Nvidia Mobile 196.86

Nautis1100 found these over at Dell.

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26254-nvidia-graphics-driver-19686-released/

Mobile set. No heat probs here.

Only for Win7/Vista x64.

See my second post for non Dell installation instructions.

 

Good stuff bro thanks. I have the fubar driver on my HDX right now. Made my own inf, not having any heat issues, but I'll try this one tonite. +rep

 

*bump*

10chars

 

Isn't this driver a mobile driver? Why we need a inf file for?

 

Because if, like me, you can't install NVIDIA drivers from the NVIDIA site, then it's necessary to mod them to get them to install.

 

Hmm I might wait, to see if Nvidia puts these up on the main site.

 

It required an INF because it is a Dell mobile driver and doesn't support all GPUs. It does however support a lot.

I had posted the LV2G INF (removed now, see below) and this allowed the driver to install. Despite the fact that my GPU is supported it wouldn't install otherwise.

I am very impressed with this driver. I was having to use an older one because of stuttering on some games. That problem has gone with these, FPS are up and everything seem that little bit snappier with it.

I did run into problem which requires a different change before installing. I was experiencing a BSOD on boot every other time which was annoying, so I edited the original inf instead of using the replacement and changed the hardware ID number to my own. There has been no problem since.

It is fairly simple to do this as long as your GPU is included already (see the link above) and well worth it IMO. If you are already using a Dell or Alienware then you don't need to do any of this it should just work. Extract the driver and open up the nvdm.inf file in the installation directory. Scroll to bottom and find out the device ID for your card, for example mine is "060C" for my 8800M GTX. Scroll up near the top and find the other section that has this, for example "%NVIDIA_DEV. 060C.01% = Section008, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_060C&SUBSYS_019C1028". Next you need to open up device manager and go into the properties for your display device. Go into the details tab and select Hardware Ids. Note the number after "SUBSYS_", for example mine is "05731558". Finally replace the part in the INF that for me is the "019C1028" to what is for me "05731558". Save the file and run the setup and you should be in business.

Also this installed a small Dell "hotkey driver" in the start up so I just removed that. You can use many progs to do this, for example CCleaner.

 

Feedback is good on these so far, using the method described above.

What do other NBR posters think?

 

Nice driver, gaming-wise, but...

- Still seeing major latency spikes
- Can not adjust screen brightness
- Can not force AA in games

 

Screen brightness adjust no issue here via normal methods on HP HDX, no latency issues. Haven't tried forcing AA.

 

What OS are you using?

 

hmm wish it supported 335m in original INF, afraid to use modded inf if BSODs occur

 

Ah cool, no more BSODs on start up for me

I modded the .inf according to the little tutorial on the site and it worked wonderfully.

 

What's your hardware id? The one you find in the device manager as I described in my second post.

 

Is there anyway of getting this driver to work with the GTS 360M? I put the modified nv_disp.inf into the driver folder after it's extracted but it still says that no compatible hardware is found.

 

Did you remove the .txt from the end of the extension?

 

Yes, I changed .txt to .inf.

 

I've altered the original inf for you prism and attached it (edit:removed see later post).

Replace the existing nvdm.inf file with it. Make sure you've got rid of the nv_disp.inf if that is still there.

 

Thanks, but sorry still not working for some reason. Same error
"The Nvidia Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware setup."

I've tried redownloading and replacing the nvdm.inf in the new folder, but still same error.

 

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0CAF&SUBSYS_04431028&REV_A2

I believe it's 04431028

Since I don't see the 335m I assume I can't really replace anything in the INF..

 

I used a known hardware id for an asus GTS 360m but it might not be the same as yours. If you could check it we might be able to get you sorted.

 

*Post deleted*

 

thanks galdere, before I install I looked it over, I believe what you edited this line:
%NVIDIA_DEV.0CAF.01% = Section026, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_ 0A29&SUBSYS_04431028

btw how did you know my 335m was 0CAF before I edited my post? Second, should the line above 0A29 be changed to 0CAF??

installed it via have disk method and installed fine.. although no aero desktop peek (grayed out) and on reboot still unavailable and resolution went down to 800x600 and max resolution I can have is 1024x768. So I uninstalled =T

 

No problem.

I added:

%NVIDIA_DEV.0CAF.01% = Section026, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A29&SUBSYS_04431028

and

NVIDIA_DEV.0CAF.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M"

That's all I did. I know it's 0CAF cos I hang about the LV2G forum. The line above 0A29 (GT 330M) is 06FB (Quadro FX 370M). No reason to change it. But you have made me realise that 0A29 on that line should be 0CAF, cos I copied and changed and forgot that. Thanks I am half asleep. Have redone yours and prism's. Hope it works now sorry.

EDIT: azn's changed to below.

 

oh, I meant "above" as in above the current line in that post hehe, I changed that line before I installed it cuz I figured it should've been it. But yeah not useable for me =( thanks though! +1

 

Hmm that's a shame. I used section 26 because I thought it would be a close match. You could either trial and error the others or what someone who's card is not already included has posted about on LV2G is use the generic nvidia inf from the last notebook driver.

