Running XP driver on Win2K Pro for ASUS EAH5450 card

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by RonCam, Dec 10, 2011.

  1. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    I am dual-booting Windows 7 Pro and Windows 2000 Pro while moving to the newer OS. My existing graphics card developed an intermittent, probably with a bad cap, so I purchased a new card (see the title of this post).

    I would like to new card to work under Windows 2000, as well as Windows 7, but I have read this is extremely difficult to do. I never installed Microsoft's .net framework on Windows 2000, and I'd rather not have to do this, just to install a driver! I've just imaged the Win2K partition so I may begin experimenting.

    First, is it true there is no legacy Windows 2000 driver for my new card? Second, if there's no official driver, has anyone ever succeeded with a hack/work-around to get the card working under the older OS?

    For example, if the XP drivers on the ASUS installation disk won't work, I read a suggestion (not from this forum) that it "might work" :flip2: if you instead use Sapphire's XP driver, intended for the same Radeon chip. Anything else?

    I have alreadly installed ATI Tray Tools and am looking for documentation on the 'Low Level Driver Installation" utility, to see if it might do something I need?
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2011
  2. rflair

    rflair Don Coleus Staff Member

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    So you actually have not bought the card yet?

    As for getting it to work in Win2K it should be doable.
     
  3. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Yes, I have the card.
    I am wondering why some report having so much trouble.
    This is not in the directions, but instead of using the CD's menu-driven system, I am thinking of just pointing the 'found new hardware' driver request to the CD's XP_INF directory. Here there's CX121085.inf, an .msi of the same name, and a file named atiiseag.ini.

    Do you think this is going in the right direction?
     
  4. rflair

    rflair Don Coleus Staff Member

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    Well if you have tried the Catalyst installer and it failed then I would do as you said and just point at the .inf through Device Manager.

    If that fails there is another way by editing the files themselves.
     

  5. tomasz86

    tomasz86 Guest

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  6. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Thanks to both, as I want to have as much information as possible before pulling my old card and attempting to initialize the new. I saw a post elsewhere on the Internet saying that running this card under Windows 2000 may not be entirely straightforward -- so I appreciate these answers.

    I will likely begin today or tomorrow, after having the unofficial driver ready, so one way or another I will end the session with a functional graphics card!

    Fortunately, the old card is still working, most of the time. I'll be happy if I can keep the Windows 2000 installation usable, just until Windows 7 is 'tweaked' well-enough, so that I can comfortably switch to that.

    :cheers: Thanks to both, for the input, and to anyone else seeing this thread who has more to add, before I go ahead and switch the cards.
     
  7. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Need help with choosing the best download

    Wow! That is great. This guy has drivers especially for Windows 2000 Professional. One of them should work great.

    But ... there are loads of download links on this page, most identified with only a few characters in English and the rest (on my browser configuration) showing only as untranslatable 'blocks'.

    If I post my card's and OS's details here, would you mind looking at that site and giving a direct link to the download you think would be best? If you're familiar with this site, your guess would be much better than mine. That will be much appreciated.

    • VGA ASUS RADEON HD5450 Silent 512MB HDMI/DDR2PCIE2
    • Windows 2000 Professional SP4+final rollup

    Again, I just want something to keep Windows 2000 Pro minimally functional during the transition to Windows 7. Don't need all the 'bells and whistles'!
     
  8. k1net1cs

    k1net1cs Ancient Guru

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    Well, since your card is the 5000 series, then you could only choose from one version, 10.1alpha.
    The many download links above it are for 2000, 3000 and 4000 series.

    And no, I can't read Japanese.
    It's just what I could infer from 'reading' the page slowly. =b
     
  9. rflair

    rflair Don Coleus Staff Member

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    I am not 100% sure but I think you can use the latest drivers, like 11.11 by just pointing device manager at the inf.
     
  10. Norezar

    Norezar Guest

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    That's totally doable, you don't need CCC anyway, the drivers themselves do not depend on .Net crap.
     

  11. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    I might try this first. Running the Japanese site through Google Translate, I saw a mention of 'instability' on the Windows 2000 driver that was mentioned for my card. Not sure, if just a little instability, or lots?
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2011
  12. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    I did, and it failed! Not recognized as a file for that hardware, or something to that effect.

    How may the .inf be edited?
     
  13. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Details, please ...

    Are there any details on how and what to edit, to get it recognized on Windows 2000 Professional?

    I recapped the old graphics card, and it's now stable but only after a 30 minute warm-up. Any information on how an .inf edit could help me to move to the new card?
     
  14. rflair

    rflair Don Coleus Staff Member

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    Been busy a little, its the holidays, I'll look into it for you over the next few days.
     
  15. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Thanks, no problem!
    Let me know if you'd like to see any files from the ASUS CD.
     

  16. RonCam

    RonCam Guest

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    Problem Solved -- thanks, blackwingcat!!

    :cheers:My compliments, this is the only only suggestion that worked.

    Thanks to blackwingcat for his patience in seeing me through to selection of the proper driver, based on my card's ID.

    Actually, it was an unmodified v10.07 that worked. Possibly others would have, as well, but I am satisfied.

    Windows 2000 Professional is now working as well with the new ASUS EAH5450 as it did with the old Sapphire Radeon X300.

    Incidentally, the old card was running well in Windows 7. The only problem was it had developed an intermittent fault, that crashed the video driver of both operating systems, at random intervals ... that is gone now. :thumbup:
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2012

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