Installing NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX

Robin1982

Due to an unsuccessful attempt to install Vista (even though the compatibility test passed with flying colours *sigh*) on my 9150 from my previously perfectly working XP Media Centre Edition (from Dell) - I had to reinstall Windows (XP SP1a updated to SP2).

Fired up Windows - its in VGA mode. No probs - off to NVIDIA web site, downloaded the correct driver and attempted to install. Half way through, it goes to a black screen with a flashing white cursor, then after a couple of minutes to a grainy grey coloured screen.

Rebooting doesn't load windows - in fact I can only load Windows if I choose Safe Mode or VGA mode.

No idea what's wrong - everything worked previously with this hardware (when I bought from Dell - power supply is 500W so shouldn't be problem there either). OS is only slightly different now (no MCE).

Anyone experienced this before or have any ideas?

Robin1982

Wouldn't you know it.

Went into Device Manager -> picked display adapter -> Update Driver -> Don't connect Windows Update -> Install from specific location -> Don't Search

Copied one file - then it worked.

8T8

That's unusual on two fronts at least it is working now.

Though why didn't Vista install it is pretty straight forward in it's installer what happened ?

Robin1982

Strange this. I rebooted and Windows didn't boot again - then turned comp on this morning and everything's rosy.

As for Vista - the dreaded blue screen of death (flashes for a second). No idea what's wrong but from the looks of things, plenty others are having the same problem. No matter though, I installed it on my laptop and I'm far from convinced.

8T8

I'd say something is wrong with your system by the sounds of it and it is not stable.

You should not be having those sorts of problems at all first thing to check would be the system's RAM with Memtest+.

Or run the torture test with Prime95 and see if it logs an error is it does then system is not stable with data corruption occuring.

Robin1982

Well I just want to finish this up.

What had happened previously was that I had done a clean install of XP SP1a. Then I installed the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (latest: 96.1x) drivers. Everything OK - Graphics were perfect. Then I turned on Windows Update and downloaded every patch that it deemed essential (including the update to SP2).

As soon as I did that - Windows would boot with a corrupted screen and would automatically hang or shut down. Only booting in safe mode worked.

I again reinstalled Windows XP (SP1a again) - this time did all the patches first, then installed the driver. Same result.

I then installed an old NVIDIA driver (93.x: from 2006) - no difference.

Finally I did a clean reinstall and upgrade to SP2, then went to Dell's Driver Download page, entered in my Model Number and downloaded the NVIDIA driver there (which seems to be quite an old one as it doesn't have the NVIDIA control panel which came in early last year I think, in fact looking it up its ForceWare version 77.74, which is from 2005).

This actually worked - although the max resolution I can set my display to is 1280 x 1024, which is disappointing.

So, after taking a System Restore point, I downloaded the latest driver (again). This time, it "installed" correctly - as in I could see the installation process finish and restart. However, it of course didn't boot correctly.

So, I'm back at my working config now and I think I'll just leave it like that.

8T8

Well the best way to install is to do clean WinXP (no re-install over existing OS) then SP2 and after that now install the drivers for the hardware in the OS.

You can slipstream SP2 into XP to save you the hassle.

Still sounds like something is wrong their Prime95/Memtest is worth a go to confirm.