[spike]

[quote name='mphenterprises']Hi spike, very true....it could ultimately come down to a motherboard situation. However, my as well rule out everything. Also, TBird seems pretty confident in his engineer's opinion of the situation.> > > > I truly hope that it is either a driver or card issue. Because if it comes down to the cost of a new motherboard versus the cost of a new graphics card, it's no comparison.That would depend on the video card and the motherboard, most mid to top of line MB's are 179 - 259 $ , top of the line video cards go for up to $800

[mphenterprises]

Very Good Point.....Let's Keep Our Fingers Crossed for TBird

[Tbird24]

Im going to start the new driver thing at like 6:30 EST. so check back then and ill have an update./crosses fingers.

[spike]

Good luck! :D

[rgreen4]

Spike - keep in mind his current video card is an nVidia 6800. They are no longer made, but they still make 6200 and 6600 cards that are in the $80 price range. My suggestion to him if he is going to replace the card is to go into the 7300 or 7600 series. They are $20 to $30 more. I don't know if his mobo, case or power supply could support a $800 video card. Shoot, I don't know if my main power feed would support one of those. Course I'm a great one to talk since I have my Color Laser plugged into another circuit. A B&W laser, a color laser, two CPU's, 22" LCD monitor, 30" LCD TV and lighting was too much for one circuit. I didn't trip a breaker, but if I didn't turn on the Color Laser first, there wasn't enough current for it to pull startup amps, so it would start the fan and shut down. Apparently they take a lot of current on startup.

[Tbird24]

"cannot kill process: access is denied."should i just proceed without disabling my antivirus? i dont even know how to.

[mphenterprises]

Yeah. At this point, might as well...you MAY be able to install the drivers in Safe Mode...stress MAY be able to...

[Tbird24]

eh, safe mode scares me. haha. ill just try it without disabling any antivirus.

[Tbird24]

Ok, i cannot find my video adapter to disable. I see network adapters, and display adapters.EDIT: ok i have a feeling you mean display adapters. so im gonna go and uninstall that. i hope i dont scew things up.EDIT 2: wait no, when i click uninstall nvidia geforce 6800, it asks if i am sure i want to uninstall the DEVICE. i definitely dont want to do that. i want to uninstall the driver. someone help.

[rgreen4]

Yes you do.Sometimes our terminology is confusing. Video Card=Video Adapter=Display Adapte=Graphics Adapter.When you uninstall the device you are telling Windows that no video card is present. You will then immediately restart the machine. On startup, Windows inventories the installed hardware and compares to its installed list. It finds the actual card present but it is not on its internal list and says "Aha - a new device" and gives you the new device wizard.Now again, when windows first starts, it will have the default 800x600 generic driver. Then you will install the new drivers and restart the computer again. If the new drivers for some reason do not function properly, you can roll-back to the previous drivers from the driver tab on the video card properties box.

[Tbird24]

sounds good ill get started

[Tbird24]

please answer ASAP: the Wizard says would i like to connect to windows update to search for software. yes, this time only, or no.just playing around, i chose NO. then it says do you want to install software automatically or install from a specific location.THEN, if i click specific location, it asks to choose my search and installation options. this is very confusing. what do i do?

[brewer37]

Hey Tbird hope you guys dont mind me interupting either...Im not sure if your dell model computer has this but it might.. on the back of the motherboard there might be 4 lights above where you plug in your keyboard and mouse these lights light up green when it is working normally and when something goes wrong the lgihts light up differently for example yellow green yellow green instead of all grean then you can go back to your manual and follow the codes to narrow down the problem..also this looks something like your cpuhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819112205perhaps you could just try getting this new one for only 40 bucks and that might eliminate the problem

[Tbird24]

[quote name='Tbird24']please answer ASAP: the Wizard says would i like to connect to windows update to search for software. yes, this time only, or no.> > > > just playing around, i chose NO. then it says do you want to install software automatically or install from a specific location.> > > > THEN, if i click specific location, it asks to choose my search and installation options. this is very confusing. what do i do?brewer can you help me out with this? im stuck right now in some crappy graphic mode and i hate it. and i dont want to go further and mess anything up

[brewer37]

sounds like you disabled your graphics card .. no big deal dont worryclick start - control panel- system-hardware-device manager- scroll down untill you find your graphics card and then enable it and restart your computerwould help you out more but im not exacly sure whats going on right now and its going to take me a while to read 5 pages and get cuaght up lol

[Tbird24]

haha ill give you a 3 second catch-upi want to get rid of my old driver. a new driver is saved to my desktop. i uninstalled my graphics card purposely. now i have this prompt that is very confusing. and MPH has gone MIA (lol.)

[rgreen4]

Tbird - point the installation wizard to where you downloaded the drivers. I believe you installed them on the desktop. You should have a browse button to click on and it will then let you point to the desktop. The drivers should then install.After restarting you will be away from the "crappy" display. I agree with you about the graphic quality of the default driver.Come back if you have problems.

[brewer37]

rgreen4 beat me to it lol

[Tbird24]

[quote name='rgreen4']Tbird - point the installation wizard to where you downloaded the drivers. I believe you installed them on the desktop. You should have a browse button to click on and it will then let you point to the desktop. The drivers should then install.> > > > After restarting you will be away from the "crappy" display. I agree with you about the graphic quality of the default driver.> > > > Come back if you have problems.i dont know how to point it in that direction. i first need to choose if i want to run windows update to find the software. then whether i want to install from a specific location or automatically. then whether to search for drivers. its al very confusing. lets start with step 1.do i want windows update to search for software? yes, this time only, or no.

[brewer37]

click specific location ..... then on the bottom right ( i think ) there should be a box that says browse click it , then on the left click desktop and then in the main box on the right click the driver and click open ( next to the browse button ) that should be it