Any need to update video card driver?

[WillyW]

Hello,

Recently re-installed Win98SE.

Video card is RAGE IIC AGP.     Everest agrees with that, and also reports "ATI 3D-Rage IIC"  on the following line named "3D Accelerator".
A little farther down in the report it also says, "Mach64GT".
[I didn't find the amount of ram on the video card noted.... does Everest normally report that?  ]

Wonder of wonders!   I have the CD that came with the card, and can actually lay my hands on it.
Decided to do it right and look for newest driver.
Googled.
Found: http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/98me/legacy-98me.html
I believe I was in the right place.  
Unfortunately, when I tried to d/l the driver file,  all I got was an error.
Dunno...  tried a couple times.
Gave up...  had to move on....  so I used the original CD.   Everything seems fine.
Today, decided to delve into it a bit more.
Went back to that site, and today - I could d/l the driver file.   I suppose I just caught it at a bad time that time last week.

Downloaded w82474en.exe , and as of now have not proceeded to install.

Questions:
Is it worth fooling with?    
Device Manager->Display Adapters->Rage IIC->Properties->Driver  reports:
date 8-25-98     driver file details reports "File version 4.10.2440

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if there was ever anything known,  that is to be gained,  by updating the driver?     Or just leave well enough alone?

If the consensus is to go ahead and update -   anything special about doing it?
Should old driver be uninstalled first?    
AVG -   should it be shut off?
anything else to consider?
[it has been a while since I've done this sort of stuff ... fuzzy....]

Further:
In Device Manager->Display Adapters->Rage IIC->Properties,  there is a Diagnostics tab.
There are five status reports and tests there.
It passed four of the tests, and failed one.
I'm going to try to attach a screenshot  .jpg file to this post, that shows it.
 -
What does this mean?
Is this something to be concerned about?


Thanks

[Calum]

Reasons for updating drivers - better performance, enhanced features and stability (sometimes).
Old drivers should be uninstalled first.
There is no need to shut off AVG or do anything else other than reboot when asked.
However, if you don't play games and you have no issues with your current drivers, I wouldn't bother updating unless you just want to.
Just my personal opinons.
As for the error, I have no idea, maybe someone else knows more about this.

[Fed]

Sometimes they (don't ask me who they are) say to turn off antivirus stuff before installing drivers.
I'm with Calum, unless you have a specific video problem then leave it alone, all this stress will seem unimportant when you get your new computer & install W2K on it.

[WillyW]

Thanks for replying and reminding me of a couple things that might be useful:


I am not a gamer.


Re: Stability
Occasionally, when web browsing, computer will freeze.   Sometimes mouse is frozen too, sometimes not.   I've narrowed it down to doing it only on a couple websites, and it seems to only do it when I open a few - 6, 8, a dozen -  tabs.
I tend to do that -  just like with this forum -  I go along opening in a new tab all the things I want to read from a page, and while the next page is loading, I go through the tabs.

I have no idea if this could be somehow be related to a video driver or not.  Hopefully I'm about to find out from somebody here.

It did the same thing before the re-install too, fwiw.
Did it with Netscape -  forgot the version number -  and now with Firefox 1.5.0.8 it does the same thing.    I hate to say this, but I sort of wrote it off to "just being Windoze" and I put up with it.  I try to remember not to open too many tabs on those sites.   If there is something worth digging into, I'd like very much to hear about it.

[Calum]

That doesn't sound like it's related to the video driver.
Video driver problems usually manifest themselves (in my experience) as either problems during games or problems with the display, not freezes etc.
For the frezing problem - maybe update to FF2?
Also, try uninstalling extensions you don't use, see if that helps.

[WillyW]

all this stress will seem unimportant

That's sort of why I posted.   If it ain't worth it, I won't fool with it.    Might as well get some experienced opinions.

when you get your new computer & install W2K on it.

PM me your credit card number.  I'll get right on that.    

[Fed]

When you open new tabs does your memory usage go up?
Check your memory usage in your Task Manager as you open them. Ctrl+Alt+Del
You may be running low on memory.

[WillyW]

When you open new tabs does your memory usage go up?
Check your memory usage in your Task Manager as you open them. Ctrl+Alt+Del
You may be running low on memory.

??   There's nothing about memory in the Close Program box.    


On the other hand,  looking at System Properties->Performance,  there is a line named  System Resources.   It reports a percentage free.  It is right below the line that says 576MB of RAM.   Right now, it says 71% free, and that is about what it usually says when I use the machine like this.    Yes, it does drop some, when I open a bunch of tabs.    Isn't that to be expected though?

hmm...  you know.... I'll have to try an experiment....  open a bunch here, and see how much it drops.   Then I'll have to go try it on one of the 'problem' websites and see if it behaves the same.   It might be more there, eh?   I can't say that I've ever paid attention with a close comparison.

Fwiw -  using System Monitor, it reports Unused Physical Memory at 366M.  

I have only 4 tabs open, all here on this forum, right now.

shucks...  I'm hijacking my own thread!       I started this thread in hopes of finding out about the video driver.  

[GX1_Man]

What is the computer make and model? Is this an add on video card? Is there only one card in there? Frequently the Rage IIc was integrated into the motherboard. The Mach64 was rarely seen as an integrated video adapter,  more commonly as an add-on card. Both were common on older Dell systems and others.

[WillyW]

What is the computer make and model?

Custom made.
Motherboard is Micro Star.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=102

576M of ram installed on it.
AMD K6-2  350MHz

Is this an add on video card?

Yes

Is there only one card in there?

Video card?    
If so,  then  yes.

Frequently the Rage IIc was integrated into the motherboard. The Mach64 was rarely seen as an integrated video adapter,  more commonly as an add-on card. Both were common on older Dell systems and others.

No video integrated in this mb.

Built this computer circa '99.    I don't think it was '98... maybe...  I dunno.... I really think it was sometime in '99.

[patio]

So what card is in there ? ?

[WillyW]

So what card is in there ? ?

?
From my first post:

"Video card is RAGE IIC AGP.     Everest agrees with that, and also reports "ATI 3D-Rage IIC"  on the following line named "3D Accelerator".
A little farther down in the report it also says, "Mach64GT".
[I didn't find the amount of ram on the video card noted.... does Everest normally report that?  ] "

[soybean]

Run dxdiag (Start, Run, and enter dxdiag in the Run box); on the Display tab, it will show the amount of memory on the card.

[WillyW]

Run dxdiag (Start, Run, and enter dxdiag in the Run box); on the Display tab, it will show the amount of memory on the card.

Right you are!

"Approx. Total Memory:   8MB "

As soon I read what you wrote, I remembered.   I knew I had seen something, somewhere, sometime that reported it.

Thanks for the reminder.

[GX1_Man]

576M of ram installed on it.
AMD K6-2  350MHz

Windows 98 can have problems with RAM over 512 meg. Has this amount of memory always been in there? Since you just reinstalled it and then had problems, I would hazzard a guess that the answer is no.

Try removing enough to get it down to 512 and see if that makes a difference. There is really no advantage to more with a Win98 system anyway.