The Hunt For Vista Drivers
Posted 09/08/08 at 01:36:43 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
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Some time ago I purchased a Dell E1705 laptop with almost all the options. I was very happy with the laptop and its GeForce 7900 GS. It allowed me to play just about any game on the market. Everything was great until I upgraded my machine to Vista, but I can’t find any Vista drivers for my 7900 GS.
I’ve been waiting for more than a year now, and there’s still nothing from nVidia or Dell. So I was wondering: Do you know how I can get my card to work right? I would even take homemade drivers at this point if I knew where to find some!
—Chris Lingle
A solution to your predicament is quite simple. Go to Dell’s website (www.dell.com) and click the Drivers & Downloads link. Next, choose the Inspiron E1705 from the provided list; you’ll then be taken to the official downloads page for your laptop. Select your operating system and click the Video tab at the bottom of the screen. A list of drivers will pop up, including a December 2007 release of Nvidia drivers for GeForce Go 7800 and GeForce Go 7900 GS cards.
If you’re running 64-bit Vista, the Doctor is sad to inform you that you’re hosed. Dell doesn’t have a driver for your card for that version of the OS. We recommend the following solution only as a last-ditch approach because following these instructions will void your card’s warranty.
That said, third parties will often create customized videocard drivers based off the latest Catalyst or Forceware releases. NGO (www.ngohq.com) is one of the more popular brands of customized drivers. At the site, you can download one of their driver packages. It’ll come with support for both Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit, GeForce 2- to 8-series cards, and all GeForce Go cards.
The Doctor still maintains that you’re best off using the Dell-approved drivers—unless, you truly have no other alternative.
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SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes. |
Laptop Video 2 Go!!!
Submitted by headkase on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 7:09pm
Here is an essential resource for nVidia laptop owners:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
On a gaming support forum I help out in we send people here all the time. Basically nVidia's drivers use whats called a Unified Driver Model. Which means that the same driver will work on all of nVidia's hardware. What keeps the driver from working on laptops is that the installer cannot correctly identify the laptop parts. Laptop Video 2 Go provides whats called modified .inf files which tells the installer how to identify the part. You absolutely must read and follow the instructions in their Quickstart Guide as it tells you how to get the installer to use the modified .inf file. The best thing about Laptop Video 2 Go is that you end up using the latest ForceWare drivers that are available, not some manufacturer provided piece of junk thats eight months out of date. So all your games work better and some that wouldn't work at all with the manufacturer drivers work like a charm.
These are our workers. We pay them next to nothing so we can pass the savings on to you!
Take Notes...
Submitted by CrimsonKnight13 on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 4:41am
The quickest & best way to go about this is by following steps @ LaptopVideo2Go
1) Find the driver version & architecture that works with your OS
2) Get the modified inf file that is supplied on the page with the driver link.
3) Run the driver setup & allow it to distract to its default location. The
installation will fail.
4) Copy the modified inf to the main folder for the driver files that were
extracted.
5) Re-run the driver setup & all should be good to go.For instance... v177.98 Vista x64
This page has the driver link & the modified inf that allows driver
installation for almost every Nvidia GPU.
Could the doctor help with a problem
Submitted by Techrocket9 on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 1:52pm
Could the doctor help with a related problem at:
http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=82667
Mobile Drivers with NVidia Cards
Submitted by Skull One on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 12:25pm
I have a laptop with an NVidia card in it also. If the user tries to install the drivers you mentioned they will get an error saying the card is not supported and to go the the manufacturers site to get the proper drivers. I've seen (though it's been a while and I can't remember the site) a web site that cracked the card detection and allowed the newer drivers to be installed even on mobile products. Though if I remember correctly you also lost the mobile power settings to help save battery life as you just installed the unified desktop drivers. They worked fine, but could eatup you laptop battery since the video was running at full power 100% of the time.
You are spot on with that
Submitted by b_boy_69_00 on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 12:42pm
You are spot on with that answer. It does suck though that most major builders (dell, HP, etc.) Only update the video card drivers for between 3-6 months after cards are released. My 8600M GT only had one update for the entire life of it, which I am still trying to use. I am unable to play some games for the simple fact that the drivers wont allow me to. I also know of this site which you speak of and it can decrease batter life up to 25% if you use the cracked drivers. Not only that, it can cause other incompatability issues, so you trade playing some games for doing other things. I don't see why it would be so hard for those companies to release drivers for the cards for more than 6 months.
Submitted by anonuser on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 12:00pm
Why not just go to NVidia?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_175.19_whql.html
Submitted by musicman172001 on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 3:42pm
Nvidia does not specifically support most notebook GPUs and instead relies on OEM vendors to create their own drivers. The link you've listed is for desktop GPUs only. If you look at the products supported list you'll notice the GeForce Go 7900 GS is not listed.
Nvidia provides drivers to
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 5:23pm
Nvidia provides drivers to the oems but expects the oems to finish the drivers. Because OEMs can modify the the amount of video memory and clock speeds and adjust timings for battery life the driver needs to be completed by the oem. The final settings in the driver have to be set by the oem and then made available to the end user. If Nvidia does'nt provide the OEM with a 64bit driver then there will be no 64bit driver made available.
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