tomasz86 Posted January 24, 2012 Posted January 24, 2012 (edited) RonCam,I think you should just test all of these drivers, one by one (starting from the newest ones), to check which one works If something goes wrong you can just boot into VGA mode and uninstall the faulty driver. Edited January 24, 2012 by tomasz86
RonCam Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I think you should just test all of these drivers, one by one (starting from the newest ones...Knowing of blackwingcat's special knowledge in this area, I was wondering if there was some reason the entire 10.x and 11.x series drivers had been listed, instead of just the highest in the 10.x series. I think I'll start with the highest in the 10.x series, since I saw something BWC wrote to the effect that going into the 11.x series is not recommended for my card. On the other matter, I was wondering if anyone else had experienced the vacant "Model:" box that prevented me from taking the driver installation to a normal conclusion. From the feedback I'm seeing, the likely answer is 'no' and my procedure was OK, and this anomaly was seen only because I incorrectly thought the alpha driver was the only choice for my card and Windows 2000. I suppose that's why it's called 'alpha' ... The reason for the questions ... I thought I'd like to get 'all my ducks in a row' before going ahead, now for the third time, in the hope it will finally go to a satisfactory conclusion. Each time, I'm updating the partition's image, then completely cleaning out the old driver, including remaining Registry entries, then switching cards, etc. Then, when it fails, putting the image back so I can start from zero, again, on the next try. I don't want to 'mess up' the operating system installation, as can happen so easily with MS Windows, even though trying to keep it clean is a bit of a bother.
blackwingcat Posted January 25, 2012 Author Posted January 25, 2012 Hi.I think most stable driver is 10.5. or 10.7. But 10.11 may also be stable.Because I don't know your VGA DEVICE ID, I can't tell you for sure...I think you had better delete registryHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\YourDeviceand delete target oem**.inf(look it with notepad) in %systemroot%\inf and reboot .May I assume you suggesting my best choice is to start with the last driver in the version 10.x series, v10.11? Let me know if you see anything wrong with what I have written above, and also let me know if you have any comments about the empty 'Models' box causing the driver installation to 'hang' (see the quoted post, just before this one).
tomasz86 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 By the way, blackwingcat, have you tried these drivers with PAE turned on? I can't get any of them (ver. 9/10/11) to work if I turn PAE on. The system is Win2k Advanced Server. With PAE switched off they work fine (ver 9/10, ver 11.x is unstable). I've got integrated Radeon 3000 HD.
RonCam Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 (edited) I think most stable driver is 10.5. or 10.7. But 10.11 may also be stable.Because I don't know your VGA DEVICE ID, I can't tell you for sure...Hi blackwingcat,Thanks for the continuing advice. Are these the correct numbers, that you're looking for, in this list?Identification numbers for my VGA ASUS RADEON HD5450 Silent 512MB HDMI/DDR2PCIE2 card:Vendor ID: 0x1002Device ID: 0x68E1If not -- please let me know where to look, and I will do it. .You said you couldn't tell, for sure, without the VGA DEVICE ID, which driver gets your primary recommendation. Can you tell now?After I know that, I will go ahead with your instructions to clean the Windows Registry, and install the driver, once again. Thanks again! Edited January 26, 2012 by RonCam
blackwingcat Posted January 27, 2012 Author Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) Hi.Okay.Your Device Information was included from ATI 11.x driver, so Device manager showed blank dialogbox.download ati1011w2k.zip and ati1107w2k.cab.and copy ati1107w2k.cab's inf file to the folder which you extracted ati1011w2k.zip.and change to the inf file's Driver version following.DriverVer=10/26/2010, 8.791.0.0000and try to use ati1011w2k.Good luck.I think most stable driver is 10.5. or 10.7. But 10.11 may also be stable.Because I don't know your VGA DEVICE ID, I can't tell you for sure...Hi blackwingcat,Thanks for the continuing advice. Are these the correct numbers, that you're looking for, in this list?Identification numbers for my VGA ASUS RADEON HD5450 Silent 512MB HDMI/DDR2PCIE2 card:Vendor ID: 0x1002Device ID: 0x68E1If not -- please let me know where to look, and I will do it. .You said you couldn't tell, for sure, without the VGA DEVICE ID, which driver gets your primary recommendation. Can you tell now?After I know that, I will go ahead with your instructions to clean the Windows Registry, and install the driver, once again. Thanks again! Edited January 27, 2012 by blackwingcat
RonCam Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 ...Your Device Information was included from ATI 11.x driver, so Device manager showed blank dialogbox.download ati1011w2k.zip and ati1107w2k.cab.and copy ati1107w2k.cab's inf file to the folder which you extracted ati1011w2k.zip.and change to the inf file's Driver version following.DriverVer=10/26/2010, 8.791.0.0000and try to use ati1011w2k.Good luck. Thanks so much for taking your time to get all this information! I would have never figured all that out by myself. Your knowledge and experience is a great asset to the Windows 2000 community! I still have an OS image from before my own (multiple and unsuccessful) attempts to get the new card working in Windows 2000, so I will return to that.Then, I will get rid of the remains of references to the old Radeon X300 card, as you advised, and also follow this procedure, just to make sure. This covers the Registry key deletion you mentioned, plus a bit more. Then, I'll follow the new directions and there should be no problems, but will post again if anything unexpected happens. Your directions on how to populate the 'Models' box should let the installation run normally. I was suspicious that my home-made 'work-around' may have given me a defective driver installation. No worry about that, now. Thanks for helping me to move to the new card, before the intermittent in the old X300 becomes permanent !!
