P-78xx FX video drivers

I need some assistance from this fine community.

I am currently in a battle with Gateway trying to get them to replace the motherboard/GPU for my 7805. Gateway is trying to tell me that their driver (the 176.15) are the ONLY ones compatible with the 9800m GTS, and therefore will not service my laptop.

I am currently using the the Nvidia 186.03, and as I said above, they are telling me that this driver is not compatible with the 78xx series laptop.

My request is this.

If you have a 78xx series laptop, would you mind listing here what driver version you are using, and if you have had any issues with that driver.

Thank you in advance.

 

Yep, 186.03 locks up in Crysis Warcraft... at 4x anti-aliasing within seconds, @ 2x within 20 minutes or so on my 7811 (P9700 CPU, everything else stock, no O/C or undervolt, etc.) at 1024 x 768 "optimal" settings.

I think what Gateway is trying to tell you is not that the 176.15 driver is the only compatible build, but the only one they have tested on the machine and the only one they will support. This may or may not be legal - I'm not a lawyer and have no idea - but without hiring one I doubt you'll get them to change their policy.

Why not either go back to that driver or wait for nVidia to come out with a new one that will hopefully address whatever issue you're having? Lock-ups with 186.03 are a known problem, you can't really blame Gateway if nVidia has released a buggy driver, and certainly can't expect them to replace the mobo/GPU because of it.

 

Well its Gateway not ASUS lol.

Its the 176.15 and DOX 185.02 that do not cause my system to freak out and crash, every other driver will do things like this or cause a BSOD.

 

If there is not an issue with the drivers they have released you have little to no recourse. Gateway does not have to issue new drivers and/or not support outside drivers including WHQL versions. They only need support their own.

I have myself a P7805 and 186.03 running Windows 7 and no issues to speak of. I know the answers stink but when you run outside software/drivers then you become the "Support Tech". This is one of the main reasons venues such as this forum flurish..............

 

I'm using 185.85 and I have no problem so far unless the heating thing over Furmark.
Gateway 7805 Fx. I never tried 186.03

 

Hi Boomer1979

I think I'm having the same problem as you...

however I have yet to find another driver that works with my 9800m gts besides the almighty gateway 176.15 driver.

btw, I never got a BSOD before... only the distorted screen and black block blinking screen, and I wonder if you experiencing that too..

check out my thread,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=404204

 

Most likely there is a file that is not getting replaced or eliminated. The file may be a problem right from the recovery disk and or even the recovery partition. If it were damaged to the point it never goes way then there is your issue as when you go back to the default driver version you are using that file again...........

It may be as simple as just running chkdsk or take some real digging into to find...........

 

so which driver is most recommended for the 7805u? i am on the 186.03 right now.

 

I stand corrected - and so does my post!

It's like the old joke:

Man goes to doctor and says "Doc it hurts when I twist like this..."

Doctor says "Well, then, don't twist like that!"

If you've got two drivers that work well for you... use one of them? Until nVidia releases something new that also works well for you and has improved performance, anyway.

But in fact it seems strange that you cannot use any other driver than those two. I can think of two likely causes: heat, and code remnants left behind when you uninstall one driver to install another.

If it's heat a hardware monitoring program should sniff that out: if you're getting GPU temps above 90C you need to find the cause. Could be anything from blocked or dusty vents/fans to a bad application of thermal paste on your GPU heatsink.

As for insuring you get a completely clean install see the "Definitive guide to updating nVidia drivers" sticky thread on this forum.

 

Its not heat, and Gateway already replaced the hard drive in case of bad code, im pretty sure its a defective GPU, im supposed to contact their Tier 2 support monday, thats just going to be a blast because at my job I am Tier 2 support.

 

It could be bad file but if not then it may be the dedicated video memory. the GPU is temperature monitored but I don't think the ram is. I wonder if when on desktop does your video and ram downclock from powermizer?

