nVidia Drivers hose me again

October 31, 2007 @ 1:48 am- from Maui, Hawaii

Earlier today I downloaded updated nVidia Vista video drivers for my GeForce 8600M GT on my laptop with Windows Update and promptly dual monitor support started failing again. Single monitor works fine but the second monitor will simply not kick in with the new driver.

I ended up having to roll back to the last restore point before the update and I'm now back to a working video setup which has been working fine for the last few months using driver release 101.43 - the original driver that was shipped from Dell., But boy is it discouraging to see this problem return once again with a driver update especially one that's coming down through Windows Update. I thought that I was over the video nightmares that I was having with my pre-Vista machine and the GeForce 7800 Go, which also couldn't deal with multi-monitors properly. Same symptoms: Long time to sync the video card to even the primary monitor and several crashes while trying to get there. Then the second monitor would flicker on and off cycling through various video modes before giving up.

I suppose I can just stick with the driver that (mostly) works, but there are a few issues with this driver as well, mainly that on occasion after going to sleep it will loose its configuration and bring the two monitors back at incorrect resolution. It's rare but I'd still like to see that fixed which is why I opted to install the driver in the first place.

Anybody have any better luck with more recent drivers from nVidia with 8600M GT? I'm pretty wary after this excercise to install new video drivers <s>...

Posted in Vista

Feedback for this Weblog Entry

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by Mike Dennis October 31, 2007 @ 7:17 am

Have you been able to get the drivers from nVidia's site to work? I used to have a lot better luck with those, but they won't install on my new laptop. I think my 1520 has about the same configuration as yours, so you may not be able to either. I haven't really had any problems, but only ran dual monitors once on there.

There may also be alpha or beta driver out there somewhere to correct this. I had to install one of those in order to get BioShock to kind of work on there, although it still crashed between areas in the game... I have since switched back to drivers from windows update.

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by Stephen October 31, 2007 @ 12:34 pm

Uggg... I fought this battle with my Sony laptop and Vista recently.... I ended up using drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/, and they have been muuuuuch better thgan anything from nVidia directly or even, :: shudder ::, Windows Update

Windows Update kept trying to overwrite my drivers, i finally had to take my internet off line and go into the list of updates and explicitly say "ignore this update"

Anyways, i'd highly suggest the site above over anything else.....

Catch you next week at DevConnections.....

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by Rick Strahl October 31, 2007 @ 9:21 pm

@Stepen - thanks. Yes usually I pick up new drivers from the LapTopVideo site as well, but since things have generally been working I've been content to let it be for the time being. Usually when a driver makes it onto Windows Update though that driver's been out and stable for a while so I gave in and picked it up... For now I'll stick with the existing driver and put up with the Sleep/wake up dual monitor forgetfulness. <sigh> I noticed Dell haven't updated their drivers and they probably never will so we get to play guinea pig.

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by forrest October 31, 2007 @ 10:58 pm

I have fought the nVidia + Vista driver issue and lost. I have a GeForce 7900 GT which worked flawlessly in XP for over a year.. upgrade to Vista and nothing but problems; random driver stops, monitor desynchs, problems getting second monitor to come up.. and then finally the card actually died. I RMA'd it (EVGA did awesome by me) hoping it was just a bad card, replacement card had the exact same problems. A new project I took on required some .Net 1.1 development, which required a switch back to XP.. but I was seriously considering it anyways. Every single geek in my office who has tried Vista has sooner or later gone back to XP.

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by Mike Dennis November 01, 2007 @ 5:40 am

I think dell just released a driver for it yesterday. I clicked on the 8400 driver, and it looks like it will work for the 8600 too. I haven't tried it yet, but I am going to when I get home.

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by e November 04, 2007 @ 4:28 am

The correct spelling is "exercise."

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by dave hodges November 28, 2007 @ 1:14 pm

somehow just opening up the nividia control panel fixed all my problems. i was having secondary monitor not showing anything but turning itself on when connected and on main monitor my cursor was going crazy after i installed the update from dell site (and previously windows update - with a system restore between them)

only time will tell if it's fixed for good or at all though... :s

re: nVidia Drivers hose me again
by Rick Strahl November 28, 2007 @ 3:06 pm

@Dave - what machine do you have and which nVidia drivers? It might help to point out versions for others and me. Thanks.

FWIW, I also re-installed the drivers from the Dell site with the same effect as above - the second monitor wouldn't kick in.

I still have some problems when switching between dual and single monitor - when I go back to a single monitor the native resolution (1650x1050) doesn't show as an option and I pop up in 1440x1024). I have to reboot to get back the full res.