RonCam Posted January 27, 2012 Posted January 27, 2012 Hi blackwing,I think I should ask this, before I get into trouble ... ... download ati1011w2k.zip and ati1107w2k.cab.and copy ati1107w2k.cab's inf file to the folder which you extracted ati1011w2k.zip.There are two .inf files in ati1107w2k.cab. May I assume you're only talking about copying the one named CX121826.inf -- and I should ignore the other (named AtihdXP3.inf)?Once the correct .inf file is copied from the expanded ati1107w2k into the expanded ati1011w2k folder, I now have two .inf files there, both beginning with CX. I will change the DriverVer of the one I copied from ati1107w2k, correct? But now this leaves the other file, CX107884.inf, that was originally in ati1011w2k (and was not edited, as was the other one that was brought into the folder). Was it your intention that this one should be deleted, or allowed to remain? My concern is that if two CX*.inf files remain in the folder I'll be using for the installation, I don't want Windows to accidentally go after the wrong one. Or, for some reason I don't understand, would this be impossible, so I should not be concerned, and just leave both these files where they are?... and change to the inf file's Driver version following.DriverVer=10/26/2010, 8.791.0.0000and try to use ati1011w2k.This would (of course?) be the CX*.inf that I brought in, from the other folder, and not the one that was already there -- assuming I haven't deleted it, depending upon what you've said, above. Just double-checking here, to make sure, that I am not getting confused.Good luck. Thanks!
blackwingcat Posted January 30, 2012 Author Posted January 30, 2012 Hi.If you use original 11.7 inf file, then windows write registry installed your driver version 11.7.so I tell you, change to "DriverVer=10/26/2010, 8.791.0.0000".if change it you may delete 10.11's inf file.Hi blackwing,I think I should ask this, before I get into trouble ... ... download ati1011w2k.zip and ati1107w2k.cab.and copy ati1107w2k.cab's inf file to the folder which you extracted ati1011w2k.zip.There are two .inf files in ati1107w2k.cab. May I assume you're only talking about copying the one named CX121826.inf -- and I should ignore the other (named AtihdXP3.inf)?Once the correct .inf file is copied from the expanded ati1107w2k into the expanded ati1011w2k folder, I now have two .inf files there, both beginning with CX. I will change the DriverVer of the one I copied from ati1107w2k, correct? But now this leaves the other file, CX107884.inf, that was originally in ati1011w2k (and was not edited, as was the other one that was brought into the folder). Was it your intention that this one should be deleted, or allowed to remain? My concern is that if two CX*.inf files remain in the folder I'll be using for the installation, I don't want Windows to accidentally go after the wrong one. Or, for some reason I don't understand, would this be impossible, so I should not be concerned, and just leave both these files where they are?... and change to the inf file's Driver version following.DriverVer=10/26/2010, 8.791.0.0000and try to use ati1011w2k.This would (of course?) be the CX*.inf that I brought in, from the other folder, and not the one that was already there -- assuming I haven't deleted it, depending upon what you've said, above. Just double-checking here, to make sure, that I am not getting confused.Good luck. Thanks!
RonCam Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Hi blackwingcat,Thanks for your patience! The last time I worked with the ATi drivers was some years ago when I installed Windows 2000, and by now I have completely forgotten what I did, and I know you have all these details fresh in your mind. So then, to summarize the only two questions that remained after reading your directions and then looking at the files:[after you bring the other .inf into the folder and edit] it you may [then] delete 10.11's [original] inf file. I trust my [edits] preserve the meaning of the original?Thanks for this, and I did suspect having two CX*.inf files in one folder could be a problem. But, because you are the expert on this, I thought I would ask to make sure. Since their filenames are different, bringing the new one into the folder would not automatically overwrite the old. So then, the 'unedited' CX*.inf file should be deleted.There are two .inf files in ati1107w2k.cab. May I assume you're only talking about copying the one named CX121826.inf -- and I should ignore the other (named AtihdXP3.inf)? I think it is safe to assume, I should leave any and all Ati*.inf files as they are, not touch them, and all your instruction to copy and edit 'the.inf file' refers only to the CX*.inf file. Thanks again, and unless you see something wrong with how I summarized your reply, then everything is clear and I can make the changes without error.
