[sterling1936]

I have had problems ever since I started my new build, but this is the latest: moniter has no signal on boot after installing a Nvidia Geforce 8600GT graphics card.I go into display settings and try to update the driver and get this message: Driver was created for an earlier version of windows. Its automaticly resetting the driver to the windows default. I have dowloaded the driver 4 times so I know I'm getting the correct driver. The card is dual DVI which I've never used but I have a DVI/VGA adapter. I read that if I have an Adobe Type Manager I need to uninstall it but I'm not sure if my Adobe Acrobat Reader fits that description. I also read that some moniters are not compatable with this card but I cant find this information on any manufacturers websites. I have an I-INC TW191D LCD moniter. Its only a year old. I would hate to have to buy a new one. I cant find any known issues with this moniter and card, although I do see a lot of issues with the Dual DVI cards posted online. These are mostly setup problems dealing with uninstalling other drivers in which I have done all four times. My board also has no onboard graphics so I have to use my old card with the windows default driver in order to go online and download the drivers and install them. Without it I have no moniter. It is a EVGA Geforce 7300GT. Its uses the same driver as my 8600GT. I thought the exchange would be simple with Windows XP Home Edition. I have never been so confused on a graphics card installation. Please help! Thank you!

[sterling1936]

I think I pinpointed my problem but it lead me into another problem. I formatted my harddrive and reinstalled Windows XP Home SP2. I went into safe mode with networking and dowloaded and installed the drivers manually. All went well until I rebooted to normal Windows mode when it loaded the Windows default drivers in place of the dowloaded drivers, so I tried going into display settings and changing them back in normal Windows mode and got this message: The wizard cannot find a better match for this hardware other than you have installed. Um...I didnt install those drivers lol...Windows did. Anyhow if anyone knows of a way to bypass the system on this particular problem, or has had a similar problem, please leave a post. Afterthought: Without the correct drivers my 7300GT wont work in DVI mode so this problem has existed for me for a long while. I've been running it in VGA mode ever since I owned it,which has been over a year now. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[sterling1936]

Ok back again. Finally got the drivers to install but still no signal even using my DVI/VGA converter.I just ordered a DVI-D cable last night. Maybe that will fix my problem.I had to run Geru3DDriverSweeper to get the drivers to install. I dont understand why they didnt install on a fresh installation of Windows. Im going to leave this thread open until my problems fixed. I possibly need to set up my moniter to run with this graphics card although I have tried messing with the settings already. I have two of the exact cards as I plan to run them in SLI if I ever get them working. They are Nvidia Geforce 8600GT 256mb DDR3. I read some articles where people had to buy new moniters to work with these cards but mine isnt that old I wouldnt think, but then again you know how it goes with computer equipment. Its obsolete before you buy it. I use an I-Inc TW191D. If anyone can tell me if I need a new moniter or can tell how to set this one up to work with these cards please leave a post. Thank you.

[sterling1936]

Just in case you need the specs on my pc here they are:P5N-D mobo,600 watt Ultra Infinity PSU,E8440 Wolfdale PCU,Nvidia Geforce 8600gt 256mb DDR3 x2 in SLI (not yet installed)(currently running EVGA Geforce 7300gt on PCI-E x16). I also have a 250gig SATA HD 7200rpm, two DVD-RW LITE-ON Discplayers, and a 3.5 floppy. I almost forgot my TwinMOS DDR2 PC6400 1gig x2 Dual Channel 800mhz OC memory (thinking about replacing this with OCZ memory or possibly Crucial Ballistics). Ive had no issues with this memory, although I would like to get a non-generic brand. I dont beleive power is an issue because with both cards installed with the drivers in place my system still boots and I hear the Windows Welcome Screen load. Its just my moniter thats the issue here (even with driver in place my moniter has "no signal" diplayed, and thats only if I turn it on manually, then it returns back into standby. This doesnt happen with the EVGA Geforce 7330 so I know theres no problem with the x16 PCI-E slot or the moniter. I have a feeling that the cards are good because they show up in my display log (tested each separatly) and the fans work, plus both cards get warm like theyre working properly. I havent ruled out the DVI/VGA adapter being faulty or the moniter not being compatable. If I could rule these out then Ill send the cards back to where I bought them and get them tested, then RMA'd or replaced. Ok this post is long enough I guess. I hope somone reads it soon and has some answers. Later.

[sterling1936]

Well since noone answered this post I will tell how I fixed this problem. I still never got the VGA/DVI adapter to work. Whether it was a faulty adapter or just the moniter not reconizing(spelling) the signal I cannot say. I will go with the moniter not reconizing(spelling) the signal as my opinion. I ordered a DVI-D cable and it reconized(spelling) the card and when I placed my other card in the PCIx16 slot it also reconized(spelling) it and the installation was a breeze. I am now running 2 Geforce 8600GT's in SLI and the graphics are outstanding although before I switched it to SLI wasnt too bad either. I noticed just one change when switching to SLI....I am able to run more programs while gaming where as I couldnt run anything when I was using the EVGA Geforce 7300 and very little other than a MP3 player with one 8600gt installed. The second card basicly relaxed the first cards resources along with CPU resources I beleive. This also means the on more demanding games I shouldnt have a problem with lag or freezes. This is the most concrete computer that I've built so far. I would recommend my setup to anyone just check my profile. You may even try to tweek it a bit more like 4 gigs of ram running Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (I have plans to do this in the near future). This also will give you access to DIrectX 10 (I am currently running DirectX 9). Could get a better processor but youll pay dearly for it ($1000 or so). You may even want to go with a later graphics card but I was working with a budget and bargain shopping for the best that limited money can buy. Im sure with tweeking this a bit more youll be very impressed with what this setup can do. I'm quite impressed with what I've acomplished under $1200. Would have been nice to take it all the way and spend about 4k with liquid cooling and all of the tweeks I just listed but I'm very satified with my latest "well thought out" build.