What nvidia driver that works with Windows 7

[darkasrzerotwo]

Hi there.

I just made a clean installation of Windows 7 and during the installation the pc reboots and made it to the booting screen. After that the screen went blank and the monitor turned into sleep mode. After many hours of troubleshooting, i found that my display driver may have some issue with Win 7 thus preventing it from loading. I managed to finish the installation by disabling the display driver.

Now the problem. I tried to install the latest driver available via Nvidia website but the same problem occurs, the blank screen when starting windows. I tried also using Windows update to get the driver but it has the same effect. Now without knowing what to do anymore, I tried the oldest win 7 nvidia driver but failed. No display. I also tried to disable some startup programs and services in msconfig. I do not know what to do anymore.

Some suggested that I need to turn off the onboard display, but my machine doesn't have one.

I also tried to swap my monitor, test the graphic card with other pc( with xp and vista) , and it works fine.

Below are my spec:
HP m9098d with HP w1907 lcd
Windows 7
Geforce 8500GT

I hope someone can give me some hope. I'm very tired troubleshooting this for two whole days.

p/s: Right now I'm only using the standard Vga driver.

 

[Product FRED]

Windows 7 should automatically provide you with a working driver, though it will most likely be outdated. Use this tool to find your driver:

[nvidia][/nvidia]

 

[pebbly]

here is the actual link NVIDIA DRIVERS 197.13 WHQL

also try running in compat mode http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Thank you pebbly, fred for the driver link. As i noted, I've tried the lastest driver which is the link that you provides but still cannot solve the problem. The screen will turn blank after system reboot.

 

[pebbly]

Thank you pebbly, fred for the driver link. As i noted, I've tried the lastest driver which is the link that you provides but still cannot solve the problem. The screen will turn blank after system reboot.

see my system specs , im running 2x 8500gt's in sli mode using the same drivers no probs have you tried in compatibility mode yet?

 

[FZ21Z]

Hi.

Having a read of your products support page, there is a bios update for the card and an a update for...

NVIDIA Unified Graphics driver update resolves issue with the system displaying a black screen and system hanging when resuming from sleep mode.

Have you tried installing the Vista driver in Compatibility Mode?, and are you 32 or 64bit?

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Compatibility mode? I haven't tried that. Can u guide me?

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

I'm using x64. Btw, i'll try to use the mode u mention right now. I'm hoping this will work.

 

[pebbly]

Compatibility mode? I haven't tried that. Can u guide me?

link in post 3 & 6

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Erm, the compatibility mode is for running a program which couldn't run on win 7 right? But i'm not running any programs here. In fact, i cannot see anything when windows starts. Its pure black and the monitor turned into sleep mode.

 

[pebbly]

check your power settings, can you see anything on screen when you are using the standard VGA driver?

 

[FZ21Z]

So can you only use the computer in safe mode?

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Yes, I can see the desktop with the standard vga but with no aero and jaggies video playback.

@FZ21Z :No, I can boot into windows normally if I disable/uninstall the display driver.

 

[pebbly]

right, load the graphics driver in compat mode for vista 64 bit and post back results dont forget to tick run in administration mode and run as admin

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

okie...i'll give another try. will post the result after this.

 

[pebbly]

if that does'nt work, download the vista64 bit version from nvidia and run that in compat mode

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Oh well, It seems that both drivers didn't work. I dunno what to do. I've also tested almost all releases of nvidia drivers still doesnt seems to be working.

My conclusion...I need to get a new card.

Thanks for your support guys. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

 

[woolswell]

Oh well, It seems that both drivers didn't work. I dunno what to do. I've also tested almost all releases of nvidia drivers still doesnt seems to be working.

My conclusion...I need to get a new card.

Thanks for your support guys. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Hi, darkasrzerotwo,

I had an ancient card which is the GeForce 7950GX2, and it got not any problem to install most of the Nvidia Drivers. In these few days, I did test 197.13, 197.15, and 197.25. All could be installed though the digital vibrance function disappeared ...
Rolling back to 196.62 released 2009-11-20 (you may find it here), and it works like a charm again.

Your card is newer than mine, and I believed you would be able to find a suitable driver for your card.

Good luck~~

 

[FZ21Z]

Some steps you could try, but do this exactly....

Uninstall the current driver (yes I mean the VGA one), ensuring you select Delete the driver software for this device if the option is available, and REBOOT.

When Windows restarts it will reinstall a driver for your display, so let that complete.

Go HERE, and download the driver, and download the attachment in this post. Click on the newly downloaded driver exe, which will extract the driver to a new folder.

Then copy the inf I've attached (after extracting it), in to the 195.81 folder, which should prompt you to replace the original inf. (if it doesn't, it will not work, and you've done something wrong.)

Then run the setup.exe, let it install, say yes to any warning messages (should only be one), and reboot when prompted. I have wrote a basic guide here - NVIDA Driver Install - Start To Finish, which is basically what I've described above but with more detail.

If that methods fails then I'm out of ideas.

 

[darkasrzerotwo]

Whew!! It finally works! Thanks FZ21Z And thank you for the guide too.

@woolswell : Yea, thanks for the advice. Somehow my card can only work with a certain driver release. Any newer release will render it unusable. Btw, i'm thinking of getting a new card, with my current budget, I think i'll get a GT240. Last time i checked, it supports Win 7.