Anyone get Mobile 915GM/GMS,910GML to show Aero?

Anyone got Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family to show Aero in it's glory?

My laptop card has 128mb RAM, (minimum required), yet I cannot see any Aero effects. i.e. Glass etc.

Tried updating the drivers but although they work, videos etc are fine, I would love to be able to use the posh Aero features etc.

tia

Nope, it's not capable.

12eason said:

Nope, it's not capable.

Oh well. Thanks for replying so quick.

It was a pita when vista first came out. 915 was still being sold in the shops and older, less capable ati and nvidea chipsets were capable of aero, but because of some design flaw 915 was junk. Intel just switched to 945, which was barely a step up, then forgot about 915 altogether. They never even 'officially' released a driver for it on vista. Only one on WU and the oem one from HP exist.

i was about to post the same question but i found the answer already via Intel's site:

Q5: Why doesn’t the Intel 915 Express chipset family support Windows Vista Aero?

The overall graphics architecture and design of the 915 Express chipset family (with Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics engine) was finalized prior to Microsoft releasing details and specifications around the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver. Given this, there are hardware limitations in the 915 Express chipset architecture that would limit graphics performance and memory capabilities when attempting to run WDDM on Vista.

The hardware limitations of 915/GMA900 graphics center around not having a large enough memory table to support Vista Aero, a key feature that is part of WDDM driver support. This, along with hardware restrictions on surface placement and graphics memory alignment, results in graphics memory usage that is not optimized for Aero performance. Additionally, the lack of native hardware support in the 915 Express chipset family for Vista’s dynamic memory management would result in slower graphics performance and a sub-optimal user experience with Windows Vista Aero.
With these identified limitations, the 915/GMA900-based graphics system would not have met the performance requirements for Aero desktop composition support under Vista. This ultimately led to the decision to begin WDDM support with the Intel 945 Express chipset products, as Intel addressed these hardware limitations with the desktop and mobile Intel 945 Express chipset families.


To provide the best performance and user experience with Windows Vista on Intel 915/GMA900 platforms, Intel will support Windows Vista on 915/GMA900 with the drivers based on the XP driver model.


Q8: What level of Windows Vista Aero experience is supported on Intel graphics platforms?

A8: Intel will support the Windows Vista Aero desktop theme beginning with the Intel 945G/GM Express chipset and Intel 965 Express chipset families, as well as with future desktop and mobile chipsets.

Graphics - Windows Vista* support frequently asked questions

Darn
Still will be looking for some other way to at least use thumbnail preview. NextStart does a perfect job of that and transparent taskbar

~Des

desolator4u said:

Darn
Still will be looking for some other way to at least use thumbnail preview...

Good luck on that -- let us know if you succeed.

I have a Tablet PC with that chipset, and in Vista, I was able to find a couple of freeware programs that would so something similar to thumbnail preview on the taskbar. But, they were static images, not dynamic, and neither program would work under Win7.

Also, on one of the Vista beta's, Aero DID work on the 915 chipset -- I know because I had it working. But, that feature was missing from the RTM and the commercial releases.

Got it working in Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit after a little work and compromise. In some situations, the entire window is glassified and in others, the border is correctly displayed with a solid or opaque body. Either way, I am done and did not listen to the hype that Aero Glass was not compatible with the 915 GM chipset. The taskbar is also transparent but the quick launch icons (minus the windows button) are also transparent. Not a 100% aesthetic Aero Display but it is 100% stable and fast.