How to update my video card

[cookie66]

Hello, I installed Windows 7 Home Premium on an IBM ThinkPad T40. I have been trying to get aero to work, so I did the troubleshooter and this came up: The current video card may support Aero with a driver that is compliant with the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). Contact the manufacturer of your computer or video card for a WDDM-compatible driver. So, all I know is that my video card is ATI some thing....where can I find out what I have for a video card?

 

[kword88]

have you tried the latest driver from AMD: Graphics Drivers & Software

or run windows update?

 

[cookie66]

Yes, but they only provide the drive until Vista. I was thinking of downgrading to Vista, but heard it sucked.

 

[Commodore Pet]

When you go into device manager what does it tell you when you look under display adapters?

 

[kword88]

use this method to determine your video card, then use the link in my previous post to locate the correct driver.

Identifying an ATI product using DirectX

1. <LI id=rrli31>Click on the Start or the Orb button <LI id=rrli32>Type in dxdiag in the Search BoxClick OK
2. Click dxdiag in the list
   
   

 

[kword88]

well, that didnt paste correctly...

click start
type dxdiag
select dxdiag from the search results

locate your video card model number, then use the link in my previous post to locate the correct driver.

 

[cookie66]

standard VGA Graphics Adapter, and kword88, I did that, and it said go to the IBM site and get the driver, and they gave the latest OS is vista.

 

[stormy13]

There is not now and never will be a Windows 7 driver for the video card in that laptop. Specs on it here,

Lenovo Support - Overview - ThinkPad T40, T40p

Graphics 16MB RADEON, 32MB RADEON 7500 or 9000, 64MB RADEON 9000, or 128MB FIREGL T2 ATI Mobility video chipset

Neither of which have seen an update from ATI/AMD since some time back in 2006. If it has the 9000 in it you might find a Mobility Radeon driver somewhere, if it is the 7500 forget about it.

Another thing is that even if you do find a driver for it beyond whatever Windows installs by default Aero will not work as neither the 7500 nor the 9000 have the required hardware built into them (hardware DirectX 9 support, vertex and pixel shader model 2.0, and definitely not enough ram).

Of it happens to have the FireGL in it you can try the last Vista driver for it,

ATI FireGL

which if it installs will at least support Aero as that card is based on the same GPU as the old 9600.

 

[kword88]

have you run windows update with the option to search for device drivers?

 

[cookie66]

Ok, I found out it has ATI RADEON 7500, and yes, I tried the Windows update.

 

[kword88]

try updating the card manually, from device manager. dont let it search. use the select from a list option, then uncheck the box for only showing compatible. then find ati on the left, and look for your model number on the right.

 

[stormy13]

Even less chance of finding anything for it as ATI dropped all support for it back in February of 2006. And no Aero will never work on it for the reason I mentioned previously in addition to it only being a DirectX 7 card,

ATi M7 GPU - Specifications, and Pictures - GPUReview.com

Best you're going to get is the default driver (probably shows as "standard VGA") that Windows installs for it.

 

[cookie66]

try updating the card manually, from device manager. dont let it search. use the select from a list option, then uncheck the box for only showing compatible. then find ati on the left, and look for your model number on the right.

Ok, I did this, and after I restarted, nothing changed. :huh: Well, I mainly just want to play games, like the sims, but it gives me errors. I was able to play the games in Windows XP, but not in Windows 7.

 

[kword88]

does device manager recognize the card now?

the games may be a different issue. you can check their websites for updates/patches and if there are none, try installing them in compatibility mode.

 

[cookie66]

does device manager recognize the card now?

the games may be a different issue. you can check their websites for updates/patches and if there are none, try installing them in compatibility mode.

Well, yes, BUT it said Windows detected problems, and stopped it. So I updated it, and it went back to what it was. And yes, I tried compatibility mode. So, will my video card work with Vista? Or maybe I should go with Ubuntu 10.10 or Windows XP again.....

 

[kword88]

i couldnt say for sure whether vista (or ubuntu) would work, but since the original operating system was xp, that should work with no problems.