Driver Issues|nVidia 8600m GT|Win7Ult 64|VAIO  

Hello. This forum has so far given me the most hope for solving my driver issues... Here's my story, I hope you can help!

Computer: VAIO VGN-AR870
Former OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Current OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
GPU: nVidia 8600m GT

I've tried installing the drivers from nVidia for 64-bit Vista/7: 195.62_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql
Unsuccessful - could not locate drivers for hardware.

I've tried installing the VAIO drivers for my system.
Unsuccessful - drivers designed for 32-bit Vista only.

I've contacted VAIO technical support.
Unsuccessful - wait for VAIO driver release...

I've tried browsing this forum.

I haven't found anything that has worked so far and I have no idea how to proceed is there anything I can do to get my GPU working without the VAIO drivers? I would bet my laptop that VAIO would not come up with any drivers for my system within the next few years...

rmabed said:

Hello. This forum has so far given me the most hope for solving my driver issues... Here's my story, I hope you can help!

Computer: VAIO VGN-AR870
Former OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Current OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
GPU: nVidia 8600m GT

I've tried installing the drivers from nVidia for 64-bit Vista/7: 195.62_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql
Unsuccessful - could not locate drivers for hardware.

I've tried installing the VAIO drivers for my system.
Unsuccessful - drivers designed for 32-bit Vista only.

I've contacted VAIO technical support.
Unsuccessful - wait for VAIO driver release...

I've tried browsing this forum.

I haven't found anything that has worked so far and I have no idea how to proceed is there anything I can do to get my GPU working without the VAIO drivers? I would bet my laptop that VAIO would not come up with any drivers for my system within the next few years...

Easy, get the original VAIO Vista drivers, use Universal Extractor to extract the .exe, and then run the GPU setup file in the extracted folder in compatibility mode for Vista SP1.

Frostmourne said:

Easy, get the original VAIO Vista drivers, use Universal Extractor to extract the .exe, and then run the GPU setup file in the extracted folder in compatibility mode for Vista SP1.

Thank you for the suggestion.
I downloaded the original VAIO Vista drivers, downloaded Universal Extractor, extracted the .exe, set compatibility mode for the GPU setup to Vista SP1, and ran the GPU setup.
Unsuccessful:

Setup detected that the operating system in use is not Windows Vista [32-bit]. This setup program and its associated drivers are designed to run only on Windows Vista [32-bit]. The installation will be terminated.

Try the NVIDIA drivers in safe mode but first, did you download the VAIO drivers as x86 or x64? Is x64 available?

All the Sony drivers for my model are x86; there are no x64 drivers:
Sony eSupport - VGN-AR870 - Software Updates & Drivers
I will now try running the setup in safe mode.

rmabed said:

All the Sony drivers for my model are x86; there are no x64 drivers:
Sony eSupport - VGN-AR870 - Software Updates & Drivers
I will now try running the setup in safe mode.

Didn't see the x86 option, is there a model with the same specs as yours that has 7 x64? You can then use its driver file. However, it should be as close as possible to your model in terms of specs and especially the GPU.

Thank you for the suggestion.
I attempted to run the GPU setup in Safe Mode with Vista SP 1 compatibility mod.
Unsuccessful:

Setup detected that the operating system in use is not Windows Vista [32-bit]. This setup program and its associated drivers are designed to run only on Windows Vista [32-bit]. The installation will be terminated.

I will now look for other models' drivers.

rmabed said:

Thank you for the suggestion.
I attempted to run the GPU setup in Safe Mode with Vista SP 1 compatibility mod.
Unsuccessful:

Setup detected that the operating system in use is not Windows Vista [32-bit]. This setup program and its associated drivers are designed to run only on Windows Vista [32-bit]. The installation will be terminated.

I will now look for other models' drivers.

I meant the NVIDIA driver - sorry for the confusion. Find a model with 7 x64 that is close to identical, otherwise try the NVIDIA installer in safe mode.

Frostmourne said:

I meant the NVIDIA driver - sorry for the confusion. Find a model with 7 x64 that is close to identical, otherwise try the NVIDIA installer in safe mode.

Thank you for your suggestion.
There are no nVidia drivers in my model's series for Win7 x64.
There are nVidia Win7 x64 drivers for other series, but when I try to run them, I am unsuccessful:
"This Update is not intended for use with your computer model."

I will now try the nVidia installer in safe mode.

rmabed said:

Frostmourne said:

I meant the NVIDIA driver - sorry for the confusion. Find a model with 7 x64 that is close to identical, otherwise try the NVIDIA installer in safe mode.

Thank you for your suggestion.
There are no nVidia drivers in my model's series for Win7 x64.
There are nVidia Win7 x64 drivers for other series, but when I try to run them, I am unsuccessful:
"This Update is not intended for use with your computer model."

I will now try the nVidia installer in safe mode.

If the other series is similar to yours - and it must be - extract with universal extractor and then install normally.