Graphics card help please.

Hi all,

My computer used to run Win98, but has been updated by my tech friend to XP
Pro. All is working ok except that recently I noticed that if I right click
on the desktop then I do not have the display properties tabs that normally
appear. I only have the "themes" tab. Clicking XP theme allows me to change
my desktop picture and also gives me the missing tabs, but exiting and then
right clicking again only brings up the themes tab again. I've done quite a
bit of "Googling" and tried the various register fix downloads but nothing
works. I've read that perhaps reinstalling my graphics card driver may solve
the problem, as XP sometimes causes the driver to revert back to a MS
driver.
I downloaded the Win XP Nvidia driver for my TNT M64 card. near the
beginning of the installation process I get an error message that it "can't
find suitable drivers compatible with current hardware". In Device Manager I
have the following info listed:

Under "Driver tab": Provider= Microsoft.
Date: 1/07/2001

Under Driver Details: C:\Windows\syst32\drivers\nv4.sys
C:\Windows\syst32\nv4.dll
Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
Digital signer: MS Windows Publisher.

Also, I believe that I should uninstall the current driver first before
installing the newer one...but there are no references to NVIDIA listed in
the "add/remove" program list. I could uninstall from the driver tab in
Device Manager, but I don't want to do this in case the newer driver won't
install.
Based on the premise that "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I may just not
bother...but it would be nice to get my display tabs back.
All advice/help much appreciated,
Cheers,
Paul

"Display" is still accessible in Control Panel, right? For easy access you
can always right-button-drag the icon to the desktop and create a shortcut.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"Paul Burdett" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

My computer used to run Win98, but has been updated by my tech friend to
XP
Pro. All is working ok except that recently I noticed that if I right
click
on the desktop then I do not have the display properties tabs that
normally
appear. I only have the "themes" tab. Clicking XP theme allows me to
change
my desktop picture and also gives me the missing tabs, but exiting and
then
right clicking again only brings up the themes tab again. I've done quite
a
bit of "Googling" and tried the various register fix downloads but nothing
works. I've read that perhaps reinstalling my graphics card driver may
solve
the problem, as XP sometimes causes the driver to revert back to a MS
driver.
I downloaded the Win XP Nvidia driver for my TNT M64 card. near the
beginning of the installation process I get an error message that it
"can't
find suitable drivers compatible with current hardware". In Device Manager
I
have the following info listed:

Under "Driver tab": Provider= Microsoft.
Date: 1/07/2001

Under Driver Details: C:\Windows\syst32\drivers\nv4.sys
C:\Windows\syst32\nv4.dll
Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
Digital signer: MS Windows Publisher.

Also, I believe that I should uninstall the current driver first before
installing the newer one...but there are no references to NVIDIA listed in
the "add/remove" program list. I could uninstall from the driver tab in
Device Manager, but I don't want to do this in case the newer driver won't
install.
Based on the premise that "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I may just
not
bother...but it would be nice to get my display tabs back.
All advice/help much appreciated,
Cheers,
Paul

Hi,
Thanks for the tip...I tried that, but still only get the "themes" tab in
the Display Propereties.
Paul


"First of One" wrote in message
...
"Display" is still accessible in Control Panel, right? For easy access you
can always right-button-drag the icon to the desktop and create a
shortcut.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"Paul Burdett" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

My computer used to run Win98, but has been updated by my tech friend to
XP
Pro. All is working ok except that recently I noticed that if I right
click
on the desktop then I do not have the display properties tabs that
normally
appear. I only have the "themes" tab. Clicking XP theme allows me to
change
my desktop picture and also gives me the missing tabs, but exiting and
then
right clicking again only brings up the themes tab again. I've done quite
a
bit of "Googling" and tried the various register fix downloads but
nothing
works. I've read that perhaps reinstalling my graphics card driver may
solve
the problem, as XP sometimes causes the driver to revert back to a MS
driver.
I downloaded the Win XP Nvidia driver for my TNT M64 card. near the
beginning of the installation process I get an error message that it
"can't
find suitable drivers compatible with current hardware". In Device
Manager I
have the following info listed:

Under "Driver tab": Provider= Microsoft.
Date: 1/07/2001

Under Driver Details: C:\Windows\syst32\drivers\nv4.sys
C:\Windows\syst32\nv4.dll
Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
Digital signer: MS Windows Publisher.

Also, I believe that I should uninstall the current driver first before
installing the newer one...but there are no references to NVIDIA listed
in
the "add/remove" program list. I could uninstall from the driver tab in
Device Manager, but I don't want to do this in case the newer driver
won't
install.
Based on the premise that "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I may just
not
bother...but it would be nice to get my display tabs back.
All advice/help much appreciated,
Cheers,
Paul

Hi Neil,
Could you explain how to check the profile and make any necessary changes as
you outlined?
Cheers,
Paul

(sorry if you get thismessage twice...I'm not sure whether to 'reply to
group' or 'sender')


"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
May depend on the settings of your user profile. Check with your friend
who upgraded the PC.

If your user profile is set to "Standard User" that may very well be the
problem.

I think you need to be setup as a minimum of "Power User" to change such
things. The same definitely goes for changing default device printer
settings (Letter to A4 etc) if that's also an issue.

Hope this helps.

Neil.