RonCam Posted February 4, 2012 Posted February 4, 2012 (edited) Thanks, blackwingcat, for your good work! I am writing this update from Windows 2000 Professional, using the ASUS EAH5450 SILENT. The periodic driver crashes (in both Windows 2000 and Windows 7) that were plaguing the old Sapphire Radeon ATi X300 are gone now, in both operating systems. And, yes, I had recapped the old board, with little or no improvement. For other users following this thread, I would like to report that I loaded and am successfully running ati11-07w2k. I tried ati1011w2k (edited) and got two missing file errors during installation, went ahead anyway, and wound up with a driver that crashed immediately during boot. On the second time, I found the first missing file in a folder one level down, and the other in a folder in the ati11-07w2k subdirectory (from the other version). I was able to direct the installer to these files so it accepted them (these were ati2mtag.sy_ and ativvamv.dl_) and then completed without error. Now there was no crash upon booting the OS but when the Desktop loaded, it looked like this: It was then that I turned to ati10-07w2k, which loaded without errors, allowed the OS to boot without a crash, and then produced a normal Desktop. I am curious as to how ati1011w2k might have been better, or would there have been some advantage I have yet to realize? For others who are using blackwingcat's drivers without success (I saw a few posts in that category) it may not be the driver but a defective installation. It took a few tries until I figured out how to do it successfully. Put the card in the slot and boot. Windows will make the card (marginally) functional with the default VGA driver. Open the Device Manager and you will see two entries with yellow exclamation points, or perhaps question marks. One will be for the video card, the other for the high-definition audio function on the card. Go into the Properties of one of these and click the option to Change the driver. After a few self-obvious steps, will be taken to a wizard that allows you to browse to blackwingcat's files. If you are working with the video driver, you'll want to select the CX*.inf file, and install. Now one of the error indicators in the Device Manager will have disappeared. In this case, the one that remains will be for the HD Audio. Follow the same procedure, but this time select the ATi*.inf file, and install. Now both yellow error indicators in the Device Manager should be gone. Not sure if for basic purposes the HD Audio is needed, but if you install it the next time you open the Device Manager, you don't have to remember why there are yellow question marks and exclamation points in the listing. Let the system reboot and, at least with my second attempt, using the earlier version driver, Windows went directly to a normal Desktop. With MS Windows there are often multiple ways of getting to the same point, but this is one way. With other variations, I would be hitting the 'Browse' button and nothing would happen, and the preset options were locked to G:\, G: and D: and could not be changed. With the method described, everything worked fine. Edit: The original board used for the above installation developed an intermittent, and was replaced with a more recent EAH5450. Upon verifying its specs (for both the CPU code name, and device ID) showed it had a Cedar, in place of an Evergreen, GPU. To avoid any problems, the following line was inserted into CX102499.inf: "ATI Radeon HD 5450 " = ati2mtag_Cedar, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_68F9 and the replacement card is running in Windows 2000, without problems. Edited June 13, 2016 by RonCam Corrected typo in filename; recent cards have new GPU
DJGM1974 Posted February 4, 2012 Posted February 4, 2012 I have to ask those of you still using Windows 2000 ... why use an obsolete OS that's no longer supported by anyone,and no longer receives any security updates from Microsoft? If you're using an older machine that cannot handle amodern OS like Windows 7, at the very least you should upgrade your PC to Windows XP, since it still has a littleover 2 years of security updates support before that too joins Windows 2000 as an officially obsolete OS.Don't get me wrong here ... Windows 2000 was a fantastic OS in it's time, but the time to move on is long overdue.Security updates ended over 18 months ago, so you are running an OS which is now dangerously insecure,with perhaps literally hundreds of security vulnerabilities that will NEVER be patched. Connecting a PC to theinternet running such an obsolete OS is the tech equivalent of skinny dipping in the Florida Everglades!
