nForce driver load- I still need HELP!!!!

[DragonTattooz]

It will probably take me an hour to write this message, so please understand that I’m seriously looking for some help here. I have been dealing with this for a couple of days. I’ve researched and researched and then I researched some more just to be sure. I started one thread here about this, but now I’m going to try a different route.

 

System specs are in my sig and I’m running XP SP2.

 

First- Can anyone tell me where to find the nForce driver version that is loaded on my computer?

 

Here is exactly what I am doing. Please tell me what I’m doing wrong.

 

1- Downloaded the 6.70 nForce drivers from the nVidia site.

 

2- Unzipped the file to my desktop.

 

3- Went to Add/Rem progs and deleted “All nVidia drivers, including display”

 

4- Reboot in Safe Mode. It wants to load drivers, but I cancel

 

5- Use Driver Cleaner to clean- nForce chipset, nForce chipset ATA, nForce chipset Raid, and nVidia. I did not clean nVidia Stereo or nVidia WDM.

 

6- Reboot to Windows.

 

7- When the New Hardware Found wizard comes up, I select the location of the drivers on my desktop. I cancel the driver load for my vid card. When I reboot, it comes up to where the blue bars go across the screen then it BSOD’s.

 

I have also tried loading the nForce and Forceware drivers at the same time, but it doesn’t make any difference.

 

Last night I tried loading the Forceware drivers first and that worked fine, but when I reboot and load the nForce drivers I get the same BSOD, so it’s related to the nForce drivers and not the Forceware drivers.

 

I also tried just removing the nForce drivers and leaving the Forceware drivers alone, but that didn’t help either.

 

8- Boot back to Safe Mode and run a System Restore.

 

So, what am I doing wrong?

[Sharp]

Hello,

 

When you download the nvidia chipset drivers it should be in the form of an EXE file.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_wi...2_amd_6.70.html

 

This is how you should install it,

 

Once you have installed windows and booted into it for the first time,

Run the exe file.

- Do not install the IDE sw driver

- Do not install the firewall/NAM software.

 

That should be it, let it restart the pc and wait a bit.

Then once the comp is idle install your GFX drivers.

 

I would recommend a reinstall + quick format.

[Wwhat]

sw driver is fine

[DragonTattooz]

Hello,

 

When you download the nvidia chipset drivers it should be in the form of an EXE file.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_wi...2_amd_6.70.html

 

This is how you should install it,

 

Once you have installed windows and booted into it for the first time,

Run the exe file.

- Do not install the IDE sw driver

- Do not install the firewall/NAM software.

 

That should be it, let it restart the pc and wait a bit.

Then once the comp is idle install your GFX drivers.

 

I would recommend a reinstall + quick format.

 

That's the way I did it initially. After the driver uninstall and clean, I would reboot to Windows. Then I cancelled out of the New Hardware Found wizard and ran the executables and the drivers would load- but it was far more "interactive" than doing it the way I described in this thread. Then on the reboot it would BSOD.

 

Now, what I have NOT done is to load it that way, but NOT load the SW and NAM drivers. Doing it the way I mentioned in this thread I didn't get an option to load those drivers, I just pointed it at the file on my desktop and let it load what it wanted- but it found the drivers each time so I thought I was onto something until I got the BSOD yet again.

 

I will do it the other way again, but this time I'm not going to load the SW and NAM drivers. Hopefully this will work. Wish me luck. I'll be back with the results in a bit.

[DragonTattooz]

Oh, one other thing...I am disabling Norton IS and AV before loading the drivers. I'm not using Windows Firewall.

 

Also, just to clarify, I'm using XP Pro SP2. I don't know if Home or Pro makes any difference with this type of problem, but I thought I'd mention it.

[red930]

sw driver is fine

 

Some have problems some don't with the SW IDE drivers, and please read the forum rules and be more detailed in your Sig, thank you.

[Abudoggie]

Hello,

.....

This is how you should install it,

 

Once you have installed windows and booted into it for the first time,

Run the exe file.

 

 

Sharp, I think Dragon was just trying to update to the the 6.7 driver without a new install of windows...... is this recommended?

[red930]

Sometimes starting all over would help reduce the issues of reinstalling drivers again. There is a good chance that he has gotten alot of .dll files, drivers that are populating his OS, and that' why Sharp suggested to quick format and reinstall windows before. I would do it personally, makes things much neater and easier. Well, i do have a 74GB Raptor drive so reformating and reinstalling windows is like a flash, or i can just reimage my drive.

[Sharp]

Updating the drivers can be done but as he is having problems I think the best method is a clean install.

 

 

# When you uninstall the nvidia driver you do not have to boot into safe mode.

# Let it boot normally

# You will see the new hardware detected bubble, this is normal.

# Do not cancel this.

# That is windows trying to load all the default drivers for the PCI BUS/PCI bridge....

# It will not install your old nvidia ones.

# Then it may ask you to restart the PC, do that.

# Then install your new drivers.

[Guest Retratserif]

Updating the drivers can be done but as he is having problems I think the best method is a clean install.

 

 

# When you uninstall the nvidia driver you do not have to boot into safe mode.

# Let it boot normally

# You will see the new hardware detected bubble, this is normal.

# Do not cancel this.

# That is windows trying to load all the default drivers for the PCI BUS/PCI bridge....

# It will not install your old nvidia ones.

# Then it may ask you to restart the PC, do that.

# Then install your new drivers.

 

Well said. I would do as the man says, I mean you want it to run right, everytime.

[DragonTattooz]

Thanks for the responses.

 

First, I do plan to do a fresh Windows install when my new memory arrives. But, right now I would think that I should be able to update a driver without a need to reinstall Windows. I use CCleaner religiously and that cleans up garbage .dll's and stuff like that. I also defrag my hard drives regularly- I'm big into system maintenance and keeping everything up-to-date...Oddly enough that's why I'm experiencing this problem which caused me to create this thread.

 

When I start the nForce executable it gives me the option of loading these 4 drivers:

NVIDIA SMBus

NVIDIA Ethernet

NVIDIA Storage (SW/IDE)

NVIDIA Audio

 

So, I have determined that the problem is the SMBus driver without a doubt. The SW/IDE driver loads and runs fine, the network driver works fine, and I am not loading the audio driver because I have an Audigy SC with its own drivers.

 

I have uninstalled and reinstalled drivers and restored Windows many, many times since I started this thread and the only time I get the BSOD is when I load that SMBus driver.

 

What is the SMBus driver? And is it something that I need? When I don't load it, I don't have any yellow question marks in DevMan.

 

Now, here's the strange thing- Now when I go to Add/Rem progs, the option to uninstall the graphics drivers is greyed out. You can clearly see in the screenshot that I have the 84.21 ForceWare drivers installed, but I have no option to uninstall them.

 

[DragonTattooz]

Well, unless I absolutely need that SMBus driver, I think I've got it. I loaded the Network and Storage drivers and everything looks good with no yellow ????'s in DevMan.

 

One thing I don't understand is that there are only those four drivers in the driver pack from nVidia, but the chipset does a lot more than just those few things. Where are the drivers for the other stuff that the chipset handles?