Old ass ATi Rage driver problem

[[BTF]adam]

Hi, our downstairs computer is pretty awful but I just reinstalled XP (TinyXP, it had a legit version on but we've lost the discs years ago + subsequently the cd keys and whatnot), and the problem I have basically is the graphics card in the thing is an AGP 4x, Sapphire ATi Rage 128 Ultra Xpert2000 card. ANY other rage drivers don't work and I assure you i've googled for over an hour and tried loads of different ones, even XPERT2000 drivers (That aren't sapphires own) don't work, it's the same error every time. The error is something along the lines of the device you are trying to install these drivers for is not compatible.

Funnily enough, Sapphire do not hold any drivers for their legacy products, so what i'm basically asking is any ideas or does anyone have one of these cards and they could upload the drivers for? Fucking sapphire >_>

[X'tyfe]

Hmmm, this is a long shot but I have had a similar problem with my sound card. I'm not sure if it could happen to an agp card but sometimes the manufacture puts some sort of rom chip on the device so the drivers can identify the card. However, this chip can get overwritten somehow with garbage data. There is nothing you can do unless you know how to solder a new one on So a new card is required.

Again, this may not be the problem you have but either way id see if you can get a second hand one.

[quadz]

tried loads of different ones, even XPERT2000 drivers (That aren't sapphires own) don't work, it's the same error every time. The error is something along the lines of the device you are trying to install these drivers for is not compatible.

Is the installer for those XPERT2000 drivers just a .exe file?  Or can you actually get at the individual files so you can see the .inf file, perhaps in the i386 folder?

Sometimes it's just the installer front-end that complains because the 'vendor string' or whatever on the card doesn't match what it's expecting.

If you can get at the individual i386/*.inf, etc. files you may be able to bypass the installer front-end, and just have Windows install the driver directly, by pointing it at the appropriate directory.

I.e. by going to the display driver properties, clicking update driver, then "have disk", etc.


Regards,

[[BTF]adam]

It's an exe yeah, but I tried that. (when you run the installers they extract to C:\ati\xxxxx and I tried pointing windows to those folders but it just says it couldn't find anything :/

[QwazyWabbit]

Tried this?
http://www.downloadsource.net/38/ATI-RAGE-128-128-PRO-Windows-XP-Display-Driver/

Or this?
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/legacy-xp.aspx

[[BTF]adam]

Yep The trouble is from what i've gathered is it won't accept any other drivers except the Sapphire brand of them, which I can't find at all. I opened a support ticket earlier and asked about them if there was any chance of having them sent or pointing me in the right direction, but I'm not hopeful.

I read a thread earlier (lost the link, it was downstairs and I don't remember the exact keywords I put into google to find it) and a guy was basically saying the same thing, that he couldn't get any other drivers to work even if they were specified as generic XPERT2000 / Rage 128 Ultra drivers, and was asking for the Sapphire ones.

It's pretty frustrating! Sapphire even have a page for the old card, but no driver links. http://www1.sapphiretech.com/ca/products/products_overview.php?gpid=83

[[BTF]adam]

Sigh :/

Sorry Sir that there is no driver for this model any more.

Thanks.

To post a response please go to the link below.

Link: http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/respondtoticket.php?t=1S53102G53151S53102G1-53151S53102G1047342S53102G5

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Thank You

Sapphire Tech Support

_____
      

DO-NOT-REPLY@sapphiretech.com   

Sorry this is the latest that we found in ATi web site - http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/legacy-xp.aspx

Thanks.

 

To post a response please go to the link below.

Link: http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/respondtoticket.php?t=1S53102G53151S53102G1-53151S53102G178593S53102G5

To create a new topic please go to the link:
Link: Create New Topic.

Thank You

Sapphire Tech Support

So sapphire don't even have the drivers anymore, and point me to the AMD ones that don't work for that particular model. FANTASTIC.

[QwazyWabbit]

Typical commodity component support problem. Life cycle of this stuff is 6 months so once it's out 2 years or more it's junk.

I can remember my brother and I playing a Monopoly set my dad and his brother played when they were our ages. We played with two pair of leather boxing gloves they had from 1934 until they wore out in 1968.

This is the century of ultimate consumerism. You're lucky to get 3 years out of any item.

"We're being more productive."

[Shovel.Ds]

this may help...

http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=347675

[[BTF]adam]

you the man shovel! it wasn't that one exactly, but to try it I had to sign up so I did, and there was a link to the right one right next to it, so max thanks for the help man. downstairs can scroll web pages! woop woop

[[BTF]adam]

No point making a new thread but its related;

The pc that I reinstalled and finally got those drivers for conked out again in exactly the same way it did the first time prompting me to reinstall, except this time it isn't even possible to reinstall.

Initial problem: Little brother turned it off without powering down, next time booted, Boot error: system halted.

Initial solution: Reinstalled Windows using TinyXP on the same hard drive, fixed for a week.

Second problem: Boot error, system halted.

Attempted solutions/problems: Ensured everything seated properly, replaced CMOS battery, tried to reinstall on old hard drive - no dice (and probably, if this is a hard drive issue, not the smartest of ideas anyway), tried installing windows onto a drive borrowed from a friend which I can verify worked when we checked it out as his, now when I plug it into mine (it's set to master so np there) TinyXP screen boots up I select the install I want and when it has finished 'Inspecting hardware configuration', it tells me it doesen't even detect any hard drives plugged in.

any ideas? bios corrupted or something perhaps?

[reaper]

If the BIOS is corrupt it probably wouldn't run at all, and will fail the POST tests (BIOS hands off control of the CPU to the OS, and it apparently did that, the OS's code started running after the BIOS pointed the CPU there).  The CMOS is the configuration of the BIOS, and that's the NVRAM (memory state stays after power unplugged) the battery clears.  If the same version and good media of the TinyMCE installation picked up the drives before, that's a bad sign, unless the BIOS has been told it's using RAID and not SATA, or has the disk off for some reason.

Turning the computer off by power is generally not a good idea because the Operating System can be writing files to the disk at the time of the power off.  That said systems automatically repair the file system every so often with fsck and checkdisk, and use journal entires to figure out the state of the file system.

Why don't you try another OS and see if it sees the disk, like a Linux live CD, and check over the configuration, like if it's a SATA disk make sure the BIOS sees it, and the configuration for the disk is enabled?  Trying a new SATA cable might not be a bad idea either, if it just shuts down that might be a power supply problem, or improper setup of the motherboard.  The hardware components may also just be dying : ).  If so the components might like things a little cooler, worth a shot.

If someone could elaborate on the BIOS and the BIOS interacting with the system and Operating System I'd like that