Geforce 6xxx PCI-E drivers compatibility and experience?

[ruthan]

Hello,
i wonder if someone know if Geforce 6xxx PCI-E are working with any other driver than unofficial 82.xx drivers? Because regarding inf files.. There is support of Geforce 6xxx from 61.xx driver above.. There is nice drivers and supported card list from Phil:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/nvidia-9x-graphics-drivers.html   // Just search chip name to find which drivers are supported..

  But this list could be valid for AGP cards only.. So question is maded someone some Geforce 5 / 6 PCI-E cards within Windows 98 Se with any other than unofficial 82.xx driver? Does matters that drivers is originally only for AGP cards?

  Why make it matter?
  1) 82.xx driver is from my experience problematic in general from games compatibility point of view.. its not bad, but it could be better. BTW i tested with 20+ games here:
https://www.win-raid.com/t6017f53-Windows-SE-on-Modern-Hardware-11.html#msg107458
  2 ) There is proven that if you use older Nvidia drivers - i has better game compatibility and even better peformance - details in Phil video:

  its probably because in later period, was main target to make Win2000 /XP drivers and Windows 98 were just back ports, or made by some worse developers team.. Or maybe they tried to make it more compatible / stable for price of lesser performance.. I dunno.

[Goodmaneuver]

I personally like the 8269 with the NVAGP.inf 08/10/2007 at all times and all cards. The 8198 driver, the latest from nVidia did not work on the PCI cards, it was a short circuit between the PCI card and the CPU but it did work on AGP and probably PCI-EX but I have not tried it. 7772 is the better one that supports all ports, that is the PCI cards as well. There are several drivers from Guru3D.com 

nvidia_w9x_omega_14523.exe - http://www.tmeeco.eu/9X4EVER/GOODIES/nvidia_w9x_omega_14523.exe - direct download
6642_w9x_me_Guru3D.com - https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/forceware-66-42-win-9x|me.html
forceware_win9x.zip - was the same as 8269 - use only the NVAGP.inf for PCI-EX and on all occasions.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Goodmaneuver

[deomsh]

I am happy with my 128MB PCI-E 6700 XL and the 7772 drivers after adding the device to the inf-file.

The RUN/RUNSERVICES lines better delete in the inf-file, always problems, and they are not needed. Do not touch the line with RUNSERVICESONCE !

[ruthan]

Quote

I am happy with my 128MB PCI-E 6700 XL and the 7772 drivers after adding the device to the inf-file.

   Pleas post magic line example if you can, im sure that i will help some people.. i didnt knew that even something like Geforce 6700 exists - i always so only 6600 and 6800 variants.

[Ximonite]

I use ZakMcKraken's NVIDIA Drivers. They work perfectly with my GeForce 7950 GT PCI-E.

They can be found at windows98.xf.cz

[deomsh]

5 hours ago, ruthan said:

Pleas post magic line example if you can, im sure that i will help some people.. i didnt knew that even something like Geforce 6700 exists - i always so only 6600 and 6800 variants

This is my card: http://hw-museum.cz/vga/193/medion-geforce-6700-xl

I added to NVAML.INF:

[Mfg]

%NVIDIA&DEV_0147.DeviceDesc% = NV30,      PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0147

[Strings]

NVIDIA&DEV_0147.DeviceDesc="NVIDIA GeForce 6700 XL"

In 8269/NVAGP.INF is more information about which NV to choose, but lines should be like the one's in NVAML.INF.

[Goodmaneuver]

Welcome Ximonite,

Zac McKraken's driver is the 8269 one but it does include the VIVO driver which is good. Zac's files are the same as mine except it has more languages and I have an updated NVAGP.inf. So that is good yours is the same as mine virtually. The one on 
https://toogam.com/software/archive/drivers/videodrv/mswinvid/nvidia/unoffici/nv8269.php uses some older files but it is essentially the same with more languages like Zac's in that respect. I have run the NVALM.inf of that driver but elected to keep my newer files and it works. Testing my FX5500 PCI at the moment.

The benchmark video is good but comparing pixel shader 2 cards with non pixel shader cards is that a good comparison? If non pixel shader games are the only ones to be used it is good comparison and well worth knowing about. The driver upgrades would be more suited for the latest cards I would think so there was some missing in the 8198 test. The FX5 series have pixel shader 2 and my PCI FX5500 256MB does work without any white areas in Xpand Rally with high reflective surfaces employed. Richard Burns Rally is OK I had some corrupted game files on the old HDD. Ancient Wars Sparta I do not think the card is good enough. Just wanted to confirm accuracy of another post and to check PCI video card compatibility.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Goodmaneuver

[ruthan]

Hmm, i have still problem to make my Geforce 6600 GT working with any driver, i tried 66.xx to 82.69. I original thought when i was getting Windows protection error, after first boot when i loaded drivers that.. installation is simply too old too much cards, but im getting it even with clean install.

