The Defininitive nVidia Driver Upgrade Guide

[iaTa]

Applicable To: Gateway 8800M/9800M GTS Laptops
Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

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Preparation

1) Download and install Driver Sweeper

2) Download the latest nVidia drivers and appropriate modified inf file from LaptopVideo2Go - scroll down for direct links to latest versions

3) Extract the drivers and copy the modified inf file 'nv_disp.inf' into the extracted driver directory overwriting any existing files

Driver Installation

1) Uninstall current drivers from 'Programs and Features' in control panel -- Do NOT reboot

2) Right click 'Driver Sweeper' -- Select 'Run as administrator'

3) Tick 'NVIDIA - Display' -- Click 'Clean' -- Reboot

4) Right click 'Computer' -- Click 'Manage'

5) Click 'Device Manager' -- Expand 'Display adapters'

6) Right click 'Standard VGA Graphics Adapter' -- Click 'Update Driver Software'

7) Click 'Browse my computer for driver software'

8) Click 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'

9) Click 'Have Disk'

10) Click 'Browse' -- Browse to the extracted driver directory -- Select 'nv_disp.inf' -- Click 'Ok'

11) 'NVIDIA Geforce 8800M/9800M GTS' should be only item in list -- Click 'Next'

12) If you encounter the error 'Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver' click 'Install this driver software anyway'

13) Check for error messages -- Click 'Finish' -- Reboot

14) Installation of new nVidia drivers -- Done!

15) Optional steps -- Increase nVidia digital vibrance -- Install PhysX driver -- Install nVidia System Tools -- Click rep button

Latest Beta Display Drivers and Modified INF Files

Version: 190.89 / 191.00
Release Date: August 27 / September 12, 2009
Driver Released by: nVidia
Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

v190.89 for XP x86
v190.89 for XP x64
v190.89 for Vista/Win7 x86
v191.00 for Vista/Win7 x64

Latest Community Customised Display Drivers

*Modified inf files are not required for these driver sets
(Complete Preparation steps 1 and 2 -- Complete Driver Installation steps 1, 2 and 3 -- Run driver setup)

XFastest Forceware v185.20 (31/3/2009)
Dox Customised Forceware v185.85 (18/05/2009)

Latest nVidia GeForce for Notebooks Drivers

*Modified inf file is not required for this driver set
(Complete Preparation steps 1 and 2 -- Complete Driver Installation steps 1, 2 and 3 -- Run driver setup)

Version: 186.81
Release Date: August 27, 2009
Driver Released by: nVidia
Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

nVidia GeForce for Notebooks v186.81

Latest PhysX System Software

Version: 9.09.0814
Release Date: August 14, 2009
File Size: 39.3 MB
Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

nVidia PhysX System Software v9.09.0814

Latest nVidia System Tools (nTune)

Version: 6.05
Release Date: June 10, 2009
File Size: 85.4 MB
Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

nVidia System Tools with ESA Support v6.05 -- New version of nTune for overclocking your 8800M/9800M

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I hope this little guide will prove useful to the high number of users posting questions about how to upgrade their graphics drivers.

And as a little bonus:

Latest Non-Display Related Drivers

Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Win7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

P-68xx/17xx/78xx FX: Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility v9.1.1.1020 (21/09/2009)
P-68xx/17xx/78xx FX: Intel Matrix Storage Manager v8.9.2.1002 (21/09/2009)
P-68xx/17xx/78xx FX: Intel PRO/Wireless & WiFi Link v12.4.3.9 (21/09/2009)
P-68xx/17xx/78xx FX: Synaptics Touchpad v13.2.6.1 (20/08/2009)
P-68xx/17xx FX: Realtek Media Card Reader v6.0.6000.20136 (16/07/2009)
P-68xx/17xx FX: Realtek Gigabit Ethernet v6.216.0223 (16/07/2009)
P-68xx/17xx FX: Silicon Image SiI 3531 v1.5.19.1
P-68xx/17xx FX: Bluetooth v5.1.0.1500

Get the rest from Gateway Support
...

[royk50]

good one.
sticky+1

i tend to do everything post step 2 in safe mode.

[irata]

nice post, thanks

[irata]

pre packaged .inf for x64 is no good as well. States vista is not compadible with this driver

[iaTa]

Tells you what to do in my guide in that exact situation

[eekamouse]

Awesome stuff guys. I will try this when I get home, and let you know how the .41 drivers work out for me.

I just picked up my 6860 last night. The latest Gateway drivers work well so far for WoW, Spore, and CoD4.

But, I have a feeling that AoC, Bioshock, and Crysis will require a later driver. Great guide and workaround.

Thanks for putting the effort into researching this as well as the work done checking out the PhysX stuff in the other thread

[Skatehouse]

try this inf: 177.41

use these "177.41 drivers" from this site, couldn't get the inf to work with the ones from the nvidia site.

[iaTa]

Cheers Skatehouse - I thought those official drivers looked different once extracted. I've updated all the main driver links in the first post to the ones at Vaguetech. All the modded infs should work fine now.

[irata]

miss that part...thanks

[King_Arthur]

I am seeing the for x64 vista there is one link for both the driver and the inf. Is that correct? Because for the others there is a separate link for the the driver and the inf. If so, does the inf that comes with vista x64 require you to use the GTX method? If it does, have you (or anyone else) been able to run 3dmark06 with that?