Comments on: Missing NT file

Question: Missing NT file

forallmankind — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:15:06 -0800

Where could I locate the missing NT file ati.sys?

The boot drive on my NT box went down and I don't have the time for a reinstall, so I ripped the boot drive out of another NT box and it's back up, but in jumbo display mode - says I need the file ati.sys on the install disc for the display, but I've searched my only NT disc and it's not on there.

Is there any repository online, or anywhere else, where I might find such a file?

By: box

box — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:21:16 -0800

It sounds like it's the driver for your video card. The ATI site has drivers.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:04:28 -0800

yeah, it is - no luck on the ATI site though....

By: cosmicbandito

cosmicbandito — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:19:53 -0800

find out what video card you have. Then, search ATI's site for the dirver files for that card. It will likely be a self installing executable. ATI.sys will be part of what it installs. You won't be able to install just ATI.sys. There will be other files necessary to make it work.

To find out what video card you have, watch the screen closely at boot up. Often a brief message with flash across the screen noting the brand and model of the video card.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:42:39 -0800

cosmicbandito - there's no separate video card: it's the VGA output from the motherboard.

By: cosmicbandito

cosmicbandito — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:56:16 -0800

then it's a built in VGA chipset on the mother board. who's the motherboard manufacturer? Do you have the CDs that came with the mobo? Ifnot, same thing, find out the brand and modelf of Mobo, go to their website and search for drivers. There's porbably a self extracting exe with all the juicy bits in it.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:14:36 -0800

The ATI drivers from their site would be best, but ati.sys is the default included OEM file in Windows. You should be able to re-add it by installing the ATI card using driver install in display properties. Alternately, you can extract it from the drivers.cab (which SFC should have done automatically when the file went missing); that's why you're in jumbo mode (by which I assume you mean 640x480), you're in default display mode.

If you're on XP, you can find it and manually copy it from c:\windows\driver cache\i386\drivers.cab. If by NT you mean NT4 (whoo, old skool!)... I think you can extract it from the \i386\drivers\ directory on the install media, where it'd be named ati.sy_

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:22:19 -0800

hincandenza - thanks. I located the file, but needless to say I'm now missing a ton of others. Crying seems like a good answer now....

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:57:51 -0800

Do a repair of the system, then, and/or reapply the last service pack you installed.