Poor resolution with display adapter - VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP

Hi, I'm working on fixing up a computer for someone that had it a few years without any type of virus or spyware protection (yeah...I know). LOL It's a PCCHIPS M957G (for whatever that's worth).

After fighting with it for a few weeks I finally just formatted the darn thing. I reinstalled Windows XP and went through several rounds of updates first, then ran Driver Detective to get the missing drivers. Everything was going great until I installed the last missing driver: a display adapter, VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP. The driver date is 8/15/2005 and the Version is 6.14.10.241.

Before I installed this driver, the picture/resolution was perfect but movement was choppy (mostly noticed when dragging windows around the screen, like the refresh rate was REALLY slow). This didn't surprise me, I just expected the display adapter to fix it. However, once I installed the driver that Driver Detective found for me, the resolution dropped horribly. I believe I had it set before at 1024x768, but after the "update" it dropped to 640x480 (though still with 32 bit color at least). Windows offered to correct it but nothing changed, so I went into Display Properties to do it manually and there were no other options (the slider bar was to the far left and could not be moved to the right). So I went to Settings->Advanced and tried updating the drivers for the adapter and plug & play monitor, but it said "The wizard could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you currently have installed" for both drivers.

So I went to My Computer->Properties and disabled the display adapter (named above) and rebooted...again, everything looked fine but the movement was choppy so I'm sure that's the problem.

So I downloaded EVEREST (a VERY cool app I might add, will definitely use it in the future), and I thought it was interesting that the Motherboard Name was unknown. I can't help but wonder if Driver Detective downloaded some generic driver because of this, and that's why I'm having problems...but honestly I have no clue. I really just know enough about computers to get myself in over my head on a regular basis I didn't include the EVEREST report because I wasn't really sure which sections to include and it would be incredibly long with everything...so if you think I need to add it let me know what info you need and I'll attach that report. Otherwise, here's the info I picked out that I thought might possibly be relevant (broken down by which section it was in):

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I apologize in advance if there is too much irrelevant info, or if I'm missing something important. I just typed this all out because I'm bored and thought I might learn something from it


Motherboard
CPU->CPU Type: Intel Pentium 4 550, 3400 MHz (17x200)
CPU->Multi CPU->Motherboard ID: TEMPLATE ETEMPLATE

Motherboard->Motherboard ID: 63-0100-001131-00101111-092204-PM800$M957G_RELEASE 09/22/2004
"->Motherboard Name: Unknown
"->Front Side Bus Properties->Bus Type: Intel NetBurst
"->Memory Bus Properties->Bus Type: DDR SDRAM
"->Chipset Bus Properties->Bus Type: VIA V-Link

Chipset->Device Description:
North Bridge: VIA PM800/PM880/PN800
South Bridge: VIA VT8237

North Bridge->
Integrated Graphics Controller
->Graphics Controller Type: VIA/S3 UniChrome Pro
->Graphics Controller Status: Enabled
->Graphics Frame Buffer Size: 32 MB

AGP Controller
->AGP Version: 3.05
->AGP Status: Enabled
->AGP Device: VIA/S3 UniChrome Pro Integrated
->AGP Aperture Size: 64 MB
->Supported AGP Speeds: 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
->Current AGP Speed: 2x
->Fast-Write: Not Supported
->Side Band Addressing: Supported, Enabled

Chipset Manufacturer->Company Name: VIA Technologies, Inc.

Problems & Suggestions->Problem: Current AGP speed is lower than maximum supported. This may cause performance...(can't see the rest due to resolution issue)

BIOS->

BIOS Properties
->BIOS Type: AMI
->System BIOS Date: 09/22/04
->Video BIOS Date: 03/17/04

BIOS Manufacturer->Company Name: American Megatrends Inc.

Problems & Suggestions->Suggestion:
System BIOS is more than 2 years old. Update it if necessary.
Video BIOS is more than 2 years old. Update it if necessary.

Display
Windows Video->
Video Adapter Properties
->Device Description: VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP
->Adapter String: VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP
->BIOS String: 98.00.00.16x|f
->Chip Type: VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP
->DAC Type: Internal
->Installed Drivers: vtdisp (6.14.10.0241-16.94.44.21)

Video Adapter Manufacturer->Company Name: S3 Graphics
(there is a website listed for product info and driver download)

PCI/AGP Video->Device Description (3 listed)->
VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP (monitor icon)
VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP (yellow "X" on blue circle icon)
BrookTree Bt360 MediaStream Controller

Monitor->Monitor Properties *NOTE: THIS MONITOR IS TEMPORARY, THE ONE THAT WILL ULTIMATELY USED IS ONLY 17" I BELIEVE*
->Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
->Monitor ID: SYN002C
->Max. Visible Display Size: 60 cm x 34 cm (27.2")

Desktop->Desktop Properties
->Device Technology: Raster Display
->Resolution: 640 x 480
->Color Depth: 32-bit
->Color Planes: 1
->Font Resolution: 96 dpi
->Vertical Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

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I think that about covers it. If I'm missing something important, let me know. I realize this computer is a little old and didn't get off to the greatest start, but I'd really like to give it back to my boyfriend's sister in tip-top shape

Thanks in advance for your time, effort and input!!

