Bethesda doing it again on Nov.11th?

[Firestormalpha]

Ok, after some digging around with a search engine, the most common consensus seems to be that I need to install a graphics card to get my Oblivion running. Something about integrated graphics chips not being able to handle pixel shading or something like that. I think my next project is to backup everything I hold dear, and try to install the card that died last time and hope it was just a driver corruption that caused the failure, and not something wrong with the card itself. Worst case scenario that I care to think about would be having to run system recovery. Worst case scenario that I would rather pretend didn't exist would be that I totally kill my computer.

[SpiritWarrior]

Driver corruption killing an actual physical piece of hardware is very unlikely. Most likely the card burned out (died) or did not have it's system requirements met by your rig (PSU etc.). Some cards are known to throttle while others simply will not work.

If you only have an intergrated graphics chip installed, Oblivion will not run on it. You need a card, and a good PCI one at that, plus a good amount of ram and newish, solid processor. But again, this goes back to my post about how much more practical and economical it has now become to opt for an Xbox 360 rather than upgrading your PC to run one game. That way you know you can run both Oblivion and Skyrim when it releases.

[Firestormalpha]

hmm... not sure. I just remember getting a good 5 months out of it before it stopped working. That's pretty short in my book. It's an NVIDIA XFX card of some kind for a PCI-e slot. As part of this install instructions they told me to delete the old video drivers, which I did. Would it be possible that if the drivers for the card became corrupt and the drivers for the integrated couldn't be found that the video would simply cease to function?

At anyrate, if the card is completely burnt out, the worst that could happen is that it simply won't work, yes? Or could it be worse?

For reference the card in question is this one, same rig: http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/...ad.php?t=97292

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Firestormalpha hmm... not sure. I just remember getting a good 5 months out of it before it stopped working. That's pretty short in my book. It's an NVIDIA XFX card of some kind for a PCI-e slot. As part of this install instructions they told me to delete the old video drivers, which I did. Would it be possible that if the drivers for the card became corrupt and the drivers for the integrated couldn't be found that the video would simply cease to function?

Not really. It would function under WDM drivers even if it had nothing. Your screen would not show if no video card/device was being utilized. The GS is not an amazing card, and people have reported many issues with it (I used to avoid it back in the day). Running demanding games like Oblivion (again, back in the day) can cause stress on it. But usually with burnouts the main culprit is overheating - especially since you had it working once before. The good news is, if you want another one, it is not an expensive card at all now since it's older. I've had cards stop functioning after 6 months. But, I never bought the same one again.

And yes, worst that can happen is, it simply will not work. Disable your intergrated video fully (and most likely in the Bios). Install the card, enable PCI X. And see what happens.

[Firestormalpha]

OK, assuming it doesn't work (which is sounding like the more probable situation) with the integrated completely disabled, is there a way to get my video back up and running without running a full system restore? That being the issue I ran into before. The card for whatever reason ceased to function, the screen went completely black, no feed whatsoever. And because the integrated was disabled, I couldn't get anything off the motherboard either.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Firestormalpha OK, assuming it doesn't work (which is sounding like the more probable situation) with the integrated completely disabled, is there a way to get my video back up and running without running a full system restore? That being the issue I ran into before. The card for whatever reason ceased to function, the screen went completely black, no feed whatsoever. And because the integrated was disabled, I couldn't get anything off the motherboard either.

Yeah just re-enable intergrated in the Bios. I am assuming you have an image on the screen since you can pull of a system restore.

[Firestormalpha]

For the life of me, I cannot recall. But now that I think about it, I can't imagine how it would have worked out any other way.

[SpiritWarrior]

If no other card is installed, an intergrated chip will re-assert itself by default on reboot, so you should be fine. This is a failsafe in case someone accidentally disables their graphics to ensure they have a screen image.

[Firestormalpha]

In other words, as long as I physically remove the non-functioning graphics card plug the monitor into the motherboard then restart the computer, all should be well.

[SpiritWarrior]

Yeah - unless something goes wrong . If your onboard graphics is functioning properly, you should be fine. If you are in any way nervous, don't disable the onboard, but install the card atop that. The onboard should switch automatically to the card - either that or you may have to manually switch it in the bios (either way it is do-able). But, you don't HAVE to fully disable your intergrated graphics when installing an actual video card. You can just check in the system when you install the GS, as to whether the computer is using it or not.

Like, I am running with my onboard sound enabled even though I am using a seperate soundcard. The card simply overrides the onboard, disabling it.

What kind of computer do you have? Is it stock or custom built? Are you running it with intergrated video at the moment with no issues?