Dell 6800 GTO & nVidia 71.89

guruizzy

After getting my Dell I decided to update to the latest nVidia driver, which at the time was released 3/14/05. For about 2-3 weeks everything was fine, then I began getting horrible frame rates in CS:S, usually around 15-20 fps. So I updated to the latest nVidia released drivers, 71.89 (4/18/05).

I rebooted after updating to the new driver, after I got to the Windows XP load up screen it went blank and the screen turned off (as if not to receive a video signal). After about 15 seconds it shoots to a blue screen, memory dump with the error from a file called nv4_disp. This is obviously an nVidia file from the driver. After rebooting again it went to a screen with vertical lines, blue/white at first and then changed to gold/white.

I tried going into Safe Mode and rolling back the driver, no cigar. Uninstalled the current 71.89 driver and reinstalled the last one, same problem. Then I tried reverting back to the Dell.com supported drivers from 1/21/05. The driver is specific to my nVidia 6800 GTO 256 PCI-X card. On installation it gave an error "nVidia setup unable to locate driver compatible with your video card. Setup will now exit".

So now I'm stuck in VGA mode in Windows XP, driverless. Nothing is working. The only thing that would make sense is if the BIOS on the vid card was flashed when installing to the 71.89 driver set. I haven't been able to find documentation of this anywhere. The card should be working fine, haven't had issues of sudden power loss nor anything regarding heat issues.

Dell support is no help. At the end of the 1 hour phone sessions they said that the card that was currently installed is not compatible with my Dimension 8400. I advised them that it was the card that came with the computer........ GG Dell.

They advised they would get back to me in about 2 hours after I gave a huge shpeel about how the problem must be physical. I'm not sure about this however, because I'm leaning more toward the possibility of the card being flashed during the last update to the driver.

Please help me someone, I'm disturbed! My current comp configuration is as follows:
Intel Pentium 4 630 w/ 2mb L2 cache (LGA775) (3.0 GHz)
Dell Mainboard (Intel i925X Rev. B1 chipset) Dell BIOS A05 (most up to date)
512 mb DDR2-SDRAM
Dell nVidia 6800 GTO 256mb PCI-X (71.89 drvr) Device ID=PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_00F9&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A2\4& 16EC1A1&0&0008

I hope that helps.

pr0digal jenius

the 71.89's may not properly work on the 6800GTo to be honest, I'd have to look at the stock ID list.

Try the 76.44s and see if they help

guruizzy

If the 76.44 is also used by guru3d.com drivers then I've already tried that. However, I will look to be sure when I get back home. The main problem now is just trying to get the video card recognized by ANY driver. When I install a driver straight from nVidia or based off nVidia drivers it gives me that glitchy blu/wht screen with vertical lines.

If I try to install the Dell.com supported drivers that came with the computer and on the latest version on the website it says the drivers are not compatible with the card I have.

Dell finally called me back saying they are going to have to send out a technician. Guess they think I'm trying to screw them out of a vid card or something. GG again Dell!

I've also tried reinstalling the OS that came with the system and reseated the vid card. Everything seems in order on the card, nothing looks burned or anything, so no visible damage. Oh well.... still trying to work on it. I was just hoping that someone else who owns a GTO has had the same problem and that it's not just me.

TJ-

Ive not had one problem with the official 71.89 drivers on my 6800GT

pr0digal jenius

he has a GTo

Prince_Link

GTO is just a 6800nu with higher clocks, uses the same device id as the 6800

anyone trying to run a GTO in sli, flash your cards to a 6800nu bios and it will work. theres a flaw in the bios,

if you like you can also easily just mod the name and clocks to it is still a gto just with a 6800nu bios, to use sli

i have been corrected, the GTO is based off of the Quadro 3400

crockd

Wow! I found someone with the exact same problem as myself! For anyone who has the same problem and gets a chance to read this. The problem is Dell related. You should NEVER use NVidia's drivers and only use Dell's version of them. Oh yes, it's stupid, but it's the only way you can get a Dell provided video card to work, otherwise the card will die and Dell will have to come out and replace it. The answer as with so many other things that comes on a Dell is that if it lacks the functionality you want, strip it out and buy the same part from the store. The problem is that the BIOS has constraints written into it to govern all of the Dell provided stuff so any deviation in terms of drivers will totally mess things up.