Sucks, but I can live with that I suppose. In the meantime I'm still on the older Dell Drivers. I might give this another shot trying the control panel after install.

dvdclone
by dvdclone March 27, 2008 @ 6:25 pm

Here’ s something I discovered a couple weeks ago that some people may find useful. It’ s not rocket science or anything and a lot of people probably already knew about it. But I’ m posting it here partially so I remember about it. Anyway, I found you can lock your computer using a shortcut pointed to“% windir%\\ system32\\ rundll32. exe user32. dll, LockWorkStation”. This is very useful for when you have to work on keyboard that is lacking the windows key (like IBM Thinkpads). Once you have the shortcut you...

dvd decoders
by dvd decoders July 05, 2008 @ 3:23 am

Nowadays, do you really need to spend over hundreds over dollars just to optimize your PC performance, and protect from virus, spyware and etc. My answer is NO! Let me show you which and where to download the necessary freeware you need. I have been using the following programs for a few years, with very positive performance…

dvd decrypt
by dvd decrypt July 05, 2008 @ 5:09 am

Il kernel panic è un messaggio d’ errore che compare quando nel sistema in esecuzione avviene un blocco irreversibile che necessita il riavvio del computer. Facendo un paragone poco ortodosso il kernel panic è l’ equivalente Unix del Blue Screen of Death , messaggio d’ errore che molti utenti hanno imparato a conoscere con i sistemi Windows. In Unix un kernel panic è un evento abbastanza raro (io non ricordo un kernel panic sul mio pc da tempo immemore), ma può succedere.

copy protected dvd
by copy protected dvd July 06, 2008 @ 1:09 am

Finally a personal thing: some time ago I got a flyer with a printout of this“ material”. The guy who distributed it gave it only to Scientologists coming from Sunday service in a Church of Scientology. The flyer was ridiculing all and any belief of Scientology. Now, what purpose did this have? Intolerance. I was about to smack the guy, only that my friend was holding me back. Here comes some dude with no clue about Scientology but some ridiculous internet printout and tries to make fun out of my beliefs and...

dvd decrypter software
by dvd decrypter software July 06, 2008 @ 4:18 am

The makers of Spybot have recently come into conflict over claims of incompatiblity with Norton Internet Security. ref/ ref Symantec is recommending the uninstallion of Spybot Search and Destory before installing Norton Internet Security. According to Safer- Networking no satisfactory explanation was given to them. However, Mary Landesman, suggests a possible explanation for this may stem from a graphical glitch in Tea- Timer module’ s confirmation dialog. An official explanation of the bug ref/ ref states...

how to record dvd
by how to record dvd July 07, 2008 @ 6:01 am

We actually use quite a list of Windows Live products at LiveSide, some we\'ve been using for quite a while. So here\'s our list, along with some notes on how the products are used, and some non Windows Live products we can\'t seem to do without.

how to shrink a dvd
by how to shrink a dvd July 07, 2008 @ 7:15 am

Mondorescue backs up your GNU/ Linux server or workstation to tape, CD- R, CD- RW, DVD- R[ W], DVD R[ W], NFS or hard disk partition. In the event of catastrophic data loss, you will be able to restore all of your data[ or as much as you want], from bare metal if necessary. Personally, I like using Mondorescue to create DVD disk images of my system periodically. Upon initial installation and configuration of my Linux or Windows machine, I create a DVD disk image with Mondo so that if anything ever gets...

best dvd burning software
by best dvd burning software July 07, 2008 @ 2:18 pm

First real obsessive banging the machine was with Street Fighter 2, watching with rapt attention as the local stoner (our guru) talked me thru the special stances taken to get that perfect with a Ryu or Ken type (see champion and/ or cheater). This was lost on me because I was certainly the E. Honda/ Dhalsim type (see foreigner in a foreign land), and proceeded to lose for the four odd years that my local convience store carried the original edition. I did buy pot from our guru (thus providing his money for...

i m too dvd ripper
by i m too dvd ripper July 17, 2008 @ 9:26 am

Solution: There are a number of transformation packs that you can use. One of them that I recommend is called‘ Windows Vista Transformation Pack 7‘. After installing this free program, it will tune up your system to look like Vista. Although you have the Vista interface, you do not get the Vista features such as user account control and instant index search.

bestes dvd copy software
by bestes dvd copy software July 18, 2008 @ 8:08 am

An hour after getting the box running, it died- BIG time. By this I mean it simply stopped working. Upon rebooting, the system wont even display BIOS information. My guess is that this is a hardware fault and that the CPU has died seeing as no information is displayed when the power is turned on and nothing else happens.