

Identifying a Graphics Card

Recommended Posts

My mate just gave me his old computer (well not very old - 800 MHz, faster than my others) and he didn't have any of the driver disks or anything because he bought it second-hand. So, I cannot work out which driver to download for the graphics card. I've tried loads of things but haven't managed to get anywhere with it yet. I've tried using a program called DriverGuide Toolkit, which has helped me quite a lot over the last few weeks, but it won't tell you what the hardware is unless it already has an "Unknown Device" entry in the driver list (that you can see in the Driver Manager in Win98SE. Does anyone know of a program that may be able to identify it for me, or any other way to find out what it is (it's built into the motherboard so I can't get close enough to it to read anything that might be printed on it, unless I take out all the IDE cables, etc., but I'm leaving that as a last resort, this being second from last)?

Please help me, I want to install all my games but I'm stuck with 256 colours, using the standard Super VGA driver that comes with Windows :(

Share this post


Link to post

If my experience with Win98 is any indication, having the right driver for your video card won't help one iota if it's not detected as a video card in the first place.

tektips.com
Good luck.

Share this post


Link to post

As it's an onboard graphics, use sisoft sandra to detect motherboard and go find the specs for the board.

Share this post


Link to post

OK, thanks everyone, but I still have a problem. Aida told me it was a Trident CyberBlade-i7 chip, so I downloaded a driver for that and clicked on the update driver option on the Super VGA's properties window and it wouldn't install it. So I tried using Sandra and did what you said, fodders, and looking up the specs of my motherboard seems to suggest that I need the same Trident driver.

I have to go to work now but I'll try another driver later on, but if anyone has any info for me (i.e. why it didn't work before, and whether or not downloading the driver from somewhere else will help), please post it. Thanks!

Share this post


Link to post

Look for some kind of identifying serial or model number on it then search for that. I've found drivers for a network card that way.

Share this post


Link to post

Actually, the Trident i7 is a good card, i've got one on my k6 433 laptop and it runs well :D All the drivers I found on the net seem to work for 98 here (not 2k though, no 3d accel in win2k :'( ). The Trident i7 may be a old 4-8mb card, but it certainly beats the serious pants out of the s3 ProSavage Graphics Twister 32mb, on a 3x superior CPU even. (Presario 1277 > Presario 700)

Just get a Geforce2 or better anyways

Share this post


Link to post

MaTT [TiK] said:
OK, thanks everyone, but I still have a problem. Aida told me it was a Trident CyberBlade-i7 chip, so I downloaded a driver for that and clicked on the update driver option on the Super VGA's properties window and it wouldn't install it. So I tried using Sandra and did what you said, fodders, and looking up the specs of my motherboard seems to suggest that I need the same Trident driver.


Surely the driver comes with a setup program?

(You werent trying to install the driver on the monitor were you?)

Share this post


Link to post

No, that one was just a .inf file, but the one I just tried had a setup program and that didn't work either. Shit, I just looked on the display settings - advanced menu and realised that it's already set up as a Trident chip, which confirms what I was worried about - the Trident driver is what windows uses if you tell it to install a standard super VGA driver. Fuck! Sorry, but how the hell do I configure it now? What's strange is that when I did fodders' method, and looked up the specs for my motherboard, I found that apparently this motherboard comes with a Trident card, so what the hell happened there? Maybe what it told me about my motherboard was also information about some standard motherboard that windows thinks I have. The model number was MS-6378 if that means anything to anyone? MS stands for Micro-Star, not Microsoft (thank Goddess).

Looks like I'll have to buy a new card. Anyone know of a good-but-cheap video card?

Share this post


Link to post

O......Kay......

Thanks for your help, everyone, especially fod as it was Sandra that did it in the end. When I posted that model number a minute ago, I noticed that it was displayed twice in the same window of Sandra, once under System and once under Mainboard, but the mainboard one said VT8361 in brackets, after it. So, I searched for VT8361 and it turns out that that is the graphics controller. Finally, 32 bit colour :) Strange.

