Hi,

I'm not sure this is the right place to ask my question, but hopefully if it isn't someone will be able to rediect me to the corect place.

I have a Dell Dimension E521 that is 6 years old and has a Dell e720 monitor and used a GeForce 1300 Pro video driver. This worked ok with Windows Vista 32 bit and then the upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit for a couple of years.

Then I decided to upgrade to Windows 8 64 bit, the Microsoft upgrade advisor informed me that the video driver would be an issue, but I thought it was talking about a dual display feature that I'd never used, so I went ahead with the upgrade, which was successful apart from the display. The range of resolutions available is very limited (1024 X 768, 1280 X 1024, 1152 X 854, 1400 X 1050 which I've selected). Looking into this I found that it had a basic Microsoft driver installed. I can actually access some more resolutions by going through the advanced option, but after choosing one of those resolutions I kee getting a message telling me that this risks damaging the hardware.

I looked on the web for a video driver equivalent that would work with Windows 8 and thought I'd found one in  R129368 and overcame various problems with making Windows 8 accept an unsigned driver and using administrator mode to install - although I've only managed to install the ATI Catalyst Control Centre so far (I don't really understand the structure of the folders/applications that comprise the R129368 driver).

When I try to run the Control Centre I'm get an error message saying "This program has compatibility issues" and giving links to get help online (which takes me to the AMD Support and Drivers site where I found the link to this forum) or to run the program without getting help. I decided that it would be sensible to get help first.

So, my question is, can anyone help me to find and install a working video driver for Windows 8 on a Dell E720 monitor (20 inch) the equivalent of the GeForce 1300 Pro please?

I've included the information that I think will help to get my question answered but if any more details are needed please let me know.

Any help or advice will be very welcome, thanks.

Trevor

Hello Trevor,

Sorry to disappoint you but you really have only two options here.  AMD is not supporting your (very old) hardware on the current Win 8 OS.....so.....your options are as follows:

• Upgrade your hardware.
• Go back to Windows 7 until you can upgrade your hardware.

I understand that MS was offering really good deals on moving over to Win 8 there for a while and there were quite a few that took MS up on the offer that really should not have and are now suffering your same fate.  Six y/o hardware though.....that is really pushing the envelope.  Keep in mind, and budget for, hardware upgrades with your OS upgrades and you will be much happier.  Also, it would be a good idea to research (or call Dell) to see if you could run into issues with driver support on a new OS before making the plung in a proactive sense rather than the reactive corner you now find yourself in. 

Cheers!

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.
Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!

It's also an nvidia GPU, GeForce 6150LE, so you should try downloading nvidia drivers instead of Catalyst, which is for AMD (formerly ATI) cards.

Driver for Windows 8 32-bit.

Driver for Windows 8 64-bit.

@Canis-X:

How did you miss this little detail?

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 810 @ 3250MHz | RAM: Kingmax 2x2GB DDR2 800 @ 833MHz| MoBo: MSI K9A2 CF v1.0 (BIOS: 1.D)| GPU: Asus HD 6850 1024MB (DirectCu) @ 850/1100MHz | Display: Chili Green Vision L24FHD | PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad | OS: MS Windows 95 x64 Edition

CPU: Pentium 4 Northwood S478 @ 3200MHz | RAM: 1,5GB DDR 400| MoBo: Gigabyte GA-8S661FXMP-RZ | GPU: Abit Geforce Ti 4200 | Display: Dimarson 19" CRT | PSU: Noname 400W | OS: MS Windows XP Pro, Fedora 18

@canis-x:,

Yes, I was one of those tempted by Microsoft's generous offer, but I thougt that with the increased testing they do now and especially with the public invited to participate I wouldn't have any problems - sigh.

I don't fancy having to rewind and re-install Windows 7, so I thought that the end solution would be to buy a new monitor as hopefully there shouldn't be a problem with the driver.

Thanks for your help.

@Eydee:

Thanks for the help. I downloaded the driver but when I tried installing it a message saying that this grapahics driver couldn't find compatible graphics hardware.

I think the 6150 driver was a general purpose one Dell used for their standard monitors, but I opted for the 20 inch "wide" monitor which came with different drivers. The Windows 8 upgrade advisor reported on (as far as I can remember) an nVidia GeForce X1300 Pro 256 driver.

I'll delete the ATI downloads to keep things tidy and kep looking for a while.

Thanks again to you both for your help.

Monitors have nothing to with video card drivers. Have you replaced anything in that computer (except for the monitor)?

You see, There's no such thing as GeForce X1300. Dell's site lists a GeForce 6150LE for your computer. If you didn't change anything, it has to be in there.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 810 @ 3250MHz | RAM: Kingmax 2x2GB DDR2 800 @ 833MHz| MoBo: MSI K9A2 CF v1.0 (BIOS: 1.D)| GPU: Asus HD 6850 1024MB (DirectCu) @ 850/1100MHz | Display: Chili Green Vision L24FHD | PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad | OS: MS Windows 95 x64 Edition

CPU: Pentium 4 Northwood S478 @ 3200MHz | RAM: 1,5GB DDR 400| MoBo: Gigabyte GA-8S661FXMP-RZ | GPU: Abit Geforce Ti 4200 | Display: Dimarson 19" CRT | PSU: Noname 400W | OS: MS Windows XP Pro, Fedora 18

I'd assumed that monitors displayed what the graphics processor/card told it to so I obviously know less than the little I thought I knew about monitors/graphics/drivers - doh!

I upgraded to 2 X 2 Gb memory from 2 X 1 Gb, changed to a wireless mouse and added an external USB drive for backups, apart from that the PC is as I bought it.

Sorry about my confusion with the name of the graphics, it should be an ATI X1300 Pro 256. I dug out a Maxdriver report from before I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7, which reported on both an ATI X1300 Pro and an nVIDIA GeForce 6150. Since drivers are something I'm unsure of I waited until after the Windows 7 installation and as there were no problems, left well enough alone.

I downloaded and tried installing R129368 again, but it's a chained process and at some point I got the message that it needed to be run in Administrator mode. I tried guessing which part of the installation it was sticking on and tried running them directly as Administrator butstill got the same message.

I found an update to the X1300 Pro 256 driver here -

 ttp://drivers.softpedia.com/progDownload/Dell-Inspiron-531-ATI-X1300-Pro-Graphics-Driver-8383-Download-200989.html  

which is R160911. I downloaded it and tried running it but it just seemed to disappear, with no messages, no errors and no installation - nothing.

I opened the PC and checked that there's an nVIDIA chip on it that I think must be for the graphics with a number NV06562036 0651A3, GS 2678.1 written on it.

Belarc advisor didn't report any graphics details, only the monitor, but there is an nVIDIA nForce Serial ATA controller. 

I've also just found R160915 on a Dell Dimension E521 site here -

 http://ftp.dell.com/Pages/Drivers/dimension-e521.html#Video

this is a 64 bit Vista driver. I downloaded and installed it and after a reboot the display is now much better, the resolution has defaulted to 1680 X 1050, with 1280 X 800 and 1024 X 768 as alternatives. The default 1680 X 1050 works perfectly and the display is much clearer and finer, the warning message about damaging hardware has disappeared and my carefully crafted Excel workbook now displays exactly as I inteended - so I think it's a success.

If, at some point in the future, I decided to update the display would I need to upgrade the monitor or graphics card , or both, please. Or would it mean the system?

Thanks again for all your help, I think I was chasing my tail before your advice.

regards,

Trevor