tomasz86 Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 Each person may have different reasons for using Windows 2000 1. In case of older hardware upgrading to XP doesn't make sense as there are only 2 years of support left and buying XP now wouldn't be a very clever choice. Theoretically you could buy Windows 7 Professional and downgrade it to XP but it's not cheap ($200).2. As for security, most of XP's updates have already been ported to Win2k so the known security holes are fixed.3. Many applications still support this system and many others work fine even though they are officially compatible only with Windows XP or higher. Additionally, many normally incompatible programs work too if you've got the unofficial kernel installed (WB or BWC), ex. Office 2007. For others you can use KDW. Of course not everything works so it all depends what you use your computer for. I don't see any problem with using Win2k as office/Internet machine.4. Windows 2000 is the last M$ desktop operating system targeted specifically to professional/business users so it doesn't have any useless eye candy and other features for extreme beginners (WinXP's search dog comes to my mind... ). Its interface is clear and simple, and also very light compared to newer Windows OSes, especially NT 6.x. Of course you could strip XP down to minimum and remove all unnecessary components but why do it if Win2k doesn't have them at all? I personally hate the extreme fattiness of Windows NT 6.x. I've got a system partition of 12 GB and still 8 GB is left free. RAM usage of my customised installation is also very low (50~60 MB after fresh installation). It wouldn't be possible with any newer Windows Of course you may say that HDDs are bigger and cheaper then before, RAM is also cheaper, etc. but fast HDDs (at least something like WD Raptor) or SSDs are quite expensive and using only a few GB of them for OS is much better then 20~30 GB. RAM also has better usage then just being the "system memory".
RonCam Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) Compliments to tomasz86 whose suggestion at the Guru3D.com forum -- was the only one that worked. That thread begins with my reasons for wanting Windows 2000 Professional to continue working on my system. You gave a very good reply to the post that changed the thread's Subject. Regarding the lack of updates, it's almost a relief not to worry whether or not anything will 'break' after each Patch Tuesday passes. That was traditionally my reminder to image the OS partition, before the 'updates' went in. On my system, Windows 2000 has been protected, ever since its installation, by running -- anything and everything -- that touches the Internet sandboxed, and the most the antivirus has ever found in Windows 2000 have been occasional false positives in my older utilities. There has been no noticeable change in this behavior in this since the updates from Microsoft stopped ... Even now, I am reluctant to run the Windows 7 installation in any other way, given how clean Windows 2000 is, and has remained, since installation. Otherwise, there is no resistance to attacks and vulnerabilities, during the discovery period before the antivirus updates and Windows patches are issued. I should hope that a 'bare' Windows 7 installation, with nothing more than antivirus and a tight firewall, would have a bit more innate protection than a 'bare' Windows 2000 installation, with the same basic protection. After all, there should be, given the cost of a new operating system -- and the number of years of additional development, there should have been some improvement in the OS's innate security. However, in the real world, I wonder what order of magnitude this really is, provided sandboxing is being used on both systems. So, the absence of new security patches for Windows 2000 is not so high on my list of worries. I think the greater problem over time is that new software, including (most) firewall and antivirus utilities, will not be tested on Windows 2000, leaving the debugging chore up to the user. 'Sandboxing' offers great protection, but at least in the way I use it, it won't replace all other security layers ... assuming one wants to connect to the Internet. I apologize to blackwingcat for contributing to pulling the thread he started, so far off topic. My problem has had so many posts, and has been resolved, so I hope anyone needing help with the BWC drivers would be starting a new thread, anyway ... Edited February 5, 2012 by RonCam
DJGM1974 Posted February 5, 2012 Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) Some sound arguments, and of course sandboxing any internet apps is always a good idea on an officially obsolete OS.However, I would not be entirely comfortable installing unofficial updates that have been reversed engineered from officialupdates designed for Windows XP, no matter how stable they might be. Has whoever backported XP updates for Win2K,been given any authorisation from Microsoft to do this? I would guess MS might be turning a blind eye to this if they'realready aware of it, but nothing can stop them changing their minds and issuing cease and desist letters against it. Ultimately, if MS hasn't authorised these unofficial updates for Windows 2000 from reverse engineered code, they haveevery right to put a stop to them. It is proprietary code that they still retain full ownership over, even if it is providing anunofficial security blanket for an OS they no longer officially support since July 2010.Official updates may indeed, in a small number of cases, cause unexpected breakages to old versions of Windowsthat are still supported such as XP, so I would have thought unofficial updates for an OS that's no longer officiallysupported would carry an even greater risk of system breakage or instability.Assuming Microsoft continue to turn a blind eye to the unofficial Win2K updates with reverese engineered XP updateswhat happens in a little over 2 years from now when XP is no longer supported by Microsoft for any security updates?How will those of you still running Win2K manage by then? Assuming some of you Win2K die-hards out there arestill against the idea of moving up to Win7 or even 8, are you going to migrate to Linux or Mac OS X? Edited February 5, 2012 by DJGM1974
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