Thanks dalek. It would appear I am the one needing luck. I appreciate your install guide, and thanks for the offer of checking out that file

Did you get your new card or did you put in the card and it put out a puff of smoke?
I got my NVIDIA drivers to work. Do you need help to get yours working? I plan to be online for a while if you need help. I also plan to write a how to for the NVIDIA drivers.

Basically, what's going on.

Yes I got a geForce4 MX440, not in the same class as yours, but I was assured that it would work. My problem however is, not having access to my Linux pc, I have downloaded the appropriate driver file plus kernel to my Windows xp pc. Can I transfer it to disk and would you know how I go about this? I am in the process of seeing if I can find anything on the nvidia site

Just put the card in and see if it works. The card has the basic drivers installed, it just won't do 3D stuff like doom or quake. I used mine from the time I built this rig till yesterday without drivers. I didn't even know it.
Can you burn it to a CD? I usually backup all the files I download, java, micromedia flash and a few others I use to a CD R. That way I don't have to find them and download them again.
Also note when you boot select Linux non-fb when Lilo comes up. I found that it sees new hardware better for some reason. Just something I noticed. Don't know why though. It may notice that you changed cards. It may ask for a CD but I doubt it.
Post back but I bet it works fine. Oh if you get a login prompt again. Type in your user name and password, then type in "startx". If it works you'll be in GUI, If not it will give you a error message. Write down the part after "(EE)". This contains what went wrong. I got one the other day and done a search on www.google.com/linux and found the fix. Also notice if you get a white screen with NVIDIA in the middle. It won't be there long and comes up before the GUI does. If you get that the drivers, maybe old, are there and working.

Let me know what happens. Make sure to keep one hand on a metal part of the puter when you touch the cards. Static electricity is bad stuff. I usually lay the card in the bag on bare metal for a minute then goto work.

Good luck!

I havn't replied since your last reply dalek, because I am still having problems with my screen going blank and so I will do the correct thing and post on the newbie board with another error that I have

I gather you have yet to get Linux to start, so you would lose nothing if you did a re-installation. Before you do, look here for the preparations you need to make (particularly with the BIOS) for a successful installation of Mandrake 9.1:

http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/install.html

When you get to the end of the installation, you will get the opportunity to configure your graphics card. When you do, go to 'NVIDIA' and select 'GeForce2 DDR Generic'. You should then select the test function so that you can see that the driver is the correct one for your card. You might have to do the same for your monitor; ie, set the correct name and model number.

Also towards the end of the installation, where you set the boot options, set 'acpi=off' and put a checkmark in the 'force no apic' box. Then re-boot; hopefully, this will more successful for you.

Thanks for the reply geoff. I have reinstall again. I actually rebooted and reinstalled win 98 in order to install my nvidia card drivers, and then reinstalled Mandrake, but as I got passed the graphics setup my screen went blank, not for the first time. I will take note of your reply and print out the instructions on that web site. As stated I have posted in the newbies, which I guess is where I should have been from the start, with an error "execve failed for /etc/x11/x (errno 2 ) I have seen something about this as being the xfree 86 is not setup properly, would that be correct?

I have an installation disk that came with the video card, can I somehow install the drivers from this, and I havn,t as yet got to stage of setting up my modem for nvidia website

Only if the driver is for Linux. Most drivers that are included with the card are windoze. Note, if it is for windoze it will not work in Linux. You can run programs in wine but not drivers from my understanding.



Got to go vote, that way I can whine later.

I found this on an Australian site, what do you think?
If you have a Geforce 4 and are trying to use it in Mandrake 9.0, the Xfree86/X-windows configuration will screw up, just choose any vid card and dont test.

FYI You can use an nVidia card with Mandrake 9, but it wont have full 3d graphics support. With a working desktop you can then easily install your modem, go online, and download the latest nvidia drivers, and then install them.
Or download modem and graphics drivers now, install Mdk, and then install those drivers offline.

EUREKA I have done it. I changed the nvidia for an old 3dfx Banshee and have a nice blue screen and here I was thinking that the person who recommended an old ISA Bus video card to me must have been having me on, not that I have such a thing on my pc. Thanks to all who patiently helped me get this far. Once I have my modem set up I will revert back the nvidia and download required drivers

Jim - sorry, I made a mistake in specifying what to select for your video card: it should be 'Geforce4 generic', not the one I said in my earlier post. I scanned your post too quickly and mis-read it.

The info you got from the Australian site could be applicable, since you seem to be experiencing a problem with the Geforce4 setup. I would download the NVidia drivers then revert to the NVidia card.

I found out that booting to 'failsafe' will NOT work. I had to change the inittab to 3, then install the driver. I did post a how to for this at http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showt...hreadid=108859 . Sorry for the boo boo!