Share this post


Link to post

Ok, so that video adapter now works perfectly in that computer, but now I have another graphic card-related problem. My other two computers were a 750 MHz with a 4 MB SiS something-or-other-doohicky card and a 350 MHz with an 8 MB Intel 740 card, but I've swapped the cards around so the better shitty card is in the better shitty computer. The SiS card works fine in the 350, but the I740 doesn't seem to work properly in the 750. I've tried installing about four different drivers for it, including the one on the 350's restore disc, and they all seem to work when installing them, but I can only get up to 16 bit colour when that card does 24 bit in the 350, and if I try to change the resolution to 800x600 or above it won't let me have anything above 256 colours :( Any ideas?

Share this post


Link to post

What shitty monitors are you using? They have limits, too.
There should be an "Advanced" properties button or something somewhere that shows all the resolutions the monitor/card combination can support.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, sorry about the tripple post.

The monitor is alright actually and works fine with the SiS card. Earlier I gave up and swapped the cards back. Then I started getting the same resolution/colour problem with the Intel card in the 350, it's original computer, as well as some security error (apparently) on a monochrome screen, before Windows had loaded. I think I cured the security error by removing the utilities that were installed with the SiS driver. I then set the colour mode to 16 bit and the resolution to the highest it would let me have with 16 bit, 720x400 and rebooted. When it started back up, all the usual modes had appeared on the list, going up to 24 bit, 1024x768 res. So, of course, being an idiot, I swapped again and now I'm back where I started, no 24 or 32 bit colour on the 750 and no 800x600 or above on 16 bit :(

What the hell is wrong? I suddenly realised it probably has something to do with the fact that the SiS card is PCI, whereas the Intel card is AGP, so I've been messing with the AGP settings in CMOS/BIOS/whatever-it-is, but still no luck :( If I don't have it working soon I suppose I'll just have to switch the cards back to their original positions again and mess with the Intel one till it works in the 350 again. Then I suppose I'll just have to look on EBay or something for two or three cheap video cards.

Share this post


Link to post

It could be conflicting with the previous video card drivers. Make sure you remove them before installing the other vid card.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, ok, thinking about it I haven't tried that. I thought I'd reformatted, but as I've done that to each of my computers at least 3 times and I've reformatted my girlfriend's and my mate's one each, all within the space of about two weeks, I think my memory is just confused - the stuff on that computer at the moment seems to suggest that I haven't actually tried that. Also, I think the card only worked in its original computer again after I'd formatted that, so yeah, it probably is a driver conflict. How the hell can I forget whether or not I've formatted a hard disk in the last two days?!!

How do you completely remove all traces of a driver without reformatting?

Edit: Don't worry, I'm just gonna reformat again :) I'm so used to doing it, I can have everything up and running again in about 45 mins or even less, depending on how well the shitty CD drive wants to work.

If this doesn't work then I am just gonna swap the cards back and look for a cheap 8 MB PCI graphics card. If anyone's got one that I can have for about a tenner+p&p (or less - I think that's about $19 in the US), I might be interested when I get paid (in about two weeks) - I can pay through PayPal.

Edit (a few hours later): YES YES YES YES YES!! I've done it! Just needed to install a new AGP controller driver thing.

Three tips for fixing impossible computer problems:
1. Keep trying random things - the stupider, the better.
2. Be Pagan, preferably mainly Wiccan.
3. Whenever the computer is taking its time loading or rebooting, keep your eyes closed and repeat the words, "Please Goddess, please let this work." Make sure you open your eyes slowly, when you think it's finished loading.

Works every time :D . . . . . eventually. If you're not actually pagan then this is blasphemy, so don't do it. And by the way, I am joking, so don't actually do this at all. It does seem to work for me but may be slowly driving the Goddess and God to start the next apocalypse.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×