Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings

Laurie52 · 08-28-2009, 04:44 AM

Two years ago, I bought my Dell 530 Inspiron Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz, WinXP 32bit with a Nvidia 8300 GS card. (no more Intel intergrated chipsets) This is the regular "Tower"....not the slim version. My monitor is a much older 20" CRT HP D2842A I've had for awhile.

The computer is mostly for the family business but I also do some gaming with it. The most demanding game installed on it, game engine wise, is "Oblivion". I increased my RAM to 3 gigs total to offset any problems with this game or any newer one later. The 8300 GS will run Oblivion on medium settings but felt after two years, newer drivers were finally needed for other reasons.

The card came factory installed with 158.28 drivers originally but never updated them. Because I am on 26.4 Kbps dialup on a 56K modem (very rural phone lines), any HUGE download takes several hours and so left the drivers as they were.

Three days ago, I finally downloaded the current 190.62 from the Nvidia website. (13 hours at 2.9 Kbps download speed) Installation went fine and rebooted my computer as it asked.

When my computer came back on, my desktop image was very dark (all icons show but are subdued/darkened). Used the new Nvidia Settings manager ("Color Correction") to change the brightness, contrast and gamma settings for the desktop shows "properly" for me. Everything is fine Until I close down for the night. At restart and during bootup, the new drivers darker "default settings" reappear for a few seconds before my corrections show.

Is this normal?

I ask because I never had this with happen with the previous 158.28 "factory" installed drivers. But then, I never updated them until now...so have nothing to compare with.

If this is just an annoying but harmless "glitch" because of my Dell's 8300 GS "workstation" card, I want to know.

If this has to do with my old HP CRT monitor, I would like to know too. Haven't a clue where to find new drivers for a seven (7) year old CRT monitor though,...IF they are available.

On the plus side, online usage and Game wise, the 190.62 does not give me any problems. Graphics load better and are crisper, no stuttering animations, less lag et.c. Until I buy a better card, the new 190.62 drivers have greatly improved my 8300 GS performance.

Just this annoying 190.62 "default" dark settings showing at bootup before my settings appear, though.

tekkyhead · 09-04-2009, 04:20 AM

I am glad to hear that you like the latest driver from Nvidia but to my experience, the driver is garbage to me. I play a lot of online games and I upgraded my driver from 190.38 to 190.62 and I get a lot of lag issues and my fps just drops down a lot. I can also point out when I run programs, my CPU usage rises up to 80-100% so I uninstalled it and went back to my old driver and it worked like a charm again.

I do not know anything about this dark setting but on the other hand, you are grateful with the latest driver

And also... WOW at 2.8kbps download???? Dial up?

Laurie52 · 09-06-2009, 05:36 AM

Yep, "Dialup only" where I live. However, my Dialup provider is working on offering Wireless for its rural customers by next year.

Most really HUGE downloads are done through Getright, though. Easier to continue a download if I lose my dialup connection for any reason or if I need to shutdown my computer. Right now, my area is subject to extreme electrical thunderstorms this time of year....don't need it "fried" because of a close lightning strike. Lost a previous computer this way several years ago. So when thunderboomers roil up, the computer is shutdown. Besides, whether online or offline, it is never left turned on 24/7 when not in use.

Anyway, getting back to my initial post and your reply. Thanks for answering.
I plan buying a 8600 GT card later this month and hope it will be more accepting of 190.62 driver (no "bootup graphics settings" lag). If not, then I will download the 190.38 driver to try instead.

In any case, my Oblivion settings can be reset to "High" with this. The 8300 GS is a workstation card and really not suitable for higher gaming needs...or graphics work.

tekkyhead · 09-06-2009, 07:44 AM

Yeah no problem :) If I were you, I wouldn't get the 8600GT because new games these days requires a powerful graphics card. You should buy a high range video card which can probably last you for 4 years plus. I don't think they sell 8 series video card anymore but currently 9 series.

And also, you don't need drivers for CRT monitors, it's just a plug and play. The CRT monitor could be the issue with the dark settings because it's been 7 years now.

