8600m GT 256mb recognition problem(and other problems)

Well, I just got my inspiron 1720 in the mail today. I reinstalled windows and all the software was gone that came with it. I have all the installation cd's and drivers and all the software that came with it as if you were to buy it new on dell.com

I started up the notebook and I was very excited to be able to play counter strike on it. And Lo and behold. on the welcome screen it says standard vga graphics adapter. My heart sank upon seeing this. Did the guy that send it to me lie about the 8600m gt? or is there something wrong. I went to my desktop and right-clicked and went to display settings and it says (default monitor) o Standard VGA Graphics Adapter. No sign of Nvidia anywhere. Such a waste on this awesome screen.
how do I remedy this problem?

Also I'm pretty sure Vista business edition comes with microsoft office(word, excel, powerpoint) which is essential for me. Is it possible to get it back or did vista 32-bit business never have it in the first place?

Any help is much appreciated. Anyone who chats with me to get this fixed immediately can be compensated as much as 10 dollars over paypal!

Thanks

-Brian

 

This is actually supposed to happen because you haven't installed the drivers yet. Install the driver for the 8600M GT and you'll see the card. Happened to me too.

 

aah, thanks! but even if the driver isn't installed, is my computer still using the grfx card? or is the driver necessary to use it?

as for microsoft office, does anyone know if vista business comes with office 2007?

 

the gpu will work even without the nvidia driver. it just uses the generic driver from MS, which is why it works

no, it doesn't

 

aw, damn. Regardless of it working without the driver, I'd still like to find the driver. I've googled the driver and i keep on being lead to laptopvideo2go.com, but the inf files or whatnot say the driver is for windows 2000 or xp and since i'm on vista business, the installation was terminated. And I can't seem to find it on the nvidia website. Where can i find the driver for 8600m GT?

 

www.laptopvideo2go.com. Choose the Vista drivers this time.

 

ah, looks like I'll have to look more carefully this time. Thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

strange, I got the right download, now it's saying that I don't have the hardware that's compatible with any of the drivers. Is this a common problem?

 

Check your hardware with Everest or My computer > device manager or some other way.

Look under display > gpu.
I'm quite sure that you have a 8600M GT either way.
Or freeware (lite version only) of Sandra (same as Everest) http://www.sisoftware.net/

 

I did and it still says standard vga graphics adapter :[

 

There's a stickied driver guide, did you try that?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

 

Hmm.

Well, there have been other people with this kind of a problem too.
Try using DriverCleaner / CrapCleaner to remove all the junk before you install new drivers.

Check these threads :

* http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=155651
* http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=200152
* http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080120091105AAqwDeO
* http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=46046
* http://www.rage3d.com/board/archive/index.php?t-33786861.html

Google with keywords like "standard vga graphics instead of nvidia" or similar.

 

hm, I restarted my computer and i followed the sticky, but no help there. Would i stil be able to play demanding games without the driver?

 

I tried it again, at the end of the installation from laptopvideo2go.com, the prompt says, "The systems has not been modified, to install this program at a later time, run the installation again. Click finish to exit the wizard." I guess i'll just use the dell driver for now until I can find a solution to this.

 

Try the "have disk" method and see if that helps:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11997

 

Are you replacing the original INF files with the modded one from that site? You have to since those drivers were made to work only with desktop GPUs, but laptopvideo2go makes modded INFs to let them be used on laptop GPUs. Just need to make sure you download the driver, modded INF, and replace the one in the driver with it.

 

voila. after non stop googling and forum searching, I fixed it! I don't know how though...

But thanks for the help guys!

 

Now I am having the same problem. I have a compal JFL92 that said it had a 8600M GT GPU, however, xp and nvidia.com say it is "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter". how did you fix it? nvidia wont let me install drivers as it says i dont not have the right hardware or something like that. plz help.

 

NVIDIA DRIVERS

Choices:
Quote:
-Stock Drivers from your Manufacturer
-XtremeG
-LaptopVideo2Go
For owners of notebooks with SLI (2 video cards installed), this guide by Stone825 is a must read.

The XtremeG drivers and Laptop2Go drivers are both very good. Installing the XtremeG drivers is easier.

-TweaksRUs (XtremeG) Drivers
These are fairly simple as well. Read the release notes.

-LaptopVideo2Go Drivers
These have a lengthier install process. Follow the directions below:

Quote:
1. Click on the driver version (ex: 91.33) to download the drivers.

2. Once finished, double-click the .exe file and extract all drivers (default location is your desktop). A folder will appear with the name of the version of the driver (ex: 91 33). The installation process will not start yet (you don't want it to anyway).

3. Still on the LaptopVideo2Go website, right click the .INF and hit "Save Link As...". Put it somewhere.

4. Now, take that .INF file, and drag it into the extracted drivers folder. Overwrite when prompted.

5. Now you will be able to install the drivers (you needed to replace the .INF file to do that).

6. Open the extracted drivers folder.

7. Double-click Setup.exe, follow the instructions.
If you receive any messages asking whether to Stop or Continue installation, always hit "Continue Anyway."

As always, restart when you're done.