Identifying The Installed Video Card

Identifying an Installed Video Card
MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/Millennium/NT/NT2000

From time to time we all experience video problems with computers. All too frequently we remove drivers in order to update them only to find out they don’t work and we’re stuck with a system that barely functions because the video card wasn’t identified correctly.

There are also those moments when we are not sure exactly which video card has been installed in a computer. Well this little technique might help you out!

Drop to a DOS prompt, either by booting to a DOS disk or from within Windows.

Type in the following as noted, and read the data to the right. It should identify the chipset on the video card. It might not identify the exact model, but it will provide you with a head start on the chip used.

At the MS-DOS prompt: type

DEBUG [ENTER] DC000:00 [ENTER]

DC000:70 [ENTER]

This will result in the basic identification of the video adapter and the chipset in use. While this information will vary between manufacturers models, it should enable you to at least identify which chip is present. This works in MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/Millennium, Windows NT and Windows 2000.