Drivers for Video Card on Windows 7

[JesseM]

A little background on my problem.

Anyways, I have been looking for a driver for my Dell Precision M70's video card, the nVidia Quadro FX Go1400. I'm running Windows 7, and I know there's a working driver out there because I had everything working fine for about 3 months and then the crash happened (described in the background link). My computer will boot just fine with the default VGA Graphics Adapter installed, but when I let Windows install the driver for the card and then restart the computer won't boot. I'm hoping that finding the correct driver for the card will fix this problem. Thanks!

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/Quadro_win7_winvista_32bit_191.78_whql.html
Quadro FX 1400 for w7, if you think you have something different, or just want to make sure, here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx?lang=en-us
Make sure you get rid of your old ones first.

 

[JesseM]

Thanks for your response, hellokitty.

a) I've already tried that driver. Upon running the .exe the nVidia installer says "No compatible hardware detected." No problem, just go to device manager and manually install the driver. That appears to work until the restart, then the computer won't boot again. One thing to note is that "nVidia Quadro FX 1400" and "nVidia Quadro FX Go1400" are two different video cards; for desktops and for laptops, respectively. Not sure if they have the same driver.

b) There is no choice for "nVidia Quadro FX Go1400" on nVidia's driver page. Since the card is proprietary, you might ask why I haven't tried getting a driver from Dell. Well I have, and Dell's only driver is for XP, and doesn't work with 7.

 

[longhornjoe13]

I started seeing the exact same problem with my nVidia Quadro FX go1400 video card on my Precision M70 running Windows 7 starting at almost exactly the same time that JesseM got his problem. I've gone through all of the same troubleshooting steps and have come up with the same results. I've tried installing drivers from nVidia (vers. 182.46, 178.46, 160.02 and 96.85) as well as Dell's most recent driver.

I've found that when I can install these drivers I can run video in 16-bit mode, and 32-bit up to 1280x1020 resolution, but higher than that I get no display. On boot, after Windows starts loading, the system will hang at a black screen, or display a BSOD referencing a video driver issue.

I've tried formatting and reinstalling both XP and Windows 7, but consistently see the same issues. I've run both OS's before without any problem until about 2 weeks ago.

I've tried installing Ubuntu 9.10 (Kosmic Koala) and when I run the default video drivers I can actually run in full 1600x1200 resolution without a hitch. This would usually sound to me like a driver issue with Windows.

On the other hand, since the issue started, during the POST, I'm now seeing patterns of green pixels on the screen. If not for the Windows/Ubuntu thing, this would sound to me like a hardware problem.

I'm hoping that someone else might have a little input as to what might be going on, because I'm out of ideas here. Thanks all.

 

[JesseM]

longhornjoe13, it sounds like we are having IDENTICAL problems. Everything you described applies to me as well (including the greenish pixels during POST). I find it suspicious that it happened to us around the same time. When was the last time you ran Windows Update before your M70 crashed? I vaguely remember running it the day mine crashed, but I'm pretty certain it didn't install any video drivers.

Also, what were you doing on the laptop when it crashed? I was playing a newer game with the laptop hooked up to an HDTV via the VGA port. Hopefully we can get something figured out! I admit, before you posted I had already given up and said I'd buy a new video card (even though they're ridiculously expensive) but hearing this makes me think twice.

 

[longhornjoe13]

That's interesting that you're also seeing the green pixels during POST as well. I'd originally been wondering if I'd fried the video card. Obviously the M70 isn't a new system, which does seem to get hot when it's been running, so I'd thought that it'd finally overheated. To add to my previous troubleshooting steps, I have actually taken the laptop apart and cleaned the intake, cooling fans, and exhaust ports with canned air.

It was the first time I booted the system on a Wednesday when I first saw the problem, so I do think that there was a Window's update done the previous night. When looking at my Windows Update history I do see an entry for "nVidia - Display - NVIDIA Quadro FX go1400" listed there that notes "nVidia Display software update released in March, 2009."

As far as what I was actually doing when I first got the problem, I really had not been doing anything unusual. I don't do any gaming on the laptop, I use it mainly for web browsing, really.

Honestly, seeing what I'm seeing--with the pixel 'patterns' showing up during POST as well as both Windows XP and Win7 having the same problem, combined with two of us seeing the same problem crop up at the same time--I'm wondering if a Windows Update hosed out these video cards. It sounds crazy, but I've probably installed and reinstalled a XP, Vista and Windows 7 at least a dozen times on this system and never had a problem like this installing compatible video drivers until about 2 weeks ago.

JesseM,
Have you tried at all to track the Windows Update at all? I'm gonna guess that there are more of us out there seeing this same thing, judging that we've been in the exact same situation.

 

[JesseM]

I have also completely taken apart the laptop and cleaned it of dust and inspected the inside.

Not quite sure what you mean by tracking the Windows Update. I've formatted the drive and re-installed different versions of Windows since the crash, so there's no way to check past updates as far as I know.

The nVidia cards are probably toast, but if it has to do with a Windows Update it might be risky to buy another card unless running XP with the original Dell video driver.

 

[longhornjoe13]

What I meant by 'tracking' was seeing where Windows Update had updated the driver. I only found the one from above.

I stumbled across another message board thread on the nVidia sites where another person is having the exact same problem in a post from Jan. 25. (forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=97537...so it's not just the two of us having this issue.

 

[JesseM]

Haha that's funny you mention that, I actually posted as Merzperson on that thread.

Again, not sure if checking Windows Update history is possible when the OS has been re-installed.

 

[longhornjoe13]

Ha. I thought that I may have come across something with that other thread, but I guess not. I'm pretty stumped, though, about what the problem is. I think that I might reinstall Ubuntu on the system again to see if I can figure anything out from that angle--it was strange that the display was perfect when I installed it before.

 

[JesseM]

If Ubuntu's default graphics driver supports the higher res, then I'll go that route as well. Tell me how it works! I'm not experienced with Linux. Thanks for your help!

 

[longhornjoe13]

I haven't really had any major video problem so far since I've re-loaded Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), The only sign of a problem is that I still get the "green" (now pink) patterns in the OS's loading screen. Once the UI loads up, it's been consistently good running at full resolution. (Though I'm still convinced that Windows Update hosed these video cards somehow.)

All in all, Ubuntu is a really solid OS. It's definitely designed for users accustomed to Windows, but it gives you the ability to start picking up Linux without too much trouble. There are tons of reviews, guides and wiki's out there if you Google "Ubuntu 9.10 +<whatever you're specifically looking for>". The support community is as solid as it gets, IMO. Especially if you're in the same boat with this video thing, I think it's worth checking out. Honestly, if Microsoft hadn't done such a good job with Windows 7, I'd still be running Ubuntu as my primary OS. (but this ordeal was the final straw and I finally picked up a new laptop).

I'd start out by Googling some beginner's guide-type stuff to pick up the basics and then go from there. The download is free, of course, on the Ubuntu web site when you're ready to get going. There are so many good resources out there, I really couldn't do justice trying to give you much more of an overview on here.