Unknown video card - How to update the driver?

[LGA]

Hello all, I am new to this forum. I am having a problem trying to get DVDs to play on an older computer that I have had made for my young son. I recently upgraded Media Player to V 11 but still it doesn't play DVDs. An error message tells me that I should try to update the video card driver. So I pulled out the AGP card and the only things I could find on the card were: A4-UTNT 2S6-A4-0 and FCC ID: FQITNT2. Can anyone point me in the right direction. Thanks, Craig.

[Fatty]

Hi Craig,

Welcome to Radiogeek!

The video card will usually identify itself on the very first screen that comes up when the computer is booting. As a guess though, the TNT in the serial numbers would suggest that the card is an Nvidia TNT2 card.  Nvidia have an on-line tool that will identify your video card for you and let you download the latest drivers if you have a Nvidia card. The tool is here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

Give it a go and let us know how you get on.

Matt

[LGA]

Hi Matt, Thanks for your assistance. I tried the link that you suggeted and downloaded the file suggested by NVIDIA. When I tried to install the file the Setup program came up with the error message "NVIDIA setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with the current hardware that is installed on this computer. Setup will now close." And that is as far as it goes. Any further help would be great. I still dont know how to update the driver. hould I uninstall the currently used driver first, and then try to install the new one? Or do you think that the computer will crash if I uninstall the video driver? Thanks again. Craig.

[Mick_L]

Another thought if it's not the driver, do you have the codecs installed to play DVD?

[LGA]

Hey Mick,
Thanks for your input.
The computer will play some DVDs but not many. The ones that don't play throw up the same message as I described in my original posting.
Thanks. Craig

[The Radio Geek]

Hi there Craig,

Sounds like something fishy is going on...

I suspect that you might be running afoul of a few errors at the same time, which makes the whole situation a little more complex.  When you say "Older Computer" i start thinking along the lines of "what else might be stopping up the works".

Righto - to test this out, perhaps you can try installing and playing a DVD with a different media player.  Windows Media 11 is a pretty resource heavy player, and is a bit particular about it's codecs etc...  I would suggest that we eliminate the software angle by trying a different play - if it works then we can look into the Windows Media Player fault, if it doesnt then we can keep pursuing the hardware/driver angle.

Perhaps you can download an install the FREE media player VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Let us know how you go!

Cheers,
:)RG

[LGA]

Hi again, sorry it has been a while. I was chatting with a geek friend of mine about the problem I was having and he suggested I try loading a program called "Any DVD". I did this and now my Son's computer can play DVDs in Windows Media Player 11. Go figure.... Thanks for your assistance. Craig.

[The Radio Geek]

Great solution Craig,

thanks for sharing it with us!

Cheers,
:)RG