Win95 prob after changing driver configuration manually

[larrya]

Installing network PCMCIA card in Win 95, the driver CD autoselected the Win 98 driver instead of the Win95B driver. Un-noticed, I tried to alter memory configuration manually to one with no conflicts. After doing this, I can no longer use my display over 16 colors, my sound does not work and the floppy drive just spins but does not read/write. Where are these manual memory configurations saved? I have uninstalled the wrong driver, installed the right one, uninstalled them all, reinstalled the display drivers, sound driver and floppy driver as well as restoring the registry to a time before the problem; but the problem is there no matter what I do to correct it. Any ideas on how to correct would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[GaryRouth]

You mention that you altered a memory configuration manually. Do you mean that in Device Manager you reserved a range of memory? Or do you mean that you entered the Resources tab for a particular device or set of devices - and changed their memory ranges? Or some other tactic?

I imagine since you've been in and out of quite a few things, perhaps the easiest might be an over-the-top reinstall. [There are other ways to fix this up, but you'd have to remember all the changes you've made, or go through a lot of things a step at a time - somewhat labor-intensive].

If you don't have a Win95 floppy to boot from that matches your version, you can download one from http://www.bootdisk.com You should be able to use the cd-drive OK, since you'll be using the generic driver from the floppy. Here's the link to the reinstall process (and, by the way, you won't have to reinstall all your programs or lose your data and documents) http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70846

See if that does it. Let us know if you run into problems or have questions.
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...just noticed this was your first post: Welcome to the Pc Mechanic forums :) ]

[larrya]

Hi Gary, Thanks for the reply and help. I had made the change in device manager and changed a range of memory to an area that had no conflicts. Today I went in again and redid the same thing only moved it to the next closest available range. Now the sound is back, the display will show 256 colors and the diskette drive works as well. The only puzzler is that the video driver being used is the BIOS version which is a very early driver. I have attempted to install the latest version of this driver and it goes through the driver upgrade procedure normally but when I reboot and check the driver, it is still the BIOS version. In device manager, it shows it to be the new driver, but in Control Panel-Display, it is the BIOS version. Any ideas?

[GaryRouth]

I'm not sure what you mean by the Bios version for the video. Do you mean one of the Standard VGA drivers?

If you are reluctant to try the over-the-top, here's a step-by-step for just the video:
1) Download RegClean 4.1 http://download.com.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=lst-0-1 [instructions on how to use it are in the Readme.txt file]
2) Switch to the Standard VGA driver (from Device Manager, choose Display adapter, Update Driver, show all, let me select from list, Standard Display Devices, Standard VGA, OK)
3) Reboot to Safe Mode (tap the F8 key while restarting)
4) Check in Device Manager for any display adapters other than Standard VGA - and remove them.
5) Check in Add/Remove Programs for any software listed associated with your video, and uninstall any you find.
6) Run RegClean (you double-click on it from Windows Explorer = don't worry, it makes an Undo file. In 5 years of using it I've yet to need the Undo, but it's a nice feature)
7) Reboot
8) Reinstall your video card drivers (*note* some video drivers require a certain version of Direct X to be installed before the drivers - check in the Readme files for your video drivers before installing to see if this is the case with yours - and if necessary, download & install the Direct X version your driver needs first)
[Another thing to watch for - some newer cards need a setting in the Bios to be set to "Assign IRQ for Video" - check the documentation for your card to see if it needs this & then check in your Bios Setup screens to see if it is set OK]

Is the PC-card network adapter still installed? And working OK? Have you had any trouble with any other PC-cards? I wouldn't usually expect conflicts with a PC-card setup, but then a Win95 notebook is a little farther back into the Plug and Pray era.

Hopefully RegClean will help enough to get things going.
. . . Gary

[larrya]

Hi Gary, Already did Regclean. I too have used it since day 1 and it has solved many problems. The BIOS version of the driver appears to be a genetic version that is included in the BIOS. Machine is Compaq 1530D. Compaq's software left a lot to be desired in those days. I wonder that after I install the newer driver, it is just not adding it to the Ctl Panel-Display area. Interesting, it does show in Device Manager though. The one in Ctl Panel says it is a "Cirrus XXX.XX BIOS Version" Xs are because I don't remember the numbers and not at machine.

[GaryRouth]

I think what you're seeing as far as the Compaq screen reading "Cirrus xxx.xx bios version xs" is not referring to the driver version, but to the version of the Bios of the Cirrus itself. You could call it the "video Bios" - sometimes you'll see mention of it in your System Bios screens as well, when during Setup you have the option to "shadow" the video chips bios in your system memory (RAM). [This isn't done much anymore, but back in the Win95 days, especially in laptops with an onboard Cirrus chip like yours, it helped speed things up]

So you should actually be OK, as long as you see your usual driver listed in Device Manager. 256 colors should be a good choice for a Win95 laptop, too (except for some Internet browsing, where sites will display with funky colors). You could always switch to High Color (16bit) when on the Net, and then switch back when done.

One other handy tidbit - if a friend tells you how great Win98 would be on that laptop, thank them for their thoughts, but stay with Win95. Trying to scare up a decent Win98 video driver for a Cirrus Logic video chip is not an easy thing to do. They left the video business right about the same time Win95 came out (or perhaps just before then).

Looks like you're heads up Down Under: nice work getting your video, sound, and drives working again.
. . . Gary