Latest video drivers?

[KRSESQ]

Has anyone tried the latest g200 drivers (v 6.04)and had the same prob I did?
To wit: When I ran Setup it did not recognise my Marvel G200 at all. Right clicking the .inf and clicking Install did nothing at all.
Any thoughts?
Meanwhile I'll download again and give it another try.

Kevin

[kennyhibs]

I had the same problem but fixed it buy copying all the files in driver version 5.41 and pasteing them into the 6.04 folder and when asked kept the newer versions works fine
kenny

[KRSESQ]

Interesting...
I wonder if just copying the .inf file would do the trick?

Always looking for new creative ways to break my system...

thanx

Kevin

[TheFez]

Another way (hopefully not) to crash your Windows.

I succeeded into installing the PowerDesk 6.04 with my Marvel G200!
It needs a little effort but it can work.

My card is a Marvel G200 AGP (no TV tuner) updated with the latest BIOS (as found in BIOS 1.09) and purchased in Italy in march 1999 (if this can be of interest to someone! :-)

My system:
* Mobo Abit BE-6 II v. 1.0 with latest BIOS (rev. SH)
* Intel Celeron 433 socket 370 on a no-name Slot 1 adapter card
* 128 MB RAM PC100 (no name brand)
* HD IBM DTTA 10GB 7200rpm on the integrated UDMA66 controller (HighPoint366)
* HD Quantum Fireball ST 1.2 GB 4500(?)rpm as master on primary IDE
* DVD card Creative Dxr3 (with 5x DVD drive) (basically it's a Hollywood Plus bundled with the
"old" 5x Panasonic DVD drive)
* Philips 3610 IDE CD writer
* no name ISA audio card (Opti 931 audio chip)

* Windoze 95 OSR 2.5, DirectX 7 and a really messy lot of other things!

This is obviously not a hi end gaming system :-) but effective enough for small video projects.


Here is what I did:

Some times ago I downloaded PD 6.01 AND the TWEAKED Install.inf file (I think it was here at MURC, but don't remember). The Marvel was not officially supported, but someone (great guy!!!) did some tweaking on the .inf in order to use it with the Marvel.

I never installed it until yesterday night, after flashing the Marvel BIOS; the PD 6.01 setup worked ok and recognized my Marvel.

So far, so good. But I felt I was missing something, as the brand new PD 6.04 was pop out the same day! :-)


The newly released PD 6.04 didn't see the Marvel, although it is listed in the EFIGS.INF (that is why I thought it would have worked without any modifications, but I was wrong)

So I took the TWEAKED Install.inf to have a closer look at it.

It had, at the end, the [Strings] section in which I found this:

Str5="Matrox Marvel G200 AGP"


and other strings that are NOT reported in the regular install.inf coming with PD 6.01

So I searched for Str5 throughout all the .inf and found it many times, one for each supported language.
This is the italian one:

%Str5%%ITA%=IN8,PCI\VEN_102B&DEV_0521&SUBSYS_FF041 02B

Then each row I found with Str5 pointed to a [INxx] entry in the .inf file, which in turn contained directives for the setup program on what to delete from the Windows registry, what to add and what files to copy to the hard disk.

Here again for the italian version:

[IN8]
DriverVer=02/21/2000
AddReg=AR1, AR9, AR3, AR4, AR0
DelReg=DR1, DR2
CopyFiles=CF1, CF9, CF3, CF4


Now the PD 6.04 EFIGS.INF is written in the same way, BUT contains the Str4="Matrox Marvel G200 AGP"
Incidentally, the file contains also other Str entries for the new G450 based cards and other to me unknown (Matrox Orion) video cards.


So I put this line inbetween the other %ITA% entries into the EFIGS.INF file:

%Str4%%ITA%=IN8,PCI\VEN_102B&DEV_0521&SUBSYS_FF041 02B


!! Note: it is now Str4 instead of Str5 !!

And this is the ORIGINAL EFIGS.INF [IN8] entry, which I left untouched:

[IN8]
DriverVer=08/21/2000
AddReg=AR1, AR10, AR3, AR4, AR0
DelReg=DR1, DR2
CopyFiles=CF1, CF8, CF3, CF4


If you look carefully, you'll see that it is NOT IDENTICAL to the [IN8] contained in the TWEAKED Install.inf BUT if you look at [AR9] section in the install.inf

[AR9]
;HKLM,"Software\Matrox\PowerDesk\Version5",Registe rWebPath,,http://www.matrox.com/mga/tech_supp/registration/reg_ita1.htm


you see it IS IDENTICAL to the [AR10] in the EFIGS.inf

[AR10]
;HKLM,"Software\Matrox\PowerDesk\Version6",Registe rWebPath,,http://www.matrox.com/mga/tech_supp/registration/reg_ita1.htm


The only difference is obviously in the Version number

The same applies to the [CF9] in the install.inf (TWEAKED and original are the same here)

[CF9]
PDeskRes.dll,PDResIta.dll
PDesk.cnt,PDeskIta.cnt
PDesk.hlp,PDeskIta.hlp
PDReadme.txt,ReadIta.txt
PDSupp.rtf,SuppIta.rtf


which is IDENTICAL to the [CF8] in the EFIGS.inf

[CF8]
PDeskRes.dll,PDResIta.dll
PDesk.cnt,PDeskIta.cnt
PDesk.hlp,PDeskIta.hlp
PDReadme.txt,ReadIta.txt
PDSupp.rtf,SuppIta.rtf


*******************

So, to sum up:

1 - Get the PD 6.01 tweaked install.inf somewhere (or from me, I could post it or put it somewhere, but I don't know if it is completely ok beacuse of copyright issues)

2 - Copy the line relevant to your Marvel and language into the EFIGS.INF coming from the PD 6.04

3 - Change the Str number as appropriate (look at the end of the EFIGS.INF)

4 - Verify that the variuos [ARx], [DRx], [CFx] sections are ok

5 - Cross your fingers and run Setup.exe!!!! :-)

6 - DON'T BLAME ME IF SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG!!! :-(


DISCLAIMER:

YOU ARE DOING THESE MODIFICATIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO GUARANTEE IS MADE OF A SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION! ETC. ETC. BLA BLA BLA and the usual things....

Have a nice happy Marveling!

The Fez

[KRSESQ]

Interesting hacking problem...

I think I'll waste a few sheets of printer paper on those .infs and examine them in detail, along with your solution, and see what works. Fortunately I'm not in a hurry with anything.

Thanks bunches

Kevin