 

There is a more recent (2006) driver for this adapter.
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/index.php?i=6988740000&ppn=PB49300701

 

PC CHIPS is a low end motherboard manufacturer.
The tech boards are full of people who have had problems with them (particularly once they get a few years on them).

 

Thanks, I'll check it out. Do I need to uninstall the old one first or just install the new one?

 

The new driver should override your present one.
(The older one will still be available to your system in the unlikely event the newer one proves to be less desirable, and we can help you roll back to it.)
Please post your results.

 

This doesn't surprise me, but I'm wondering now...and this isn't related to the display problem but maybe I have deeper issues than I thought...If I go into "My Computer" there are several removable disk drives listed (four to be exact) that don't actually exist. If I go into properties they're listed as USB Devices. Is it possible that this junk motherboard is misreading the USB ports as being connected when they're not? Any idea how to get rid of them? It's mostly just an annoyance now but I don't know if they'll cause problems (or at least confusion) later. Or if this is a sign that the comp's toast. I'll post this question elsewhere if need be, but I'm not really sure where to post it and all of this PC's info is already here. Thanks.

 

Does this computer have a multi card reader?
(ie: SD card; smartmedia card; compact flash etc.)
These will show up as seperate removable drives in "My Computer"

 

OK, I installed this one, rebooted, then went into the folder to "setup" since trying to do it automatically still resulted in "could not find a better match".

Upon opening setup.exe I got the following error message:
"Setup was unable to complete the installation. Check the progress log in your Windows directory for mor details. (-5)->C?\WINDOWS\s3iscfg.log"

So...taking a look at that log...means nothing to me so I'm attaching it


Meanwhile, back on the farm...I did some Googling and found something even newer...a 2008 updated version of the same one I have (the version # listed is older than the one that I just tried, but an update sounds worth trying). It's listed as an emachines update...don't know if that will be a problem but I'll give it a shot and see what happens...

 

Not that I know of, but it's not my PC and I've never seen one that did...would be a cool feature. Where would I look to see if it does? At a glance, it looks like a pretty standard PC but I don't know what I'm looking for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ignore the above...you're totally right! I didn't look closely and thought there was just a floppy drive on this PC (like I said, I've never seen a multi-card reader on a PC before). But on the front, right were a floppy or zip drive could be...sure enough, is unmistakably a card reader i.e. a bunch of little slots for little cards. Very cool! Thanks!!!

 

The log indicates that the driver is not matched to the video card.
This is hard to understand because your Everest report clearly states that you card is a VIA/S3 UniChrome Pro and the driver is for the same card.
It is on a Packard Bell site, but that shouldn't make a difference.
Try the emachines one and see if it installs.

A multi card reader is usually installed in a bay above or instead of the floppy drive.
Here is a picture of one.
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...8&prev=/images?q=multicard+reader&gbv=2&hl=en

 

That last one didn't work either...HOWEVER, it took some serious hunting but I think I found the latest driver on the manufacturer's website (I just had to hunt through the EVEREST info to get everything I needed to find the right one...apparently the key info was the chipset hehe go figure).

This version info is COMPLETELY different and came out in '07: version 16.94.52.04 (I found the previous two mentioned versions several times in a Google search but never this one...crossing my fingers). So it's downloading now, but it's a .zip file...these always make me nervous because I'm not sure where to unzip them to. I presume just the C:\ directory? Don't want it not to work because it's in the wrong place

 

Ok, I was able to successfully install/setup the new driver I found from the manufacturer's website but now I still have the same problem...just with a newer driver. Maybe it's just time for a new video card (and maybe a new motherboard)?

 

One more try
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GR...0-graphics-chipset-driver-16945204-WHQL.shtml

 

This one worked great! Don't know why, but it did. Still had some choppiness, but it improved resolution, colors, etc...updated one other driver, a VIA CPU to AGP because of something I noticed on the EVEREST report and now it's running beautifully!!!

Thanks so much for your help!!! :wave

 

Good
I thought this one might do the trick.