In message , Paul Burdett
writes
Hi all,

My computer used to run Win98, but has been updated by my tech friend to
XP
Pro. All is working ok except that recently I noticed that if I right
click
on the desktop then I do not have the display properties tabs that
normally
appear. I only have the "themes" tab. Clicking XP theme allows me to
change
my desktop picture and also gives me the missing tabs, but exiting and
then
right clicking again only brings up the themes tab again. I've done quite
a
bit of "Googling" and tried the various register fix downloads but nothing
works. I've read that perhaps reinstalling my graphics card driver may
solve
the problem, as XP sometimes causes the driver to revert back to a MS
driver.
I downloaded the Win XP Nvidia driver for my TNT M64 card. near the
beginning of the installation process I get an error message that it
"can't
find suitable drivers compatible with current hardware". In Device Manager
I
have the following info listed:

Under "Driver tab": Provider= Microsoft.
Date: 1/07/2001

Under Driver Details: C:\Windows\syst32\drivers\nv4.sys
C:\Windows\syst32\nv4.dll
Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
Digital signer: MS Windows Publisher.

Also, I believe that I should uninstall the current driver first before
installing the newer one...but there are no references to NVIDIA listed in
the "add/remove" program list. I could uninstall from the driver tab in
Device Manager, but I don't want to do this in case the newer driver won't
install.
Based on the premise that "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I may just
not
bother...but it would be nice to get my display tabs back.
All advice/help much appreciated,
Cheers,
Paul




--
Neil J Bundy

In "Control Panel", Click on "User Accounts".

It lists accounts and the type of account. If it says "Limited Account"
or something like that you may need to go in and change it.

To do this you may need to be logged in as Administrator (hence needing
your techie friend if it's password protected). Best bet's to give the
friend a shout.

Good luck

Neil.

In message , Paul
Burdett writes
Hi Neil,
Could you explain how to check the profile and make any necessary changes as
you outlined?
Cheers,
Paul

(sorry if you get thismessage twice...I'm not sure whether to 'reply to
group' or 'sender')


"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
May depend on the settings of your user profile. Check with your friend
who upgraded the PC.

If your user profile is set to "Standard User" that may very well be the
problem.

I think you need to be setup as a minimum of "Power User" to change such
things. The same definitely goes for changing default device printer
settings (Letter to A4 etc) if that's also an issue.

Hope this helps.

Neil.

Hi Neil,
Thanbks for replying. I checked the "User Accounts".There are two
listed...me (Paul) as "Administrator" and "Guest" as "Guest account off".
Cheers,
Paul


"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
In "Control Panel", Click on "User Accounts".

It lists accounts and the type of account. If it says "Limited Account" or
something like that you may need to go in and change it.

To do this you may need to be logged in as Administrator (hence needing
your techie friend if it's password protected). Best bet's to give the
friend a shout.

Good luck

Neil.

In message , Paul Burdett
writes
Hi Neil,
Could you explain how to check the profile and make any necessary changes
as
you outlined?
Cheers,
Paul

(sorry if you get thismessage twice...I'm not sure whether to 'reply to
group' or 'sender')


"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
May depend on the settings of your user profile. Check with your friend
who upgraded the PC.

If your user profile is set to "Standard User" that may very well be the
problem.

I think you need to be setup as a minimum of "Power User" to change such
things. The same definitely goes for changing default device printer
settings (Letter to A4 etc) if that's also an issue.

Hope this helps.

Neil.

Hmmm. The user settings sounds fine. They are standard.

Very weird though why your display screen properties doesn't show the
settings tab then...

I would suggest checking in Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device
Manager that you've not got any "!"s next to your display adaptor. If
so, reinstall the driver from within Device Manager as a Standard PCI
VGA, reboot etc. *then* install the Nvidia driver again, selecting the
appropriate card type. It shouldn't do any harm doing this anyway, ie a
clean install of the drivers - use an official driver, either the
manufacturer disk or a recent WHQL one from Nvidia's site - not beta or
tweaked ones.

Beyond that, I haven't got a clue as it does sound really weird. Maybe
it's just the display control panel that needs reinstalling, but I don't
know, sorry!

One thought - are there any GART / motherboard / VIA drivers etc that
you may need to install? Depends on your motherboard.

This is probably my last reply on this thread as I've run out of ideas!

Good luck,

Neil.

In message , Paul Burdett
writes
Hi Neil,
Thanbks for replying. I checked the "User Accounts".There are two
listed...me (Paul) as "Administrator" and "Guest" as "Guest account off".
Cheers,
Paul

Hi Neil,

Many thanks for your help...I'll keep going as is.
Paul


"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
Hmmm. The user settings sounds fine. They are standard.

Very weird though why your display screen properties doesn't show the
settings tab then...

I would suggest checking in Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device
Manager that you've not got any "!"s next to your display adaptor.
If
so, reinstall the driver from within Device Manager as a Standard PCI VGA,
reboot etc. *then* install the Nvidia driver again, selecting the
appropriate card type. It shouldn't do any harm doing this anyway, ie a
clean install of the drivers - use an official driver, either the
manufacturer disk or a recent WHQL one from Nvidia's site - not beta or
tweaked ones.

Beyond that, I haven't got a clue as it does sound really weird. Maybe
it's just the display control panel that needs reinstalling, but I don't
know, sorry!

One thought - are there any GART / motherboard / VIA drivers etc that you
may need to install? Depends on your motherboard.

This is probably my last reply on this thread as I've run out of ideas!

Good luck,

Neil.

In message , Paul Burdett
writes
Hi Neil,
Thanbks for replying. I checked the "User Accounts".There are two
listed...me (Paul) as "Administrator" and "Guest" as "Guest account
off".
Cheers,
Paul