Video Card Upgrade Install Guide
What You Need - Motherboard/Chipset AGP Drivers
System Information Utility. I used AIDA32 to identifty the AGP specification and motherboard specification within the computer. It's important to use it to verify that the AGP functionality is enabled. Without AGP enabled, everything can "look and feel" fine, at least for the most part or until you give the computer something really graphically challenging to do. But performance is dramatically reduced with AGP disabled. When it was available, AIDA32 Personal System Information was a free download. Nowadays, AIDA32 has been re-packaged as EVEREST Home Edition. Fortunately it's still a free download. I also understand that it's look-and-feel has not changed much. I still refer to AIDA32 since that's what I used, but if you use EVEREST then you shouldn't have any trouble following along.
When you run AIDA32, the first screen will look something like this:
Expand the motherboard section and click on "Chipset". This shows the chipset used on the motherboard. Mine is a Via chipset as you can see where I have circled it in red. AIDA32 is even so kind as to provide links to the chipset manufacturer and to where up-to-date drivers for the chipset can be located as you can see where I have circled it in blue. This page also identifies AGP information about the motherboard, shown where I've circled it in green, including whether or not AGP is enabled and the Current AGP Speed.
AGP Motherboard Chipset Drivers. For AGP to be enabled, your computer must have the chipset drivers for the motherboard. The file containing the chipset drivers should only be downloaded now. They are installed later. The drivers can be retrieved from the motherboard manufacturer or the motherboard chipset manufacturer. You can try the link provided by AIDA32 or use the AGP Motherboard/Chipset Driver page provided by ATI to track down the right drivers for your computer. The ATI page provides links to the various manufacturers. I downloaded mine from the motherboard chipset manufacturer.
Some video card installs will prompt at some point during the install for the original Windows 98 CD, so you may as well have that handy, just in case.
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© 2001-2015, Rob Williams, all rights reserved.
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