driver download problem

[Greeko]

I have a new driver for my AMD Athlon 751 processor and one for my Nvidia Vanta video card. I am scared to install them because last time i tried to install a driver for my processor i almost screwed up my computer. So do i need to install one before the other? I have the right ones. I am sure of it. I run Win ME. I got the WIn Me Detonator XP drivers for my video card and an AMD driver for the processor Athlon 751. The AMD processor driver says it automatically detects the OS. I am just unsure of if i should install them because I am scared I might mess up my computer.

 

[starlifter]

This is what I recommend:

1. If everything is running fine, just hold on to them. Don't install if you have no problems.

2. If/when you do finally install, follow the golden rule: be prepared to lose all files and re-install everything from scratch.



Hopefully, you will never have such a huge mess that you will ahve to reinstall from a clean (reformatted) drive. But it can... and does happen. Better to be prepared, than cursing irreplaceable data when it occurs.

Here is the problems... M$ is the richest, largest software company in the world. This renders them incapable of delivering software which is bug free. There are over 6,000 known bugs in Windoze XP, for instance. Usually, only a handful affect anyone at one time. But if a particularly nasty bug rears its ugly head at the wrong time (esp. during upgrades of the OS and/or drivers), the machine can be in such a state that an average user cannot recover, or at least it is much faster just to reformat and re-install from scratch.

So the trick is either to back up everything to another drive (HD or CD), or at least back up irreplaceable data (stuff that you download, create, edit, etc.).


Do not take driver installation lightly... to be unprepared for disaster seems to just attract it more .

 

[Greeko]

Thank you. but i think i need to update them because when I try to play this new game America's Army it gives me a general protection fault error. I took it to a faq and they told me to update my Video card drivers.

 

[starlifter]

Thank you. but i think i need to update them because when I try to play this new game America's Army it gives me a general protection fault error. I took it to a faq and they told me to update my Video card drivers.

It always helps when people give too much than too little.... America's Army is being programmed by some people who know what they are doing, and are puching even the current white paper specs on 3D accelerations to achieve the realism they want.

Here is what that means to you... the T&L (Transform & Lighting) calls that are made by the software are required to be able to run properly. These sections of the nVidia drivers are being tweaked on an almost daily basis to get better efficiency and speed... but sometimes (actually, pretty often) something will slip thru, which is no big deal for HalfLife and most 3D games. But AA and a few others are exercising parts of the code that are apt to expose a weakenss in nVidia's driver, and so they rush to fix it. This means you are one of the people that will be needing to regularly update your nVidia driver. It also means that you are well advised to keep your machine backed up.

So yes, in you case, I recommend you not only apply the driver, but visit nVidia and use their reference drivers on a regular basis. I have been with nVidia myself, since the first week of the TNT release, and been there, done that. When I get a GEForce 4 and run programs like AA, I'll be there again .

PS, Don't bother with your video card's drivers, unless your video card has a special 3rd-party function, like maybe Video Out, that you really use. All nVidia-based cards have drivers that their manufacturers take the nVidia ref drivers, and tweak/modify. Typically, the manufactures (like Diamond & Asus & Hercules, etc.) are quite a bit behind the latest and best ref drivers at nVidia. I quite using my Diamond drivers in 1998, about 2 weeks after my first TNT card.

 

[damunzy]

Good info...all accept the anit-MS retoric. I am not an MS fanboy but I have the clarity to see that their are bugs in all OSes. I am guessing that it is the fault of my video card that Mandrake Linux would work in one of the beta versions but in none of the release versions...of course a Linux company can't go wrong.

Look at that, got me defending MS!

 

[Pliny The Elder]

AMD 751 drivers are chipset drivers, not processor drivers. Processors require no drivers. What motherboard do you have? Just because your processor is an AMD, does not mean your chipset is. It could be a VIA chipset, an AMD chipset, or even (!) a combination of the 2. This is very important...you absolutely must have the correct drivers, for your chipset, for your computer to work properly.

 

[Greeko]

I have an Asus motherboard i think.

 

[starlifter]

I run ASUS MoBos most of the time, too. The chipsets must have the proper drivers to get the best/most function out of the. MS provides general drivers in their OS releases, but as all of us hardware gurus here know, MS has yet to release a bug-free install database (e.g., the INF files). Witness the horrible problems they caused by a simple transposition error by the Redmond Boys in the ALi/Win2K install. This was a real pain, and the only MoBo maker that would step up and "fix" MS's mistake was ASUS. It required a deliberate insertion of erroneous data to force the MS errors to install the correct stuff. One of the few cases where two wrongs actually do make a "right", LOL.



For Geeko & his GPF errors, the first thing to do is just update the video driver. A good thing to do is visit a 3D Gamer/Driver site & see what others are experiencing with the specific hardware combo.

http://www.windrivers.com/

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=drivers

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

http://www.3dgamers.com/games/americasarmy/

 

[Pliny The Elder]

3dspotlight.com and overclockers.com are good sites for hardware probs, too. I use an Abit board, and I just use the VIA and Nvidia reference drivers. He may need to experiment with driver releases, the latest doesn't always mean "best", there are many variables.

 

[starlifter]

He may need to experiment with driver releases, the latest doesn't always mean "best", there are many variables.

Very good point. It really pays to take the time and know exactly what a new release does; some are not necessary to install.... but most of the new releases are driven by issues with the newest specs, and newest hardware.

 

[Greeko]

I installed the lastest Nvidia drivers for my OS. I still get the general protection fault error. I will list it alll of the error message here.

This is from the America's Army game. When I try to run it the game gives me this critical error.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
General protection fault!

History: CreateDirect3D <- UD3DRenderDevice::Init <- UGameEngine::Init <- InitEngine
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you all. You have been most helpful in providing me with information.