Updating laptop video drivers?

slash000

I recently got a laptop. It has a Geforce 7400 Go. But, it also have Windows Vista. Thus, I have a problem, as I cannot run games that use OpenGL.

Nvidia has fixed their primary drivers for Vista to include OpenGL. However, my Dell came packaged with older drivers than these.


I'd like to update these drivers so that I can runs stuff like Quake Wars. But I tried the Geforce 7 Series drivers from Nvidia for 32bit Vista, but upon running them, it says that they cannot find the right drivers for my hardware. I tried the '7050 Go Series' or whatever the hell it was called, and no such luck.


Is there a different specific set of drivers I should be trying to use for the 7400 Go? Or do I need to manually tell Vista to utilize the 7 Series drivers instead of using the Nvidia installation setup?

Htown

Did you try the Dell website? They might have updated drivers for your notebook.

slash000

Huh. Usually I never think to do that. OK, cool, i'm trying out Dell's download link for newer 7400 Go Vista drivers.


Unfortunately they do not have the latest drivers for Vista, but hopefully these will at least let me run OpenGL.

The Dude With Herpes

go to www.laptopvideo2go.com they modify INF files to allow laptop users to use all nvidia driver sets.

However, as I've found recently with my laptop (xps gen 2 with video upgraded to a 7800gtx), it's important to use the last graphic series that is specifically for your series of cards. For the last year I have had 9x.xx series drivers and my system has ran like trash. I always would update to the "latest" driver set when they came out and it never helped. But in a last ditch effort to improve my system I did a search for the last driver set specifically for my card and it ended up being 87.xx series. I installed those and holy crap it's like night and day. I get signifigantly better performance in every game I try; and there's no loss in visual quality or anything. This seems to be in large part because many of the major changes to the drivers are specifically for the "next gen" of cards and since the architecture isn't the same those changes can have adverse effects on older cards.

Take it from me, you shouldn't always have the "latest" drivers, you should have the best drivers for your specific card; and some time spent on research should produce the info you need.

I know a lot of people will probably disagree with what I've said; there's a common "truth" that you always have to have the latest drivers. However as I've said, I'm willing to bet that if more people had the appropriate drivers for their card they'd be a lot happier with their cards performance.

P.S. I don't know that you'll be running quake wars with a 7400 anyway.

slash000

arg.. I just tried the latest 'vista 32 bit' drivers from dell.. still no OpenGL support. Fuck.


As far as Quake Wars, my laptop should be fine. Yes, the video card is poop, but Quake Wars and the magic of Megatextures has enabled that game to run on pretty modest specs.

Plus, besides my video card, which is a 256 mb 7400 Go, I have a 2.33 Core 2 Duo and 2 gigs of ram. That should at least allow me to run Quake wars at a moderate quality.

...


i'm not sure what to try now. I guess i'll check out that link you posted to see if i can run newer drivers from nvidia..

slash000

I don't get it.

Nvidia's website shows that Forceware 158, version 158.24 is a driver for Win Vista 32 bit.



But the driver on laptopvideo for version 158.24 shows Win Vista 64bit.




Will I be able to use the one from laptopvideo?

The Dude With Herpes

unless you have the 64 bit vista, no.

there should be a thing you can click on the left side that shows for a particular OS.

The Dude With Herpes

laptopvideo is in a state of disarray right now it seems. Apparently there was a server crash and some drive loss. Usually they're really on top of it but they're probably trying to reorganize.

You might be better off just sticking with the dell drivers for now and waiting for something better to work out.

Nvidia has shitass drivers for vista atm anyway sadly.

slash000

i'm just rather annoyed at the lack of OpenGL support. Erg.

I like Vista, but I dislike what Microsoft is trying to do with the platform for gaming.

The Dude With Herpes

Yeah; I'm going to wait a good year at least before I even think of migrating to vista.

slash000

Well, I love the Windows Media Center stuff.

Is that part of Vista, or is that something Dell put on here seperately?

syndalis

slash000 wrote: »

Well, I love the Windows Media Center stuff.

Is that part of Vista, or is that something Dell put on here seperately?

Media Center is on Vista Home Premium and Ultimate.

It is also dead Sexy.

slash000

Hm. I guess, then, if I revert to XP Pro, i won't be able to seperately install Media Center.

It's fucking nice. I'd rather drop games on my laptop in favor of Media Center, and just keep laying games on my consoles like I always do anyway.


I just thought it'd be nice to run some games on this machine while it's still newish. I'll be fine waiting for the next driver update or whatever for 32bit Vista for the 7400 go.

deadonthestreet

slash000 wrote: »

Hm. I guess, then, if I revert to XP Pro, i won't be able to seperately install Media Center.

It's fucking nice. I'd rather drop games on my laptop in favor of Media Center, and just keep laying games on my consoles like I always do anyway.


I just thought it'd be nice to run some games on this machine while it's still newish. I'll be fine waiting for the next driver update or whatever for 32bit Vista for the 7400 go.

Windows XP Media Center Edition is what you need, sounds like.

Best XP there is.

slash000

But I'd have to buy it or something, right? I already own Vista, it came on my laptop.

Is there any way to freely and legally get Media Center on Windows XP, since I technically own Media Center on Vista Home Premium?