  None, im not using it in real HW, but through KVM pass through - but Geforce 6600LE worked fine with this mode and this Geforce 6600GT is working fine for XP machine, so it not seems to be KVM or similar issue, but just Win 98 + card issue.

  I was checking bootlog, i see there some fonts errors: 
LoadFail = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\LUCON.TTF Failure code is 0016
  Are these error typical, could these cause Windows protection error?
 
  I have just clean English install + some problems, so i dont undertand how Fonts could be broken?
Bootlog from successful - boot with basic graphics driver and with unsuccessful with new driver attached.

 Card id from SIV:
  10DE-0140-00000000-A2
   
  I driver inf is couple of Geforce 6600GT lines, devices.. i thing that i tried all of them, but i always getting info when i select driver.. that driver is not for this device.. and if want to continue prompt.. i of course trying to use it.

BOOTLOG-Freeze.PRV BOOTLOG-Ok-640x480x16.TXT

Edited March 30, 2020 by ruthan

[Goodmaneuver]

I just would like to say first is that 6200 is not any better for frame rates compared to 5500. the 6600 is a big step in improvement and the 7900 is a big step above the 6800 even 7300 is better, there is not much difference between 7300 and 7600.

Ruthan, I think your best bet is to use your 6600 GT on another operating system to see if it works and exercise it on that machine but it has to have enough heatsinking to keep the chips cool. The 6600LE could have quality solid heatsinking, my MSI WinFast 6800LE has but has only 128MB of GRAM I bough 2 on eBay ages ago, one was faulty. Your 6600GT has probably not enough inputs toggling for 16 bit driver. The PCI bus may be able to be redirected but be aware that this card could be damaging to your machine.

Marlett is essential and will be working if you have X in the corners of windows. Do not be concerned too much about the font errors at this stage wait until you have rebooted a few times on a good installation. There are other fails though in the VXDs that should be looked into. I did not see the XP install of the 6600GT I would use Vista or Win7 though as XP can still use 16 bit and have the rest of the 32 bit to deal with what I was saying above. This is my estimation, Vista will test it out. Actually Win98/ME tests it out the best when you think about it.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Goodmaneuver
WinFast not MSI, Strikethrough.

[ruthan]

I already wrote that it works with XP.. Its not thermal issue, for sure, its some driver / compatibility thing.

[Goodmaneuver]

The VXDs may not be needed so this is not a concern either. Use MsConFig to see if it can be established that they are left overs from an uninstalled program. If they are in System\Iosubsys then all needed to test is rename the ones that are not working to test say to (file name).VX- . If system stops then use safe mode to boot up and fix. VPD.vxd may not be found.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Goodmaneuver
VX_ usual name for compressed file so I changed my mind about that.

[ruthan]

I made this card working with physical machine with VIA880 chipset.. and with some drivers, which i marked as clean.. Im going to investigate it more.

  Otherwise i saw fail of load TTF driver on other machines, which are booting fine, so its probably fine.

Edited March 30, 2020 by ruthan

[Goodmaneuver]

I have scanregw.exe /autorun set to start at runtime. This will check registry for errors every time windows starts. This can be checked in msconfig if it is set in startup section.

There is no real answers that I can see on the web about error 0016 on fonts. It has happened a few times to me if there was boot trouble. If you have no booting trouble and no registry errors try booting into safe mode fully. When hard drive activity stops then reboot. This will reset the ttfCache it should not be very big in the Windows folder but is a hidden file. Mine is 73kB.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Goodmaneuver

[ruthan]

I made card working even with Vanialla AGP 66.xx drivers, so its working. I only need to make it working with other machine.

  This install has KernelEx and all updates, that where it is not working is vanilla no KernelEx, no updates.. i trying to make it max compatible with oldest games as possible, so i dont want to install some big updates pack, unless i know what it is doing.. I dont need new KernelEx programs. Newest thing which i need is Doom3 and its working without KernelEx.

[Goodmaneuver]

The machine that works might be stronger at driving or weaker. If it is the only card that has problems then I would be suspicious of its condition. If your directories are similar and the programs are similar you can use the registry settings from the one that works but if the machines are different then it is not possible to use the system section or driver sections and this is that you need. Replacement has to done off-line. If you have a spare drive KernelEx is not a problem. The Star Force protection files that the games use have to be KEX disabled and besides you can have it turned off in Core.ini as default. I am not sure exactly what to alter myself but I could ask Jumper. How does the machine work with the games with the one that works with the 6600GT? I may be able to help with settings or something. Star Force driver stopped working in either Vista or Win7 so the games did not work.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Goodmaneuver