Nvidia drviers on windows 2003 server?

[silkshadow]

Ok, I'm trying to make my windows 2003 server do double duty as a HTPC. I just went though the great windows 2003 as a workstation how-to. That things is fantastic. One of the things it says is that if I do enable the 3D stuff in directx, I can install the drivers for the manufacturer. I am having a bit of trouble with this.

I installed the current drivers and it installed fine. However, when I rebooted, I only have two modes avalible:

640x48, 16-colors, default refresh

800x600, 16-colors, default refresh

I uninstalled and reinstalled, same thing. Also, the nvidia control panel in advanced is no where to be found. The default Microsoft do drivers work however, I need TV-out to work and there seems to be no way to switch displays with the Microsoft driver. Is there any way to get these drivers working? Is this a common problem, or is it something with my config? I know Nvidia itself says to use the Microsoft drivers but, for my purposes, the MS driver just dosen't do the job. Thanks for any guidance!

AMD Athlon XP 2000+

ECS K7vta3

512mb 333 sdram

geforce 3 64mb

Windows server 2003

DirectX 9.0c

[morellana]

Try with the latest XP drivers for the Video Card, it's possible that when you are installing them this system will tell you that they aren't digitally signed, but it's worth a try, i had the same problem and when i did this it worked.

[silkshadow]

Thanks! I tried that as well as earlier version drivers. Stil no luck. Its driving me a bit batty. I just completed yet another rebuild of the OS/software and I still had the exact same problem. *sigh* I'm about to give up on this card and buy a new one. Though I am over my tech budget as it is. Can I ask what version of directX you are running? I've got 9 off an old game and then have 9c but both have the same problem. |(

[morellana]

I'm running 9c... have you checked if the video adapter is listed in the windows 2003 catalog? If not, better be thinking of buyin' a new one, but check first if it is supported, try selling the old adapter to a friend that is running XP

Mario

[silkshadow]

Ah ha! No it is not. Thanks for that tip. So any video cards not in that catalog http://www.microsoft.com/windows/catalog/s...=1&btnSearch=Go will not work with their native drivers?

[morellana]

kind of, if it's not in that list it will not work under windows 2003 or at least will not work properly even with the manufacturers drivers, so check for a supported before buying a new one.

Mario

[silkshadow]

Thanks! Guess its time to find a new video card.

[Spaceboy]

Have you tried the official Nvidia Forceware Drivers? Had a similar problem with my Geforce 4 TI4200, with latest Drivers. Only lower resolution modes were available after installing. The 61.76 Forceware Drivers on the other hand, worked fine. May be worth giving them a try, as they're meant to support pretty much all Nvidia Cards. You can get them from the following link:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=824