Video Card Upgrade
An Install Guide On How To Upgrade Your Own Video Card

Video Card Upgrade Install Guide

Windows 98 Steps To Add The New Video Card Driver

The computer boots up to the wallpaper and then Windows announces it has found new hardware - the new video card. Then the "Add New Hardware Wizard" comes up with this window. Windows wants the driver for the video card. For now we'll give it the standard VGA video card driver. The next few pictures don't look that great, but the enlarged image looks better and you can at least make it out. Hit the "Next" button.
Add new hardware wizard


The window changes to look like this. Select the option to "Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want".
Add new hardware wizard


With the option selected, the window looks like this. Click the "Next" button.
Add new hardware wizard


The window changes to look something like this. Select the "Show all hardware" option.
Add new hardware wizard


The window changes to look something like this. The two sub-windows should already have the correct default selections. The left sub-window pane should show "(Standard display types") selected. The right sub-window pane should show "Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA)" selected. These are the correct values. Click on the "Next" button.
Add new hardware wizard


The window changes to look like this. Click on the "Next" button.
Add new hardware wizard


The window changes to look like this. Click on the "Finish" button.
Add new hardware wizard


Windows indicates it needs to restart your computer. Click on the "Yes" button.
Add new hardware wizard


When the computer re-boots this time Windows agains find new hardware, this time the monitor. But it will automatically find and install the drivers for it. It may happen so quickly you miss it. After the computer is finished, wait for GoBack to finish with the hard drive restoral log. Disable any Anti-Virus program which is running and shutdown any other background tasks that are not needed.

Now we're ready to install the reference drivers. This process is shorter for NVIDIA based video cards. Locate the NVIDIA reference drivers where you downloaded them and double-click on them. The NVIDIA reference drivers install automatically with just a few self-explanatory clicks. After they have installed, select the option to restart the computer. The computer should reboot back to the desktop with no errors and with no new hardware detected and with no new hardware installed. The new drivers are installed!

There are more steps for the ATI video card. If you have an All-In-Wonder type ATI video card like me then locate the WDM Capture driver where it was downloaded. Install the driver following the Windows 98 WDM Capture driver installation steps from ATI. Notice that the computer is not restarted after the capture driver is installed. Next, or first if you're not installing an All-In-Wonder type video card, locate the display driver where it was downloaded. Install the driver following the Windows 98 Radeon Driver installation steps from ATI, except that you don't need to restart the computer at the end of the steps. Because the next and last thing to install is the Control Panel. Locate the display driver where it was downloaded. Install the Control Panel by double-clicking on it and clicking through any windows it presents. At the end, restart the computer. On restarting, the computer may detect new hardware and ATI recommends not overwriting any files if asked. When the restart is complete, the new ATI video card drivers are installed.

As a reference for all Windows operating systems, here's a link to the ATI Driver and Software Installation Instructions and a link for NVIDIA reference drivers to How do I install the NVIDIA Detonator drivers for Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP.

Now do a little basic configuration to get the display looking the way you like. Click on "Start", then "Settings", then "Control Panel" and then double-click on the "Display" icon. Go to the "Settings" tab.
ATI All In Wonder 9600 Pro 128MB Display Properties Settings tab


Move the slider underneath "Screen Area" to the screen area you desire. Select the color-depth you desire using the picklist options underneath "Colors". Click on the "Apply" button to put the changes into effect. Installation of both the new video card hardware and the video card drivers is complete! Now let's take a look around and see if all looks well.




Skip Ahead
  How To Update Your Own Computer Video Card - Home
  What You Need For A Video Card Upgrade
  The Video Card
  Tools
  DirectX
  Hard Drive Restore Utility
  Benchmark Utility
  Reference Video Card Drivers
  Motherboard/Chipset AGP Drivers
  Tour The Existing System Settings
  Things To Know Before You Start
  Enable AGP
  Windows 98 Steps To Remove The Old Video Card Driver
  Change Display Adapter
  Search For Updated Drivers
  Standard VGA Driver
  Install Standard VGA Driver
  Windows XP Steps To Remove The Old Video Card Driver
  How To Remove The Video Card Driver
  Installing The New Video Card
  Finding The Old Video Card
  Remove The Old Video Card
  Insert The New Video Card
  Windows 98 Steps To Add The New Video Card Driver
  Windows XP Steps To Add The New Video Card Driver
  After The Video Card Upgrade
  Tour The New System Settings
  Control Panel Display Properties
  Video Card Driver Settings
  Video Card Diagnostics And Tests
  DXDIAG - DirectX Diagnostics And Tests
  Benchmarks
  Boot Up Tests
  Troubleshooting Video Card Problems
  Advanced Topics
  Overclocking
  Tweaking Video Card Driver Settings
  Windows 2000/XP Monitor Refresh Rate Problem

© 2001-2015, Rob Williams, all rights reserved.
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