nVidia .inf modding questions / clarifications

I recently purchased an MSI GTX 980m MXM card off of eBay to put in my HP 8770w. I am trying to prepare my process for modifying the inf files to get this to work. My understanding is that I shouldn't have to mess with the vBIOS at all since it's an MSI card and should have a vBIOS for LVDS displays already and the only thing I'll need to do is modify the drivers to get them to install and function correctly.

I've done the research on how to mod the inf files and how to find the hardware ID's and replace them in the inf files. My biggest question is, how do I know which inf files to modify? Everything I've read so far has said to modify the nvcvi.inf and nvdmi.inf files. From what I understand these two inf files are for Clevo and for Dell/Alienware. Would these still be the correct inf files to modify for my setup? Do these files correspond to the laptop manufacturer or the video card manufacturer, or both? If I have an MSI GPU and an HP laptop, shouldn't I be modifying the nvhmi.inf and nvmii.inf files, or am I thinking about this completely wrong somehow?

If someone could help me better understand how the nVidia installer chooses which inf file(s) to pull from that would be excellent so I can make sure I am modding the correct files.

Appreciate the help!

 

Hey buddy, this should help you out. Nvcv is for clevos... other manufacturers are different files.

I'm going through a similar situation, hopefully I'll get mine figured out soon. Good luck

http://null-bin.blogspot.com/2015/08/how-to-modify-nvidia-notebook-driver.html?m=1

 

@j95 has modded infs ask his help.

 

nvhmi is for non business marketed HP devices
nvbli is for hp business marketed HP devices


find your laptop's Mobo ID in device manager as described in Null's Guide for example my G1 Zbook 15 is "1909"

Now I suggest modifying nvbli.inf by taking one of the combinations that pairs your 8770w's Mobo ID with a quaddro GPU ID that you don't own nor intend to own
-change the quaddro's GPU ID with the GPU ID of your 980m which should be "1617"
-Add a line in strings for your "1617" describing it as GeForce GTX 980M
*use Null's Guide for proper formatting of everything*

 

I was going to just add new strings to the inf. Is it better to mod an existing string, or same-same just different approach?

 

In my experience There isn't any pro to adding your own lines within the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64******************] sub section that applies to your OS just room for additional error

If you modify an existing line that is already for your laptop within the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64******************] sub section that applies to your OS that line will already be set up for your laptop with the best section ID which will have the best options for you already configured like Stereoscopic 3D, Optimus Support etc and you will save your self time on the modification side of things as well as troubleshooting side

now I want to be careful to make distinction between lines and strings as there is a [Strings] sub section which is responsible for telling the system the name of the GPU which combines Laptop Mobo IDs with GPU IDs

The changes I recommend to lines pertaining to your laptop and whichever GPU ID you don't need must be made within
-The [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64******************] sub section that applies to your OS
-[Strings] sub section
Again please use Null's guide when configuring all sub sections

 

She's in and running! Easy install, worked on first inf mod, added my own lines and bam, working like a treat! I'd call this a marked improvement from that cruddy K4000m!

 

I'm just curious if you ever ran into this issue?

To me, it means that the device is recognized in the INF files, just not sure why it would do this.

 

Not seen that. No reason why the install failed comes up? Definitely seems that it's at least detecting the hardware. Don't know if it's related but do you have hardware signature verification or whatever disabled?

 

Yeah, they are disabled. I've tried the last two releases for divers same issue on both.

I may try an older driver just to see if that works. Outdated is better than none I suppose

 

Might try installing in safe mode? Long shot, but maybe you have something weird running in the background conflicting with the install. Also, try running DDU first to make sure all remnants of any old drivers are completely removed if you haven't already. https://www.wagnardsoft.com/

 

I will definitely give that a go. Every time I edit an inf file I have to edit it outside of the folder as I don't have permission to save in its current location. Opening and editing is fine, just can't save it. And then when I move the edited inf over to replace the old inf I can't open it any more as I don't have access.

So something funky is going on, and perhaps safe mode would fix it.

 

Yeah I created a copy of the inf, threw it on my desktop, made my changes, then copied it back to the folder overwriting the original for the same reason, wouldn't let me edit directly. Worked for me though. I don't think your inf mods are wrong however since it's letting you get past the hardware check.

Out of sheer curiosity what are you upgrading from and to and in what notebook?

 

Are you sure its disabled? You have to go through the disable process each time you update these drivers, it is not a set it and forget it thing.

It is also possible that you downloaded the wrong drivers like desktop ratherthan mobile, or the wrong OS version of the mobile drivers. Or something is off in your current INF some section IDs are set not to to install, etc

 

Every time I attempt to run setup.exe I disable the signatures by advanced restarting and hitting 7. I then uninstall the Microsoft display adapter, and then I have to run the setup.exe via command line as it does not let me otherwise.

As for the inf, these are the only changes I've made (to the nvcvi and nvdmi files).

My 765m ID is 11e1.7500.1558mumbojumbo75001558Rev_A1

From my understanding the Rev_A1 is irrelevant?

I first searched for "765m" which would bring me to the strings section. Let's say the ID here is:

"11e1.1204.1098mumbo jumbo = 765m"

I would change the string to:
"11e1.7500.1558mumbo jumbo = 765m"

I would then search for other occurrences of "11e1.1204.1098" using ctrl f of course.

Anywhere I would see this ID I would change it to:

mumbojumbo.11e1.7500.1558mumbojumbo75001558

 

INF mod looks correct.

I did not uninstall the MS display driver before installing, seems unlikely that would be causing your issue however.

Did you run a driver cleaner like DDU to make sure all remnants of old drivers and software are gone?

 

Yeah, I've tried it both ways. Thinking the MS driver could have been messing with something.

