Help with a mystery nvidia board?

[Teaser]

Hi, I've got a client who needs help with their machine. They got a nasty malware infection that required drastic measures for me to clean it up.
Apparently these drastic measures were drastic enough that I can no longer locate the original nvidia software or drivers on the hd. I have the machine running through the on-board graphics card right now, but I'd like to get it back in its original form.

Any tricks for discovering the nature of a mystery device? I tried removing and reinstalling, in the hopes that XP would figure it out and report the boards names but no use...

[Duer 157099]

1. Here's one idea

try Belarc Advisor, although I'm not sure if it just pulls it's info from Win.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

In the meantime, I'm looking for other utilities that I've used in the past for this same purpose...

Here's another possibility:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/PreScan.aspx?lang=en-us

[Teaser]

6. thanks!

.

[whistler162]

2. NVidia does have a online activex card detector

if you can get online and if it isn't to old.

[Teaser]

4. thanks!

.

[Kutjara]

3. The card itself should have a label with the model number on it.

Failing that, you could try downloading the driver from Nvidia's website. There's an online card identification app you can use, but it's a bit hit or miss.

If the card identifier doesn't work, you can still try downloading and installing drivers from the site. Even though it makes you go through a bunch of dropdown menus to select your particular card, the truth is that you end up with the same huge installer package for a wide range of cards. When you run the installer, it will look at the card and tell you if it has a driver available. If not, try the installer package for a different series of cards. Sooner or later, one of them will recognize the card and install the correct driver.

[Duer 157099]

5. Also, try posting in the Computer group

Lots of help available there, and threads don't sink very quickly

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=242

[democracyindanger]

7. Maybe this is stupid, but

isn't the model number printed on the circuit board somewhere, or at least a serial number?

[Teaser]

8. yeah I've been looking....

and I'm beginning to suspect he hasn't got an Nvidia card after all.

I can't find any identifying characters and it doesn't look like any pics I've dug up.

This is frustrating. Maybe I'll just buy him a low end nVidia card and be done with it.

[Orrex]

9. Is that the one with the stylus that's supposed to contact the spirit world?

If so, ask the spirits if their refrigerator is running.

[Captain Angry]

10. Some questions.

If the card doesn't autodetect in Windows, you may need to load a chipset driver so that Windows can do the rest of the work. So, whose motherboard is it? Whose chipset is on that board?

Since XP isn't autodetecting things properly, that could be your problem.

Is device manager just a disaster area?

If the system is this badly hosed, my recommendation would be to backup the important stuff and nuke the site from orbit. Clean that drive, fresh install of XP, the chipset drivers, etc.

What is the brand/model of the PC?