EDIT: Also try changing the feature score to F6 in section 26 with the inf I posted.

I've done that for you to try if you like:

 

Win7 64 bit

 

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0CB1&SUBSYS_203C1043&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0CB1&SUBSYS_203C1043
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0CB1&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0CB1&CC_0300

Thanks Galdere it works now.

What did you add to the nvdm.inf?

 

Same type of thing as Azn's but I already knew your hardware id as well.

It should be noted that the inf sections for this might not be the same for another driver, so you can't use the same changes universally.

Also, it normally works to just delete the hardware id if your card is already in the inf. It wasn't for me this time so I posted the full edit.

Pieter over at LV2G has posted a new inf that should support all cards for this driver.

 

Same type of thing as Azn's but I already knew your hardware id as well.

It should be noted that the inf sections for this might not be the same for another driver, so you can't use the same changes universally.

Also it normally works to just delete the hardware id if your card is already in the inf. It wasn't for me this time so I posted the full edit.

Pieter over at laptopvideo2go.com has posted a new inf that should support all cards for this driver.

 

Downloaded the driver...my gpus temp is rising for no reason and im not playing any games! Its at 117F and sometimes goes up to 127F..

 

53 Celcius? Doesn't matter.

 

Just played dirt 2 with the new driver. Having a bit of a problem. The lighting is really really dark. Each stage/level/course has this really dark lighting. It was running perfectly last night before I downloaded this driver.

Help?

 

Running these drivers and they work great for me. Just like the 196.34 I get great fps and better temps than with older drivers. Currently my GPU idles @ 43 Celcius and reaches a maximum of 90 degrees under heavy overclocked stress while running BFBC2 1920x1200 2xAA High settings. Have a new gameplay vid on youtube using these drivers if you want to check it out.

 

if my description was a little vague before, if you've ever played dirt 2 you'll know what im talking about. The lighting is still there, its just very very dark. I tried increasing the gamma but that did nothing. I was running it on sli, the latest driver (196.86) and GFWL update which makes dirt 2 support sli. Its the only game I've played so far with this new driver.

 

So far, these are the only Drivers for me that rival 186.81 and give me smoother performance with GTA IV. I will do further testing but it appears to have solved the graphical glitches issue I was getting with DX10 in BFBC2 as well. I will test more later, temps are also fine.

 

I can't wait to try these drivers but are they officially available or do you need to mod the inf to get them to work let's say, on my Quadro?

 

These are for Dell Mobile so any other completely different laptop will need a modified.inf. Be sure to read through the thread to select the updated .inf.

They are classed as beta Drivers too.

Further testing has shown excellent all round gaming performance and lower GPU temps with these. Maybe it has something to do with the adaptive GPU 3D clocks as opposed to 100% full 3D clocks all of the time.

@ Terminal42

No problems with Dirt 2 either but I haven't updated to any recent patches in that game.

 

so frustratingly close to getting this driver install correctly. If I install the 196.86 driver it works WITH switching graphics. This is via have disk method on the discrete GPU. The intel graphics has the old 185.55 driver that is used for the hybrid graphics. Everything seems to work perfectly this way. It's only after reboot when the IGP VGA gets screwed up and says cannot load driver properly, thus I am unable to switch into discrete GPU and the VGA driver is screwy at 800x600 resolution. It's something about the nvidia hybrid drivers for the intel that's not matched up with the 1986.86 discrete drivers. I'm thinking if we can merge the ini files of the 185.55 that includes instructions for intel drivers with the 196.86 ini files then I could get this working properly. I know some sort of editing can be done, since I've used the dox drivers and those ini files have been modded to allow gfx switching properly. Been trying different things of installing/uninstalling drivers but keeps screwing up after reboot.

*edit*
I went ahead and disabled the switchable graphics so only discrete is used and was able to install these drivers. I guess I'll see how well they work and see if it's worth staying on discrete 24/7. I'll run crysis benchmark since I have a previous benchmark on this to compare to.

 

Getting bsod on GTX 260m on G51vx Rx05...With original inf i get unable to find compatible hardware, and with the new and old modded inf get bsod. Can someone please help me, i really want to make this new driver work.

 

Try using this method

 

what method.i tried using, the inf he says to use in that page but it still gives me the bsod. Someone with a g51 must have gotten this to work. Som1 please help

 

The method in post 9 in that link.

 

NICE THANK you man. got it to work yur the boss

 

Glad you got it to work, that Driver is the best for me so far, especially in GTA IV smoothness and BFBC2 fixing the artifacts in DX10 issue. The link I gave was supposed to jump straight to post 9 but I guess that didn't work lol.

 

did this driver better from 195.62?

 

I noticed these drivers don't allow my computer to wake up from sleep properly. Just has a blank screen but the lights are still on. heh. hmm

 

Forgive me if this is a dumb question but how can a Beta driver carry a WHQL certificate?

Surely if it passes all their Quality requirements..... Or do they send beta drivers to the QL testers too?