PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Installing or Changing Video Drivers

Windows 98/Me does reasonably well at detecting common video adapters and installing the proper drivers for them. However, you may need to install a video driver manually in one of the following circumstances:

• Windows 98/Me does not have a driver for your adapter. This situation is more common than you might expect. For example, Windows 98/Me does not provide a driver for the ubiquitous Intel i740 video adapter. This situation may also arise if you install a new video adapter in an existing Windows 98/Me system.

• Windows 98/Me has a driver for your adapter and recognizes the hardware, but you have a more recent driver supplied by the adapter manufacturer. Manufacturers often provide enhanced drivers that are faster or support more features than the vanilla drivers included with Windows 98/Me.

• Windows 98/Me has a driver for your adapter, but fails to autodetect the presence of the adapter, or autodetects the adapter as a different model than is actually present. This situation also arises more often than it should.

To install a new or updated video adapter, first visit the video adapter manufacturer’s web site and download the latest Windows 98/Me drivers for your adapter. Get the most recent release version of the driver, avoiding beta or unsupported versions. To install the driver, display the Settings page, click Advanced, choose the Adapter tab, and click Change to start the Update Device Driver Wizard.

Also use this dialog to set refresh rate. ...