Getting older Graphics card to work on Windows 7

PandaKitsune · 29 Sep 2011

Hello everyone. My HP computer, which had been originally a Windows XP, has been upgraded with Windows 7 as its new OS. Everything works fine except for one problem: the video card.

I believe my card is of the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series, and it is a couple years old, about 2008. It can't be detected by Windows 7, and I've tried downloading drivers too, to no avail. I'd just get a message saying the system is not compatible. I'm pretty much assuming here that the card is too old to work with Windows 7. I'd really like to upgrade the video card, but my father doesn't want us to spend the money and wants us to find another way around it, to make this current card work.

But I'm just not sure how. If anyone has the slightest idea of what to do, I'd be so grateful.

Thank you.

MrNeeds · 29 Sep 2011

PandaKitsune said:

Hello everyone. My HP computer, which had been originally a Windows XP, has been upgraded with Windows 7 as its new OS. Everything works fine except for one problem: the video card.

I believe my card is of the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series, and it is a couple years old, about 2008. It can't be detected by Windows 7, and I've tried downloading drivers too, to no avail. I'd just get a message saying the system is not compatible. I'm pretty much assuming here that the card is too old to work with Windows 7. I'd really like to upgrade the video card, but my father doesn't want us to spend the money and wants us to find another way around it, to make this current card work.

But I'm just not sure how. If anyone has the slightest idea of what to do, I'd be so grateful.

Thank you.

Sounds like the card maybe faulty, all 7900 series are windows 7 compatible, As you can see from this page Windows 7 Compatibility for Nvidia 7900: Drivers, Updates, Downloads

I could only suggest testing the card in a different PC or maybe trying to manually install the drivers through device manager

PandaKitsune · 29 Sep 2011

MrNeeds said:

PandaKitsune said:

Hello everyone. My HP computer, which had been originally a Windows XP, has been upgraded with Windows 7 as its new OS. Everything works fine except for one problem: the video card.

I believe my card is of the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series, and it is a couple years old, about 2008. It can't be detected by Windows 7, and I've tried downloading drivers too, to no avail. I'd just get a message saying the system is not compatible. I'm pretty much assuming here that the card is too old to work with Windows 7. I'd really like to upgrade the video card, but my father doesn't want us to spend the money and wants us to find another way around it, to make this current card work.

But I'm just not sure how. If anyone has the slightest idea of what to do, I'd be so grateful.

Thank you.

Sounds like the card maybe faulty, all 7900 series are windows 7 compatible, As you can see from this page Windows 7 Compatibility for Nvidia 7900: Drivers, Updates, Downloads

I could only suggest testing the card in a different PC or maybe trying to manually install the drivers through device manager

Thank you for the advice, do you know how I would manually install the drivers? I'm not the best with computers, so I apologize.

smarteyeball · 29 Sep 2011

Try an older version of drivers:

download from Guru3D.com

I had a 7600GS which had trouble with all versions above 18X.XX - I can't remember which version though.

Manually installing is done via the device manager.

You can either manually extract the files from the .exe (or run and abort the setup. The files should be extracted and are found in C:\Nvidia )

In device manager, select you card.

Display Adapters > Properties > Driver > Update Driver > Browse my computer for driver software

When it asks where the files are, point it to the C:\Nvidia directory. Within a sub-folder, there should be an .inf file; this is the file to select.