 

Good luck with that! Somehow I don't see the "new" Gateway, desperately clinging to whatever tiny margins they still have in the middle of the worst recession in 50 years being too sympathetic, but hopefully they'll prove me wrong. I hope you'll post back the end result...

 

Im using DOX 182.46 here on XP 32-bit (Not like Gateway would support the OS anyways) and loving it. DOX 185.20 caused slight stuttering issues for me.

 

here's my experience of drivers:-

186.03: only good for benchmarking; crashes in everything else especially DoW2 - all the time, every time

190.15: works great for everything; lacks WHQL certification due to being beta drivers so no Blu-Ray playback compatibility (not so much of an issue if you dont have a BD-ROM drive).

190.34: same as above

DOX 185.85: a good compromise between performance and enables Blu-Ray playback. Gained 11929 in 3DMark 06 on 700/950/1800 OC (X9100 equipped though).

 

For a long time, the 185.85 modified drivers were the best, but I've been trying out new drivers for a week with a little feedback. All are from LaptopVideo2go.com with modified .ini files (Vista x64)


190.40 - Stable for the minute. Did not test 3DMark06 with this one, but works with all of my games tested so far. No noticeable performance gains except fewer FPS dips in Call of Duty: World At War.

190.15 - Worked with everything with about +80 in 3DMark06, but no Blu-Ray.

190.56 - Whole mess of issues, including flickering, screwed up Powermizer, OC settings not sticking and choppy Blu-Ray playback. Avoid!

190.38 - Installed fine for me, but some say it's buggy. Had some issues with 2D application, like Aero not working sometimes and odd visual glitches. Worked fine with most games, but Crysis had a fit with this one and crashes within a minute.

186.34 - Worked fine in all games, but -53 in 3DMark06. Noticeable performance gain in Crysis, Crysis:Warhead, and GTA IV, but Call of Duty 4 & World At War have struggles with odd FPS dips and choppiness.

DOX 185.85 - Proper Blu-Ray playback and stable gaming all around. 3DMark06 gains were varried, but averaged about +120. Does not seem to like Unreal 3 Engine games. I tested with Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War, and Mass Effect, and all experienced a small performance loss, with gameplay becoming very choppy at times and an overall lower maximum framerate. I don't play those games very often, so not that big of an issue for me. Crysis had a good 3-4 FPS increase with what felt like more fluid gameplay.



I would either recommend 190.40 or DOX 185.85 (unless you play Unreal Engine 3 games, but that's just my experience).

 

Hey Professor - Helpful post, + rep for you!

 

I cant use nvidia system tools 6.05 with Dox 185.85. It just wont install. Have tried cleaning old drivers up in safe mode with Driver sweeper, but nothing. And Rivatuner just sucks. I increase in RT, but actually it doesn't work. Any ideas?

 

If you don't overclock, is there any reason to install nVidia System Tools, and if so, which parts of it are useless and don't need to be loaded?

 

Ofc, i OC. Thats the only thing i install from System tools. I never check monitoring and updating for installation. Only Performance tool.

 

For some reason my computer wont install 186.03 or DOX 185.85 properly. Install finishes but i would not actually have the drives. Only one that works for me right now is 190.15. I driver sweep my computer every time i uninstall drivers to another one, but still doesn't seem to help at all.

 

I have had that problem with those drivers too for some reason. I had that problem when i had Vista. You?

EDIT:
I installed 186.34 drivers with moded inf, from laptopvideo2go.com. I had a great performance boost in UT3 (around +20 fps in 1920x1200). But when i play on lower resolutions, the scaling doesn't work. When i play on 1600x1200 or lower, there are black bars on both sides of screen- vertical. Like it doesn't stretch to fullscreen. I have had that problem before, but then i just reinstall different drivers and i forget this. But i really like these drivers, is there any workaround?
Many thanks!

 

use custom res 1680x1050 o.o (thats a 16:10 res)

 

That helped, but why different aspect ratio works? And original scaling doesnt?
+rep to you

 

Nope running Windows 7 RC, so far the only driver working for me is 190.15 everything else wont install.