Anyways, I hope my information has helped you a bit. Glad I could help :)

Laurie52 · 09-07-2009, 10:59 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, tekkyhead.

From all my readings about the 8200 GS card, it is a very, very slow workstation one. The drivers are aimed primarily at enhancing gaming cards, so I am figuring why my particular card takes a short "wait" during the bootup to recognize the new driver settings. Too much for such a low end card to work with. I may download an earlier set of drivers that would not cause this "glitch", though.

By the way, series 8 cards are still sold here and the prices has dropped considerably the last few months. However, as my Dell comes with a "stock" 300W PSU, I have to be careful what I get until I can replace it with a better PSU. I would love to have a 9600 GT card but may have to settle for an 8800 GS as my "uppermost" replacement without changing my current PSU. Why I was looking at an 8600 GT for the time being. Dell did offer this card as an alternative but I was on a budget and couldn't include it in the order. With a separate graphics card, I could always replace what "stock" was given me later. My previous computers came with Intel intergrated Graphics chipsets and became tired of their limitations when gaming.

I check "Can You Run It" often to see what I can run on a Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz. It was a high end multi processor when I ordered it in late 2007, but knew eventually games would out distance it (depending on the game). It will play DOOM 3 (I played the original when it came out) on high. I wanted to get F.E.A.R (but not necessarily Crysis) I am looking forward to Diablo 2 when it comes out. I do have Halo and UT 2003. But some online gaming is limited because of my dialup.

The computer's main purpose is for the family business anyway..... but wanted to make sure it is suitable for most gaming (then and future) that I am interested in.

Laurie52 · 09-07-2009, 11:07 PM

Finger fart....."8300 GS"

08-28-2009, 04:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
Laurie52 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 226 OS: WinXP Home SP2 My System	Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings Two years ago, I bought my Dell 530 Inspiron Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz, WinXP 32bit with a Nvidia 8300 GS card. (no more Intel intergrated chipsets) This is the regular "Tower"....not the slim version. My monitor is a much older 20" CRT HP D2842A I've had for awhile. The computer is mostly for the family business but I also do some gaming with it. The most demanding game installed on it, game engine wise, is "Oblivion". I increased my RAM to 3 gigs total to offset any problems with this game or any newer one later. The 8300 GS will run Oblivion on medium settings but felt after two years, newer drivers were finally needed for other reasons. The card came factory installed with 158.28 drivers originally but never updated them. Because I am on 26.4 Kbps dialup on a 56K modem (very rural phone lines), any HUGE download takes several hours and so left the drivers as they were. Three days ago, I finally downloaded the current 190.62 from the Nvidia website. (13 hours at 2.9 Kbps download speed) Installation went fine and rebooted my computer as it asked. When my computer came back on, my desktop image was very dark (all icons show but are subdued/darkened). Used the new Nvidia Settings manager ("Color Correction") to change the brightness, contrast and gamma settings for the desktop shows "properly" for me. Everything is fine Until I close down for the night. At restart and during bootup, the new drivers darker "default settings" reappear for a few seconds before my corrections show. Is this normal? I ask because I never had this with happen with the previous 158.28 "factory" installed drivers. But then, I never updated them until now...so have nothing to compare with. If this is just an annoying but harmless "glitch" because of my Dell's 8300 GS "workstation" card, I want to know. If this has to do with my old HP CRT monitor, I would like to know too. Haven't a clue where to find new drivers for a seven (7) year old CRT monitor though,...IF they are available. On the plus side, online usage and Game wise, the 190.62 does not give me any problems. Graphics load better and are crisper, no stuttering animations, less lag et.c. Until I buy a better card, the new 190.62 drivers have greatly improved my 8300 GS performance. Just this annoying 190.62 "default" dark settings showing at bootup before my settings appear, though. Last edited by Laurie52; 08-28-2009 at 04:51 AM.

