nForce Drivers ...

[RaNGeR.GaV]

I'm just wanting to poll you other NF7-S users to see if any of you have tried and/or use the "nvidia" drivers for the board or just the Abit supplied ones?
I tried installing the ones on the nvidia site last night (2.03), and they ate my pc! :( It just restarted half-way through install and then I started getting "flashing" BSOD's (which I can't read because they flash past too fast before it reboots). I've almost gone as far as re-installing windows. It started saying "hal.dll is missing or corrupt". After much screwing around I managed to copy in a new hal.dll ... and delete the system32/catroot folder (a painful fix for the BSOD problem); and got it to boot. So I thinks "right lets re-install that and try again". So stupidly I run the setup again and reboot back to the flashing BSOD's. :(

I'm glad I don't own a shotgun ...

[4.6POWER]

I have been using the 2.03 from nvidia on a few systems I built. Odd... I have a friend with an nforce1 mobo from asus, and he complains that his system goes to poo when he uses the 2.03's also.

Did you uninstall all your old abits chipset drivers? I'm sure you did everything right... but worth asking. For XP, the procedure should be: (in this order)

uninstall old chipsets - everything and anything relating to nvidia
uninstall old video card drvr - any and all
install 2.03's
install your vid driver (dont use the one included in the 2.03)

good luk!

[mdzcpa]

IMOHO do not run any drivers with the NF7 other than those suppled on the Abit CD. I know of at least a good handful of users who hosed themselves going with the Nvidia WHQL drivers.

I learned my own lesson on this a few months back and have not installed any other drivers on any NF7 build since. The Abit drivers work fine and provide good performance. The latest NF2 drivers out of Nvidia have been crap lately.

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Hmmm .. yeah I wondered if that was likely to be the case (that others had had problems too). If I can get back into windows again, then I will re-install the drivers I've been using up till now (latest ones downloaded from the ABit site just before I received my board). Why does it always have to be such a mission? :(


I wanted to try some new drivers because if I bump my FSB up one notch from its fastest stable speed (217mhz, cpu @ 2497mhz); it will prime95 fine, but won't run 3dmark2001 without restarting (at 218mhz, cpu @ 2511mhz). :/ Even if I add more voltage doesn't seem to make a difference. The AGP bus is still 66mhz. Even tried turning off the AGP spread spectrum, but that didn't help either.
So I gave up and set it back a notch ... and now it won't pass 3DMark2001 at the speed it used to! :confused: Also getting strange restarts sometimes .... maybe RAM is bad .... I never have any luck with these things.

[mdzcpa]

I wouldn't be unhappy. You have pretty smokin rig there:) Running 217 is nothing to sneeze at! I'd be quite happy dropping it back a notch and running where you are stable. A stable rig is more important than a few FSB mhz:)

[BigBen]

I have not had any probs at all with Nvidia 2.41's :confused:

Regards

[Ratboy]

There are a great many concerns with the nvidia nforce driver releases, i think www.nforcershq.net has a few threads with concerns. I've stayed with my Asus originals for the last 6 months ...which of course is annoying when i have this need for 'the newer driver' drug

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Okay well after a weekend of much drama, I ended up having to re-install windows XP. :(
Basically a full install was all I could do because the "repair" install that I've used many times was BSODing part way through. That, coupled with the fact that when I rebooted from the initial setup, and it tried to start installing, it would suddenly not be able to find the CDROM.
But luckily the re-install didn't delete my documents And settings folders, so with a restart and a DOS disk I was able to rename my old folder to the name of the new one! :D

I dont' think I'll be trying any more of those drivers from nvidia for while ....

[Datsin]

i have run nvidia's 2.03 without any problems.. have been running it for weeks.. no errors.. no BSODs..

in fact iam yet to try the ones that come on the Abit CD..

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by Datsin
i have run nvidia's 2.03 without any problems.. have been running it for weeks.. no errors.. no BSODs..

in fact iam yet to try the ones that come on the Abit CD..

For many, the Nvidia drivers work fine....but for some, they are a nightmare. There are many variables between user systems which explain the varying outcome of using the Nvidia drivers.

When you build a lot of rigs (like I do), you go with what works most of the time. Warranty calls eat time and profits. Not only do using the Abit NF2 drivers increase the chance of a successful build, they cost literally nothing in terms of performance. Nvidia removed their latest offending IDE driver from the last WHQL NF2 set which was the only driver which had any performance benefit anyway.

[RaNGeR.GaV]

I think I have remembered another possible cause of my problems....
I had just downloaded the Windows Update Nvidia driver ...and hadn't restarted (forgot I hadn't), so maybe when I tried to install the nvidia package it clashed and thats what caused the system to crash during the install. And because it was half-way through, things got eaten. I'm not 100% sure I forgot to re-boot .... but I think I may have :(

[dicki]

hi ranger, what voltage are you using to hit those speeds, i've stalled at 2360 on straight water but i'm only using 1.75volts i remember reading somewhere about these chips being a little more sensative to voltage... what have you found?

dicki

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Well ... at this stage it seems to need all of the 2.1vcore I've got it set to (if you mean the CPU). It still seems to use less than that according to Mbm. I've tried cranking it up to 2.15 (to help me get to 2.5ghz), but the machine won't actually boot!! (ridiculous for a board with a 2.3 max!!). I'm at 2497mhz at the moment ... and once I've let it run at that for a while longer I'll either try bumping it up another notch at that voltage, or leave it at that speed and start trying to lower the voltage.