dave359

I might suggest a radical approach here. Windows Vista and Windows 7 are both somewhat notorious at not letting you customise. Despite numerous attempts I was unable to get the computer to use a different driver for my network adapter.

I would suggest trying to force the computer to accept new drivers. If the installation program has already been run, then the computer may have a record that these drivers are present, even if it's not using them. Try this

1. Right Click desktop and click Display Resolution
2. Click on the blue writing that says "Advanced Settings".
3. A Graphics Card & Screen window will come up. Under the Graphics Card tab (which should be the first one), click properties.
4. Second tab along on the new window that appears is called "drivers." Select it.
5. One of the buttons towards the bottom of this window will say Update Driver. Click it.
6. Select the option to seach both the internet and your computer for drivers.

Be warned - I've tried this on a few other instances where drivers were not being recognised and despite running the install programs successfully, the computer was still unrelenting. If it comes back saying "the best driver is already installed" then we may need to get a bit more agressive.

Give me a shout if this does or doesn't work & i can try and talk you through a manual installation if the computer will let you.

speranz1

ok so i tried your method and it said that my driver was up to date. also, it said under the adapter tab that my total available graphics memory was 14 MB, which seems really small. idk if this is due to the driver issue or not...

dave359

You tried telling it to update the driver and it just came back saying "The Best driver is already installed."?

speranz1

yes. is this a problem?

Riskyone101

Hello,

Go here for graphics driver: Nvidia 8400GS
http://www.nvidia.com/object/noteboo...6.81_whql.html

This is the correct driver for your laptop.

dave359

I had a similar problem with an nVidia 9600GT graphics card - i could not get the drivers to load properly as I think some game was telling me to download a specific set of outdated drivers - I think these messed up the system and I eventually just decided to reformat and start over.

In order to try the aggressive approach, you will need to download WinRAR from http://www.rarlabs.com to proceed.

Go back to the nvidia website and download the file. http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...1.07_whql.html

Now do the following.

1. Right-click on the file that has been downloaded and select Extract To 191.07_desktop_win7_winvista_64bit_english_whql
(This will extract all the files in the EXE file to a folder with the same name as the file.)
2. Go to the system properties page and onto the graphics drive window as mentioned previously.
3. Click Update Driver and select "Browse my computer for driver software"
4. Where it says "search for driver software in this location" click browse and select the folder that you've just created on the desktop.
5. Then click Next and see if it updates.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned I couldn't get mine to work properly when I had a similar problem and I had to reformat. I would suggest you get data backed up for that possibility incase you need it. On the other hand, someone else may be able to recommend something that I don't know of.

speranz1

unfortunately when i tried this method it came up with the message that "windows has determined that the best driver for your hardware is already installed." i'm still not sure why this is happening?

Riskyone101

Uninstall the graphics driver first, then install the driver above

speranz1

when i tried to uninstall the graphics driver, it prompted me to restart my computer. when i logged back in, the only thing that happened was that my screen resolution was changed. then, when i tried to install that graphics driver, the nvidia setup program stated that it couldnt locate any drivers compatible with my hardware...

jcgriff2

I merged your thread from Vista/ Windows 7 forum here. Please DO NOT create another thread on this subject anywhere else in TSF. Thank you.

Riskyone101

Thank You Jcgriff2

Have you tried this?

Connect to the interent
Go into device manger

Start button
right click on computer
properties
update driver and wait patiently, it will find the most recent driver for the graphics card, it could even take up to 5 minutes to install it.

Note: You can do this for other drivers also.

You can mark thread solved under thread tools near top of this page, ty.

speranz1

i have tried this many times before but every time it tells me that the most recent driver has already been installed...

BCCOMP

What version of the driver is installed now?

Go to the Device Manager
Post all errors

If you have any errors, please do this:
Open the Device Manager
Right click on the error>Properties>Details Tab
Scroll to Hardware ID
Post the info you find under Hardware ID

Do this for each error you have

The driver that should work is the one Riskyone101 linked:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/noteboo...6.81_whql.html

Bill

speranz1

when i get the hardware id for my display adapter, listed as standard vga graphics adapter, it lists 4 hardware id's:
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0427&SUBSYS_9008104D&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0427&SUBSYS_9008104D
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0427&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0427&CC_0300

BCCOMP

Is this "standard vga graphics adapter" in error in the Device Manager, Other Devices with a yellow ! or is it listed in under the Display Adapter?

Bill

speranz1

its listed under the display adapter...there are no devices in error

BCCOMP

Are you able to change the screen resolution in the Display Properties?

Can you also run Everest a link is under my signature and attach the full report to the thread? Copy and Paste the report to Notepad and use the Go Advance option to attach the report.

Thanks,
Bill

speranz1

I am able to change the screen resolution.

I attached the txt file with the everest report, hopefully that helps...

Attached Files

everest.txt (278.9 KB, 3 views)

Riskyone101

You can upgrade Directx 9 to Directx 11 go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...0-edb2df5abad4

After installing, restart computer
Now try my post above and see if you can install it now.

BCCOMP

Hi,
The drivers on the Nvidia site are not coded correctly for Sony Laptops
See if this modified driver will work HERE