My GeForce 7900GS will not work with Vista, Please help

mikey1090 · May 23, 2008

I'm in desperate need of help.

I bought a new hard drive and did a clean install of windows vista on it.

The installation went fine and everything is running fine, except I have to unplug my graphics card and use the standard VGA built in standard thing which obviously is no good.

I've downloaded several drivers. When I try install them it gives an error relating to not having the correct hardware avaialble for the driver or something like that.

On my old XP setup I had a small X icon in the system tray which was the xpertvision menu/program - which allowed me to change stuff like the fan speed, resolution etc.

This isn't installed obviously, and seen as when I bought this graphics card last year the only drivers on the disk were for XP/2000.

I can only run vista using the graphics card when I start windows in safe mode - when I run it in normal mode I just get a blank black screen after the loading screen.

Can you advise me of a solution - or advise me if there IS any solution at all.

Windows Vista 32-Bit
geforce 7900GS 512MB
2GB RAM
Intel Pentium D processor 2.8GHtz
22 " Samsung Monitor

Thanks,
Mike

Lid8nhx · May 24, 2008

Did you download these drivers?

ForceWare Release 169

mikey1090 · May 24, 2008

I got the error message relating to my current hardware setup when I tried to install.

The only time it doesn't throw up that error is when I have the graphics card plugged in - and the only time that happens is when I am in safe mode as it doesn't work at any other time.

dmex · May 27, 2008

Hi Mikey,

Go here and get the right drivers for your Graphics card...NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Automatically Detect NVIDIA Products

Version Release Date
GeForce Release 175.16 Vista 32bit WHQL 175.16 May 13, 2008

Steven

mikey1090 · May 27, 2008

OK here is what happens.

I am running in normal mode using my VGA on board graphics. I try and install those dirvers but it doesn't work as I don't have my graphics card plugged in at the time.

Therefore to install these drivers I will need to be using my graphics card to power my display. So I reboot, but of course the only way I can use my PC with my graphics card plugged in is when I'm in safe mode.

So I start in safe mode and install the drivers. They install without any problems and I am told I need to restart my PC.

I do so, and when windows runs in normal mode I get a black screen after the "Microsoft Corporation" loading screen. I know windows has started as I can hear the startup/login windows tunes in the background.

What on earth am I supposed to do now? I don't want to have to buy anything else like a new card or have to downgrade to XP.

Please advise.

ripbox · May 27, 2008

ok 1st un-install the graphics driver for the vga
shut-down the pc
plug in the g-card
boot up and go into BIOS, in the bios menu somewhere will be an option to disable the on-board VGA
disable it, then save and quit
now hopefully windows should boot
will will most likely find that the desktop is large and cluttered
now provided you get this far and you can see the screen you will now have to options
1 use the drivers that windows update will provide you with or 2 install the drivers that you have downloaded
you should then be prompted to reboot
once you have fully booted you should see what to be an almost normal desktop
all you should have left now is to tweak you settings to get you screen how you like it :D
i hope this helps you

good luck :D

mikey1090 · May 27, 2008

OK i'll give it a go.

How do I uninstall VGA drivers?
Where abouts in BIOS will I locate the option to disable the on board VGA.
Up until now windows has shown a blank screen when I load up vista. Why will it be different this time?

Thanks.

ripbox · May 27, 2008

ok you can un-install the drivers threw device manager or ad and remove programs if its listed

each BIOS is different so i really cant tell you.... in 1 of the menus you should see something along the lines of on-board graphics/VGA :enabled just change it to disabled

you should see something similar to this

it will/should be different this time because there will only be 1 card booting up and no driver conflict

mikey1090 · May 27, 2008

Thanks for the quick reply.

It didn't work. I got confronted with the usual black screen again

I have no idea what to try now

ripbox · May 27, 2008

i see this card requires supplementary power
this might sound a little stupid but a lot of people do forget to connect the supplementary sower supply
make sure it is connected/correctly
i.e if it has 2 dims to joining into 1 then be sure that there are 2 power dims connected not just 1
also even though the card might look like its in the correct position it could also be that it isn't quite sat right in the pci slot.... be sure to press quite firmly and evenly to be sure it is fitted correctly

mikey1090 · May 27, 2008

It was in the correct position - the only PCI express slot.
It had its seperate power lead plugged in correctly.

