Display drivers not installing after reformat of Windows 7

Hi there, new to these forums as I have run into a recent problem with my display drivers. To start I am running:

Dell XPS L502X Laptop
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM
8 GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GT 525M (Currently on 265.94)


I recently reformatted Windows 7 and now when I try to update either my Intel or Nvidia card, they both fail. The Intel update will most often say that my computer is not compatible, or that it simply fails. On the nvidia update I get the classic "Nvidia Installer failed" after trying both Express, Custom, and clean installs. In my first attempt at this I uninstalled my drivers and then tried installing, even in safe mode, and I could never get it to work. I did another install of windows in another attempt to restart the process but still no solution worked. I have browsed forums for about a day or two now and still have not found a viable option. The games I play do not open and usually crash after their first loading screen, however after I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers I was able to open the games at a low performance on the intel card, which leads me to think this Nvidia bug is the problem.

It is probably important to note that this was the first time I had reformatted since the laptop was purchased about a year ago, and that I also did it in a different format that I wasn't even really sure about doing. Rather than using the Windows install disc that came with the laptop (it is of course misplaced), I used the Windows Restore to go back to factory settings. I'm not sure if this may have played a role, but I am all out of ideas.

I appreciate any suggestions and I thank you in advance!

If you used the factory restore option that is built into the laptop, it should have installed the OS and the original drivers.

It did and I was even using those drivers perfectly, however no games that require the Nvidia card are working after the format, even before I touch my display drivers.

Must have screwed up display drivers somehow. I rarely use such "features" due to their less-than-stellar reliability.

Go into device manager (in control panel) and manually uninstall the driver of the NVIDIA card (select the card in the list of devices, go in the panel about drivers, select uninstall), reboot, try again to install the NVIDIA one.
If it does not work, (NVIDIA drivers are annoying and may not get uninstalled well), run driversweeper to make sure they are really dead, reboot and reinstall them.

IF then you can play games, THEN do the same for the Intel card, which should be easier.

If you prefer you can start with the Intel card, and after that is ok you can go with NVIDIA, just do one at a time.