Need help IDing a friends video card

[Darkmatterx]

A friend of mine needed her harddrive reformated due to a serious error which kept anyone from being able to get into Windows.

Unfortunatly she has NO idea what her video card is, has no manuals and no disks. I took a look at the actual card and it has NO markings or wording on it to suggest anything about it. What can I do to find out what it is and what drivers I need for it?

BTW she's using 98 and ofcourse it has no idea what the card is... ><

Thanks

 

[peartree]

First step is to look at the GPU chip. That's the big one, maybe with a fan on top or a heatsink. If possible get a look at the top of the chip itself. That will give you a good idea of what drivers will work.
To go further, any and all video cards will work in vanilla VGA mode, so if all else fails, go through the Windows setup in VGA and let Windows load some generic drivers. Once Windows is set up, you can do things like take a look at the Device Manager screen to see what video drivers Windows has loaded and how it has identified the card. If it tells you what kind of card it is, then you can go to the web sites to pick up drivers.
If all else fails, open Device Manager, select the video card, double-click it to open the device property dialog box, click the 'Drivers' tab and tell Windows to update the drivers. Let it go search for better drivers and make sure you're online at the time.

Of course you can always go out and BUY her a new card. That way you will finally KNOW what's in the machine and you score points with the lady at the same time (depending on how much you like her...) .

=== SHOPPINGMAN!!! Never assume ANYTHING ====

 

[allanon1965]

all cards will have an fcc id number on them, write it down and go to driverguide.com, join, its free, then type in the number in the appropriate search bar and it will come up with all the info on the card, manufacturer, date, etc and list drivers for it. or pm me with the numbers and i will be glad to do it for you then she will think you are soooooooooooooo smartmega brownie points

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Thanks a bunch! There was no wording on the card or any of the chips but it did have a code on it.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Darkmatterx]

Ok I can't tell what it is. One problem is that no numbers are obviously for the fcc. Also theres a heatsink glued onto the chip.

This number is close to the fcc logo.

990924

This number is on the back on a sticker. Maybe a serial number?

BBT111822

And this one is on a large chip (wide as vpu chip but longer) but almost positive isn't ram. Could be cmos?

AT27C512R

Thanks for your help

 

[allanon1965]

this should be the driver for it, close as i could get........http/www2.driverguide.com/uploads/uploads16/25545.htmliver

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[allanon1965]

the chhipset is made by holtek, most likely the card is pro graphics.

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Thanks a lot for your help. I'm sure my friend will enjoy seeing things in more then 16 colors. Yes, thats 16, not 16 bit. Or maybe it was 8 colors... can't remember.