Anything else? I really don't want to see this card go to waste as its pretty decent.

johngalt · May 27, 2008

Those requiring external power won't work at all if the power is not connected, correct? Even my old AGP x1650 Pro, which required external power would not work *at all* if external power was not connected....

mikey1090 · May 28, 2008

The external power was connected.

Dwarf · May 28, 2008

Hi Mike,
Is your Vista PC the same machine that you previously had XP on, and if so did you use the 7900GS graphics card and was your system working correctly? If the answer is 'yes', then we need to look at the changes made to the system prior to you installing Vista. According to your post, you installed Vista on a new hard drive on your system. Did you leave the drive with XP on it installed, or did you remove it and install the new drive in its place? Try removing the old drive and install the new one in its place so the hardware configuration of your system is EXACTLY the same as when you had XP on it, except, of course, for the different hard drives. Check that the drive is recognised in the BIOS (refer to your motherboard manual). Whilst in your BIOS, check the power configuration settings. As far as I know, APM (Advanced Power Management) is no longer supported in Vista whereas its replacement, ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface), is. Then try and install Vista. If you have success with this, install the latest WHQL graphics driver (currently 175.16). You will need to install this from an account with administrative privileges, preferably the account that you set up when installing Vista.
Dwarf

mikey1090 · May 28, 2008

Is your Vista PC the same machine that you previously had XP on, and if so did you use the 7900GS graphics card and was your system working correctly?

Yes. I XP installed on a hard drive before this, and the graphics card worked fine. It was amazing in fact.

I decided I wanted to upgrade to vista so to save all the hassle of overwriting XP etc I did a clean install on a new hard drive.

Vista was installed smoothly. There is no issues with the hard drive. The only issue I have it that I can a black screen when I load vista in normal mode.

Vista loads fine when booted in safe mode using my graphics card.

Dwarf · May 28, 2008

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply. This confirms that there is unlikely to be a hardware problem on your machine and that the problem would appear to be software-based. Try the following. Click the start orb and type 'msconfig' into the search box and press enter/return. After providing administrative credentials, the 'System Configuration' utility will appear. Select the 'Boot' tab. Next, click to put a tick in the checkbox next to 'Base video'. Click 'OK' to close the dialogue and reboot your system. Does your system now boot?
Dwarf

SCSIraidGURU · May 28, 2008

What power supply do you have? What are your specs?

mikey1090 · May 28, 2008

Hi Dwarf,

Thanks for the quick reply. I did what you said and the PC rebooted. This was without my graphics card being plugged into its slot.

Now I've rebooted I've noticed that the resolution has changed. Should this have happened. What has the setting you made me changed supposed to have achieved?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Dwarf · May 28, 2008

Hi Mike,

I meant for you to do that WITH your graphics card installed. As far as I am aware, this switch forces Vista to utilise the driver that is built-in to the graphics card - the one that provides the initial display and also allows you to view and change your BIOS settings. I have found a similar thread with a problem very much like you described in another newsgroup - have a read through and see if the solution offered in there helps. Basically, it mentions doing what I suggested with the 'Base video' option and then booting up and resetting your resolution and refresh rate. I suggest a resolution of 800 x 600 and a refresh rate of 60Hz. These settings should work with all monitor and graphics card combinations.
Dwarf

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/4976-monitor-black-urgent.html

ripbox · May 28, 2008

just another thought
you have dual DVI on you card
be sure that you connected to DVI socket 1
i say this because in vista secondary displays are not activated by default

in the picture below you can see on my system display 1 is activated display 2 is disabled and display 3 is activated

if you have your monitor connected to 2 while only display 1 is active then you wont see anything but a black screen

if that is the way you tried it then try connecting to DVI 2

My GeForce 7900GS will not work with Vista, Please help

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