Windows 7 (32-Bit) Not Recognizing Nvidia? Easy fix!

Wendysbrian said:

This worked for me and I hope it will work for you.

Just so you know, this worked on my:

17" SONY VAIO Laptop
Model# VGARN520E
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Running Windows 7 32-bit (x84)

*Symptom: Your system reads "Standard VGA Adapter" or something similar in the device manager. You can't figure out how to make your NVIDIA card pop up. While you've already tried to download and install the latest drivers from NVIDIA, they wouldn't install, claiming that you didn't have the right drivers for your hardware.

After hours of going through the .inf file tutorial and only coming up with garbled graphics (I must've been doing something wrong), I found a much easier and less complicated way out:

*Open a window
go to "Computer"
go to "Local Disc C:"
go to "Windows.old" (If you don't have this folder, skip to end)
go to "Windows"
go to "DRIVERS"
go to the folder that starts with "Graphics Driver (NVIDIA),..."
run the Setup in this folder
follow all prompts
restart when done
enjoy!

By doing this, you are merely installing the older driver that made your card work on your previous OS, which was most likely Vista, right?

IF YOU DON'T HAVE Windows.old-

Windows.old, as far as I know, is a folder containing a lot if not all of the older files that your previous version of Windows used to operate. The presence of this folder usually results from UPGRADING from one OS to the next, example: Vista to 7.

If you don't have this folder, you must have either deleted it, or maybe Windows 7 was the first OS installed on your computer either from factory or from it's last C drive format (wipe). This means that you have one of three options. You could:

1. Tinker around on this website and learn how to download the right update, create and/or copy over the right .inf file, and do the whole tutorial thing. (This was beyond me really. I invested the time but all I got was garbled graphics after about 15 mins every time, which means I wasn't doing something right.)

2. If your machine is old enough to install Vista, you could back up ALL of your precious files onto an external hard drive, format your C drive, install Vista, CHECK THAT VISTA IS RUNNING/DETECTING YOUR GRAPHICS CARD, then upgrade to Windows 7, and SELECT WHICHEVER OPTION "UPGRADE" OR "CUSTOM" THAT LETS YOU KEEP WINDOWS.OLD, now that you're back at Windows 7, follow the steps at the top. This is a time consuming but surefire way to do it, so long as you know how to properly format and partition your machine, and install a fresh OS.

3. Continue searching the internet for other solutions, but you may only get so far.

Personally, I like the second option the best. There's nothing like wiping your computer and starting over. I hope this helps!

-Wendysbrian

It is always recommended to do a clean install, and i dont understand what you mean by this:

If your machine is old enough to install Vista, you could back up ALL of your precious files onto an external hard drive, format your C drive, install Vista, CHECK THAT VISTA IS RUNNING/DETECTING YOUR GRAPHICS CARD, then upgrade to Windows 7, and SELECT WHICHEVER OPTION "UPGRADE" OR "CUSTOM" THAT LETS YOU KEEP WINDOWS.OLD, now that you're back at Windows 7, follow the steps at the top. This is a time consuming but surefire way to do it, so long as you know how to properly format and partition your machine, and install a fresh OS.

Since that is not a clean install, but an upgrade.

Wendysbrian said:

This worked for me and I hope it will work for you.

After hours of going through the .inf file tutorial

You could have just downloaded one that has already been modified from laptopvideo2go.com.