X205-SLI1 Can Not Play Gears of War

For some reason my Brand-New default configuration laptop will not run the Gears of War programm once installed.

I get the following message:

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To run Gears of War with your current hardware setup, you must install the following software update or updates:

+ NVIDIA ForceWare 163.44 Driver


If you do not install this software, at some point the game will stop and your progress will be lost.


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I then proceed to page 2 of the message and get directed to nVidia's web page.

That web page tells me to go to my Toshiba dowload pages and install the latest drivers from there.

I've done that and I still get the error message.

I then went to laptopvideo2go.com and installed several of the drivers for Windows Vista 32 bit version starting with Version 163.44.

After installing 163.44 I no longer get the error message but the program will not run more than 5 seconds in the jail cell before crashing.

I have upgraded to more recent drivers to include the latest drivers and I still crash in the opening scene or when the game is running for approximately 3 or more minutes.

The Gears of War program never gets to any voices. After I see the jail cell monsters I get an abrupt crash and Vista tells me that the program has closed for an unknown reason.

The following is my System Summary if it will help compare to a PC able to play / use the Gears of War program / game:


OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6000 Build 6000
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer TOSHIBA
System Model Satellite X205
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz, 2001 Mhz, 2 Core (s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date TOSHIBA V1.90, 10/23/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6000.16407"

Total Physical Memory 2,045.81 MB

Available Physical Memory 1.23 GB

Total Virtual Memory 4.21 GB

Available Virtual Memory 3.21 GB

Page File Space 2.29 GB




I've upgraded the BIOS to the latest available on Toshiba website. I've upgraded to the latest available display drivers on the Toshiba website. No go on anything I have tried.

I think the only thing I haven't tried is downgrading to XP or buying Vista Ultimate.

I am running out of ideas.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

I'd make sure you got all the Vista updates through windows upgrade, and try a clean install of the video drivers... maybe something didn't install right... use a program like driver cleaner, maybe something corrupted and is not getting reinstalled properly. I know the 169.09's work fine with Gears of War, so i'd start with those.... Vista is supported, so unless there's something wierd with your install that shouldn't be the problem

Hopefully someone else can help more

 

I tried everything twice. I have even rebuilt the laptop putting it back to the out-of-box configuration and then starting again with fresh installs of Gears of War at each step.

To say that I have spent a bit of time on this issue is a huge understatement.

I'm going to have to return the laptop. I do not feel I should have to pay for a brand new device and then spend valuable time trying to fix something that should work immediately in an out-of-box configuration.

There's even a picture of Marcus Fenix on an Epic Games / Gears of War sticker on my laptop that shipped with the X205-SLI1.

I called Toshiba on several occasions over the last few days and I was told to try everything I already tried. Which is why I tried some fixes two or three times.

Toshiba support then tells me I will have to wait until a new driver is available for download on something that should already work. Talk about not getting what you pay for. This opened my eyes to what support at Toshiba is like; non-existant.

 

My advice, don't return the laptop, it's a very good laptop (getting mine tomorrow)... What i think it might help you is doing a Clean Install of Vista, .. Stock configuration have outdated drivers and too much garbage (useless programs) so that might be the problem... Try, and if that doesn't work, then return it if you don't feel confortable...

Here's the link for a guide to do a Clean Vista Install...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

Also, i dont know if you tried the 169.xx drivers from laptopvideo2go.com... Those are better than the 163.xx's... But try that after you do a Clean Install of Vista

 

Jose, Sorry to hear that you are still waiting for your laptop. I thought you already had received it. You will enjoy it when it does arrive.

Yeyo, I agree with Jose and really recommend doing the clean install of Vista, that what I did and then istalled the 169.09 video card drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com and I acn play Gears of War, Crysis, COD4 with zero problems.

 

Is this a retail version or acuired version. If you have a firewall make sure you disable it completly before installing i had issues with that before.

 

I had this same problem and found the solution here after installing the tweaked video drivers from http://www.notebookforums.com/thread207696.html . http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=583169 This link might help you find any other problem you have trying to load the game. hope this helps.

 

does 169.09 work with the gefore 8700 as well? because i have an s9359 and when i tried to install it, it said my hardware was incompatable. if that's not for me, which driver is?

 

you guys need the drivers from laptopvideotogo, with modified INF's. As stated above, 169.09 works great for me.

I don't know if this has been covered, buy when I was still running Vista, I had to download the latest version of DirectX to get Bioshockto run. Toshiba seems to offer NO support for getting these "gaming laptops" to actually PLAY games.

 

I bought the same model from Best Buy and had the exact same problem as you. Only took me about 4 hours of surfing forums to find the fix.

Go to http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/vista for the answer to your prayers. This site allows you to download the CURRENT Nvidia drivers with a modified ".inf" file that allows you to install for your Mobile GPU chips. Use the latest version "169.09' with the INF file, just follow the instructions, fixed my problem immediately and I enjoyed the hell out of the game from the on.

One more thing, look on your local hard drive for 'startup.exe' in a folder something like c:\programfiles\gearsofwar\binaries and right click the .exe, go to properties, set it to 'run as adminstrator'.

Good luck, hope this helps. I have no idea why Toshiba doesnt's just update the drivers on their site.

 

Dude I think you have to do a forefull install, dont let it find the drivers you make it go there......

 

Because Toshiba loves having great products with crap support.

 

Its not Toshiba fault, more like Nvidia, the laptopvidep2go drivers are desktop drivers, the inf. file lets you use them in your notebook. Dell,Sager, Asus, all have the same problem. So its Nvidia dropping the ball on support, in fact go to the Nvidia site and you wont find a 8600mGt driver, You'll find on for the desktop model though.