Solved Nvida 8400M GS only working with WDDM

[vovven]

Hi,

I have a Dell Vostro 1510 running Win 7 Ent x64 with a Nvidia 8400M GS graphic card.
It works fine with the WDDM Driver but when i install nvidia driver the display is not looking so nice:

I have to do a system restore or start it in fail safe and uninstall the nvidi driver to be able to see anything on my screen.

Tested with the latest:
Version 310.90 - WHQL Release Date Sat Jan 05, 2013 Operating System Windows 7 64-bit
I aloso testade som older drivers and the one from dells page but i gett the same problem.
Any ideas or any other driver i can test to install?

 

[Saurabh A]

Hi vovven,

'nVidia 8500M GPU' comes as 'factory installed' with 'Vostro 1510' laptop. This model has been tested by Dell with 'Windows XP and Windows Vista 32 bit' only; therefore its 'Windows 7 compatible drivers' are not listed on 'Dell Support Website'.

However, nVidia does offer 'Windows 7' compatible drivers for '8500M adapter'; version that you've tried (310.90) is the best available option.

As an OEM product, the device drivers may be 'custom designed'; this may be the reason why the 'nVidia driver' has not worked efficiently on your system. You may try to install 'Windows XP' compatible drivers (from Dell Support Website) in 'Compatibility Mode'; it may produce better results:
- Click Driver Details | Dell United States to download the file
- Follow the steps listed in this tutorial to install the driver in 'Windows XP sp2' compatibility mode: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

Hope this helps. Do reply with the findings; would be glad to assist.

 

[vovven]

Hi vovven,

'nVidia 8500M GPU' comes as 'factory installed' with 'Vostro 1510' laptop. This model has been tested by Dell with 'Windows XP and Windows Vista 32 bit' only; therefore its 'Windows 7 compatible drivers' are not listed on 'Dell Support Website'.

However, nVidia does offer 'Windows 7' compatible drivers for '8500M adapter'; version that you've tried (310.90) is the best available option.

As an OEM product, the device drivers may be 'custom designed'; this may be the reason why the 'nVidia driver' has not worked efficiently on your system. You may try to install 'Windows XP' compatible drivers (from Dell Support Website) in 'Compatibility Mode'; it may produce better results:
- Click Driver Details | Dell United States to download the file
- Follow the steps listed in this tutorial to install the driver in 'Windows XP sp2' compatibility mode: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

Hope this helps. Do reply with the findings; would be glad to assist.

Hi Saurabh A,

I tested to install the drivers in compatibility mode (XP SP2 and admin) but i got:

I also tryed to manualy select the drivers extracted at "C:\DELL\Drivers\R190909" and got this:

 

[bobkn]

You may have a problem.

Because laptop manufacturers sometimes use custom device IDs for their graphics, the installer that you download from www.nvidia.com may not recognize your 8400M graphics. I'd normally suggest getting drivers from Dell (support.dell.com), but they only offer XP and 32 bit Vista drivers. No use on X64.

If the latest nVidia drivers (Drivers | GeForce) won't install, it may be possible to mod (modify) the installer to support your device ID. I have never done it.

You could also try updating the drivers manually (browse the updater to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\310.90\Win8_WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver, or whatever you get when you try to install the NVidia drivers). I doubt that it'll work, though.

I expect Dell support to be of no help, as they don't support 7 X64 on the Vostro 1510.

 

[Saurabh A]

Hi vovven,

It appears that this 'display driver' won't work with the GPU in your system. As correctly stated by 'bobkn', this model is tested and designed to work with 'Windows XP and Vista 32 bit' only; therefore Windows 7 compatible drivers for this unit may not be available.

Another workaround that you may want to try is to install the 'Windows XP 64 bit' nVidia drivers in compatibility mode: Drivers | GeForce
(Please ensure that you remove the existing drivers)

Positive results are unlikely in this case also; however, is worth a shot.

 

[yowanvista]

Try drivers from this website
Drivers | drivers for mobile cards and laptops | laptopvideo2go.com

Go to device manager, right click on standard vga, Properties, Details tab, Dropdown to hardware ids. Copy and paste results to the 'Search terms' of the website.

 

[vovven]

Try drivers from this website
Drivers | drivers for mobile cards and laptops | laptopvideo2go.com

Go to device manager, right click on standard vga, Properties, Details tab, Dropdown to hardware ids. Copy and paste results to the 'Search terms' of the website.