Will definitely have to try out the safe mode later tonight

 

Unfortunately, safe mode didn't work either. Same thing happens in safe mode.

Perhaps the card just really isn't compatible. I may switch over to Windows 10, and see if anything changes. I kind of doubt it... but can't hurt right?

It just sucks because I want to know what the specific monitor is on this laptop, but I can't do so unless I get the VGA drivers working to get the non-generic monitor drivers so that I can use moninfo

 

I got mine on the first shot but

The next thing I might try is to mod a different inf that you can find that GPU model in. I know I've seen a few posts where that has fixed some install issue for people. Maybe try modding the Alienware / Dell inf or the Clevo inf. Forgot what one you said you were using currently.

 

I've modded the Clevo and Dell files (nvcvi and nvdmi) but I may end up trying to see if I can modify all of them at some point. Not sure why that would be the issue, but hey... who knows

I should also mention it's a Dell card going into a Clevo, which is why the whole inf modding is necessary, I think. That or it's just a much older card than the machine.

 

Try using the stock nvcvi and nvdmi, and find another inf with that GPU code in it and try modding just that one for ****s and giggs to see if it does anything different.

 

Currently successfully installing drivers. But just in case someone runs into a similar issue as me, this is how (I think) I fixed it.

So, following a guide I was told to edit both the nvdmi AND the nvcvi file. At that point I was a little confused as it's a clevo machine... thus it would make sense to just do the nvcvi. However, I didn't question it because it was a dell card, and maybe that impacted it somehow.

As laid out in the thread, ran into issues... So, on a whim I changed the ownership of the NVIDIA and subsequent folders to admin, and I only edited the nvcvi file. I'm not sure which step fixed the issue, probably the latter. Changing the ownership of the file made editing the nvcvi file a breeze though. No longer did I have to copy to the desktop edit, and copy back over.

Similarly, after editing the file you could save it and open it again without issue.

 

Congrats! Glad you got it sorted out.

As far as modding the inf files goes, what I learned early on in this thread is that it doesn't matter what inf file you mod, even if it's for a completely different brand of laptop or card, just as long as the inf contains you GPU model code. I have to think that your problem was definitely due to the access rights that you fixed. That was my confusion in the beginning, trying to figure out which inf to modify and how the installer might try and choose which one to look in. It looks in all of the infs and just looks for your HWID combo, regardless of actual brands.

Show off some new benchmark scores when she's up and running! Got any baseline scores from your old card to compare with?

 

Thanks! I appreciate it. And that's very interesting about the inf files.

Unfortunately, the GPU I put in it was a cheapo 765m. So no impressive benches or anything. I just wanted the drivers because my VMs were not scaling correctly because of the MS generics. A good 15% of the screen would be cut off at the bottom.

I'm mightily impressed with the machine though, running some pretty hefty VMs and the fans are hardly a whisper...

Bought the barebones for pretty cheap, just didn't expect getting the display to play nice would be so finicky

 

Heck yeah, sounds like you're all set now man. I ended up getting my 980 for a song, only reason I got it, not knowing if it would work (if it was lvds or edp model) but I got lucky. I just made up for that good deal by paying an astronomical amount for a DC display though, haha.

 

Yeah, I think this thing has a LVDS screen unfortunately... so future options are a bit limited. I was hoping it would be eDP, but the seller didn't know. I'm just surprised, considering the panel listed in HWinfo isn't on the owner's lounge for the clevo p750zm/p751zm. It is a nice panel though, so I'm definitely glad of that.

I suppose it will also force me to separate productivity from play haha.

 

You should not have to Uninstall the Microsoft default driver

What os are you on? Are you sure you made the inf edits in the corresponding os section?

 

I got it working, still not entirely sure what the problem was. Would editing two inf files be an issue?

I made the edits in every section.

The time it worked I changed two things, ownership of the Nvidia directory and only editing one file, the nvcvi file.

I'm definitely leaning towards the ownership was causing something funky

 

I agree ownership most likely caused the issue

 

Glad to see you got this working. Been following along hoping to learn a little about the process but sadly it doesn't look like this will help me. I've been trying to get 3 NVIDIA 765M's to work in two different laptops. My wifes laptop a P151HM1 distributed by Cyberpower, and then my laptop a Sager X8100/ Clevo NP8120 with SLI. I tried my wifes laptop first. removed the old 560M and installed the 765M. The laptop freezes at a splash screen for intel and will not post. I'm guessing it has to do with the motherboard not supporting that particular graphics card or something. I can put the 560M back in and boot it with no issues. I've tried all three 765M's just to make sure it wasn't a defective card. I'm open to any ideas. Need to get this done soon or I won't have my laptop when I travel for the next month and a half and I'd like to get my wifes' done before I leave.

 

So the same thing happens on both of your computers when you try and put this video card in it?

Out of curiosity are you using a legacy BIOS or UEFI on these two notebooks?

 

I have only tried it on the P151HM1 so far. However due to the P151 being a newer laptop than my NP8120 I figured it would have the best chance of supporting the card right out of the gate. However that is not the case unfortunately. I have been unable to find any mention on the net of anyone upgrading either of these machines to anything better than a 680M. So my guess is it has something to do with the BIOS not supporting this particular card. Which means I need someone who can modify a bios. I tried emailing the guy listed below and let him know I was willing to donate to his "beer fund" in exchange for his services but got no response.

http://www.biosman.com/custom.htm

As far as I know both are using legacy BIOS circa 2010-2012.

 

Do you have the option to switch to UEFI or is it legacy only?

 

Legacy only

 

Darn. You may well be stuck unless you can get help with a BIOS mod.

 

Yep, That's my guess. If you know anyone or have suggestions let me know.