Did I kill my computer?

[PrfctCircle]

Earlier today I was trying to update my drivers for my week old Verto GeForce Nividia FX 5700 VE, and I think I might of messed up my drive completely. After I uninstalled the Nividia display Drivers I tried to uninstall a second Nividia driver from Add/Remove Programs. I noticed it didn't go away even after I hit uninstall so I manually deleted the listing for it (thus I dont know for sure if it is truly gone or not), and afterwards I rebooted and then began to reinstall the drivers I downloaded from PNY.com. After it installed I got an error message from the New Hardware wizard saying it was not properly installed due to an error "The parameter is not correct". I tried repeatedly to uninstall and then reinstall the drivers, even going into safe mode for some instances, always getting the same error. Upon boot up of my computer (black screen, the first thing that shows up) it says Nividia Geforce 5700 VE 256mb ram, so I think it can tell it there (thus I dont know if my agp slot if fubar'd) however upon entering windows it just reads it as a VGA adapter, despite the drivers that I know I installed

I have an HP Pavilion 725n computer, 1GB ram being the only other modification to the standard setting. I think my cpu is an AMD Athalon XP 2400+ (2.GH). Any information or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I don't have oodles of money, but I do have some cash to play with if I need to purchase or replace something. Please help! thank you.

[PrairieDawg]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

I've posted this before ... try Driver Cleaner: http://www.drivercleaner.net/ . Follow the instructions that come with the program. You may also want to try using the latest official nVidia WHLQ drivers ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_71.84.html ) directly from nVidia rather than whatever PNY is offering.

[PrfctCircle]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

Well I tried using the Drive Cleaner but upon rebooting into normal windows session I still get the find new hardware wizard coming up and whether I install the drivers or cancel out, get an error message. If I try to install I get the same Parameter is not correct message, which I don't have a clue as to the meaning of. I am getting more and more disheartened with every fix I can think of. Any other idea's that might help me out?

[nihilistic0]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

Go to guru3d.com, get forceware drivers, 56.72 and try that out

[casecutter]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

Try booting in safe mode (hit F8 when booting) and hit the ENABLE VGA MODE or BOOT WITH VGA. I forget the exact wording, but on my ASROCK P4AL-800 I absolutely have to do this when installing graphics cards or I get the black screen too.

[casecutter]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

I just double checked and it's ENABLE VGA MODE. Highlight that option and hit enter and boot your pc. It will then allow you to install your video card, hopefully.

[Wraith556]

Re: Did I kill my computer?

If you are using XP, go back to your last restore point (after backing up of course). Otherwise, try the driver CD that came with the card, although I have a feeling that might not work. With drivers, UNINSTALL the old drivers first and then INSTALL the new ones. But this is only necessary if you are swapping between chipset types (Kyro II to NVIDIA, NVIDIA to ATI, ATI to NVIDIA). With NVIDIA drivers, just install them over the top of each other. Another suggestion is to try removing the video card in the device manager and then reinstalling it.

If that still does not work, do an overlay reinstall of the OS (don't format the drive), and then apply the drivers as the first to be installed.