Tested with drivers from laptopvideo2go 302.59 and a older verson still getting this:

 

[vovven]

Hi vovven,

It appears that this 'display driver' won't work with the GPU in your system. As correctly stated by 'bobkn', this model is tested and designed to work with 'Windows XP and Vista 32 bit' only; therefore Windows 7 compatible drivers for this unit may not be available.

Another workaround that you may want to try is to install the 'Windows XP 64 bit' nVidia drivers in compatibility mode: Drivers | GeForce
(Please ensure that you remove the existing drivers)

Positive results are unlikely in this case also; however, is worth a shot.

I tested to install the XP 64 bit driver and got the sam problem. I also tested to format the drive and install Windows XP 64 bit and installed SP2 but a got the same problem with the black screen with lines.

 

[vovven]

Here is some more tests with 32 bit verson of Windows 7

-Dell driver (R189832) for Vista 32 bit
-Dell driver (R190909) for XP installed in compability mode
-The latest driver from Nvidia for Windows 7 32-bit

Same thing happend with all of them, screen just showing lines.

 

[bobkn]

Very strange.

Does that laptop use the "optimus" drivers?

 

[vovven]

Very strange.

Does that laptop use the "optimus" drivers?

No Optimus drivers installed and i don't think it supports Optimus technology.

 

[vovven]

Hi and thank you all for the help.

Now I think theres a hardware error.
I just tested to make a clean install of Windows XP 32 bit and downloaded the supported driver from Dell (R205204)
This should totally be working but its not:

This must be some kind of hardware related problem with the graphic card. Something like it's getting overheated because the load is harder when you installed the right drivers.

I removed all the dust from the fan and the heatsink for the heatpipe so cooling should be good enough.

 

[pebbly]

HI vovven, This all points to a faulty GFX card , You could try the "baking" method see if you can fix it that way ,Many of the Nvidia 7 and 8 series mobile GFX cards were produced using a "cheap" solder that caused micro fissures to appear in the tracks ,hence the cards would malfunction ,They can be professionally "reflowed" but at a high cost

 

[bobkn]

HI vovven, This all points to a faulty GFX card , You could try the "baking" method see if you can fix it that way ,Many of the Nvidia 7 and 8 series mobile GFX cards were produced using a "cheap" solder that caused micro fissures to appear in the tracks ,hence the cards would malfunction ,They can be professionally "reflowed" but at a high cost

I doubt that this laptop has a discrete graphics card. Do you propose baking the whole laptop? Or removing the motherboard and baking that?

I suppose that the Vostro is off warranty. If I was trying to revive it, I'd probably get a replacement motherboard for it from one of the eBay storefronts: looks like it'd be $100-$150US. I have no idea whether that approach is useful to non-US residents.

 

[vovven]

HI vovven, This all points to a faulty GFX card , You could try the "baking" method see if you can fix it that way ,Many of the Nvidia 7 and 8 series mobile GFX cards were produced using a "cheap" solder that caused micro fissures to appear in the tracks ,hence the cards would malfunction ,They can be professionally "reflowed" but at a high cost

If i try the "baking" method i need to bake the whole motherboard :huh:

I was thinking of trying the "heat gun" method first. Now i just need to get a hold of a heat gun

 

[pebbly]

Hi vovven, Sorry it was my mistake I thought yours was an add in card ,not directly soldered on mobo I think your best option is to look through Ebay for a replacement board

 

[vovven]

Solution

Hi all,

So i did the solution with the heat gun and it worked (i don't know for how long it will work)

Here is the solution:

I removed the fan and the heat pipe, I also removed the memory because it's close to the GPU:

I used aluminum foil to protect other parts from heat and cut out a square for the GPU:

Then i heated it up quite well with the heat gun:

Then i let it cool down for 30 min and the putt all the parts together and booted it up.

Now it is working! Running Win 7 x64 and the latest drivers from Nvidia
Lets just hope it stays this way

 

[Saurabh A]

Hi vovven,

Glad that the issue is fixed

 

[pebbly]

Well done vovven, If it's successfully reflowed it should last , My XPS 1710 suffered the same problem a couple of years or so ago ,So I baked the card and its still going strong
One thing I would advise is running a fan control software to make the fans work harder I personnaly use I8kfanGui Dell Inspiron Inspiron/Latitude/Precision fan control but if you do a search for free fan controllers you will find something to your tastes

 

[bobkn]

I would have guessed that it would be a crazy thing to try.

It doesn't absolutely prove that you fixed a broken solder connection, but if it works...

Thanks for posting back.