09-04-2009, 04:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
tekkyhead Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 27 OS: windows XP professional SP3	Re: Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings I am glad to hear that you like the latest driver from Nvidia but to my experience, the driver is garbage to me. I play a lot of online games and I upgraded my driver from 190.38 to 190.62 and I get a lot of lag issues and my fps just drops down a lot. I can also point out when I run programs, my CPU usage rises up to 80-100% so I uninstalled it and went back to my old driver and it worked like a charm again. I do not know anything about this dark setting but on the other hand, you are grateful with the latest driver And also... WOW at 2.8kbps download???? Dial up? Last edited by tekkyhead; 09-04-2009 at 04:22 AM.

09-06-2009, 05:36 AM	#3 (permalink)
Laurie52 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 226 OS: WinXP Home SP2 My System	Re: Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings Yep, "Dialup only" where I live. However, my Dialup provider is working on offering Wireless for its rural customers by next year. Most really HUGE downloads are done through Getright, though. Easier to continue a download if I lose my dialup connection for any reason or if I need to shutdown my computer. Right now, my area is subject to extreme electrical thunderstorms this time of year....don't need it "fried" because of a close lightning strike. Lost a previous computer this way several years ago. So when thunderboomers roil up, the computer is shutdown. Besides, whether online or offline, it is never left turned on 24/7 when not in use. Anyway, getting back to my initial post and your reply. Thanks for answering. I plan buying a 8600 GT card later this month and hope it will be more accepting of 190.62 driver (no "bootup graphics settings" lag). If not, then I will download the 190.38 driver to try instead. In any case, my Oblivion settings can be reset to "High" with this. The 8300 GS is a workstation card and really not suitable for higher gaming needs...or graphics work.

09-06-2009, 07:44 AM	#4 (permalink)
tekkyhead Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 27 OS: windows XP professional SP3	Re: Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings Yeah no problem :) If I were you, I wouldn't get the 8600GT because new games these days requires a powerful graphics card. You should buy a high range video card which can probably last you for 4 years plus. I don't think they sell 8 series video card anymore but currently 9 series. And also, you don't need drivers for CRT monitors, it's just a plug and play. The CRT monitor could be the issue with the dark settings because it's been 7 years now. Anyways, I hope my information has helped you a bit. Glad I could help :)

09-07-2009, 10:59 PM	#5 (permalink)
Laurie52 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 226 OS: WinXP Home SP2 My System	Re: Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings Thanks for the suggestions, tekkyhead. From all my readings about the 8200 GS card, it is a very, very slow workstation one. The drivers are aimed primarily at enhancing gaming cards, so I am figuring why my particular card takes a short "wait" during the bootup to recognize the new driver settings. Too much for such a low end card to work with. I may download an earlier set of drivers that would not cause this "glitch", though. By the way, series 8 cards are still sold here and the prices has dropped considerably the last few months. However, as my Dell comes with a "stock" 300W PSU, I have to be careful what I get until I can replace it with a better PSU. I would love to have a 9600 GT card but may have to settle for an 8800 GS as my "uppermost" replacement without changing my current PSU. Why I was looking at an 8600 GT for the time being. Dell did offer this card as an alternative but I was on a budget and couldn't include it in the order. With a separate graphics card, I could always replace what "stock" was given me later. My previous computers came with Intel intergrated Graphics chipsets and became tired of their limitations when gaming. I check "Can You Run It" often to see what I can run on a Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz. It was a high end multi processor when I ordered it in late 2007, but knew eventually games would out distance it (depending on the game). It will play DOOM 3 (I played the original when it came out) on high. I wanted to get F.E.A.R (but not necessarily Crysis) I am looking forward to Diablo 2 when it comes out. I do have Halo and UT 2003. But some online gaming is limited because of my dialup. The computer's main purpose is for the family business anyway..... but wanted to make sure it is suitable for most gaming (then and future) that I am interested in.

09-07-2009, 11:07 PM	#6 (permalink)
Laurie52 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 226 OS: WinXP Home SP2 My System	Re: Nvidia 190.62 default "dark" settings Finger fart....."8300 GS"