September 5, 2009
- Thanks to some excellent detective work by kane81, we have better infs for driver 169.72 (which should work with XP, Vista, and Windows 7) and for driver 98.16 for Windows 7. The changes to 169.72 allow for smoother Windows 7 video, under both MCE and Media Player, though Aero Glass effects won't be available.
- I've incorporcated the same changes to the 98.16 Windows 7 inf. The benefit is less when you have Aero Glass enabled, but I hope there might still be some improvement.
- I've also tried to enable additional nVidia Control Panel options. I don't know if there's much difference, but maybe. As always, please let me know if anything doesn't work correctly.
June 25, 2009
- Incorporated Dox's excellent D3D tweaks in the two current infs (169.72 for XP and 98.16 for Windows 7). One immediately noticable improvement is video performance in Windows 7. Where some of my video files were laggy and stuttered to the point of unwatchability, they are now much smoother. Thanks, Dox!
June 22, 2009
- Incorporated Dox's fix for PowerMizer disabling in the two current infs (169.72 for XP and 98.16 for Windows 7)
June 9, 2009
- Updates to both the 98.16 inf for Windows 7, and the 169.72 inf for XP. In both cases, I updated the R&T sections and reorganized the inf to more closely reflect nVidia's current structure. Also a few minor fixes here and there.
May 6, 2009
- Another update to the Windows 7 inf. I can get GREAT gaming performance in Windows 7 with the 169.72 XP driver, which I can't even approach with the 98.16 Vista driver that allows Aero Glass with Windows 7. This new Windows 7 inf is slightly better, but it falls far short when gaming. If you really want good Windows 7 gaming performance and don't mind giving up Aero Glass, I highly recomment the 169.72 XP driver.
May 5, 2009
- Updated Windows 7 inf for driver 98.16. Major changes from the March 4 inf, which didn't work well at all with the Windows 7 Release Candidate. There are some significant changes in this version, so let me know if something doesn't work correctly.
- Added inf for XP driver 169.72, which is the best driver in the 16x-17x series for the FX Go5200. You do need to uninstall whatever you're currently using before installing this. It should work well, but let me know if there are any problems.
March 4, 2009
- Updated Windows 7 inf for driver 98.16. Significant improvements. I recommend using this inf with Windows 7. Unfortunately, 98.16 is still the most recent driver we can use.
January 21, 2009
- Added Windows 7 inf for driver 98.16. Since nvidia dropped FX Go5200 support for Vista and Windows 7 as of the 100 series drivers, this is the best we're likely to get.
August 23, 2008
- Added 1360x768 resolution to all infs.
July 26, 2008
- Added tweak to make all control panel options visible without the need for separate tweaks.
- Set BandwithFactor to 4 to improve performance when viewing video content.
July 24, 2008
- Updates to all infs to add new switches and video modes. Let me know if these cause any problems. Thanks!
June 13, 2008
- Removed problematic User Mode lines from 98.13 Vista driver. Let me know if this helps or hurts. Thanks!
April 4, 2008
- Removed outdated driver infs.
- Added inf for 169.47, which an excellent driver for the Inspiron 5150/5160.
March 21, 2008
- Added inf for XP driver 174.60. NOTE: 5150 owners don't need a modded inf for 174.60 - you can use this driver right out of the box (and it's an excellent driver too). 5160 owners do need a modded inf, and mine includes some tweaks that might help 5150 owners as well.
March 11, 2008
- Changed the inf for Vista driver 98.13 from beta status and made it official. All known 5150/5160 tweaks are now included and it looks pretty solid. This may be the best we can do for Vista, so if you're running it on the 5150/5160, or are planning to in the future, give this new inf a try. Many thanks to kane81 for his great help with troubleshooting.
March 10, 2008
- Restored the "PowerMizerEnable" line to all infs except the one for the 84 series.
March 8, 2008
- Removed XP 169.32 inf
- Removed nonworking Vista infs
- Added XP 169.44 inf
February 18, 2008
- Added 174.12 XP and Vista infs.
February 9, 2008
- Removed 169.28 XP and Vista inf.
- Added 169.38 XP and Vista infs.
- Changed the 3D Texture Filter default from "High Performance" to "Quality" to fix texture problems some people reported.
February 3, 2008
- Very minor updates across the board. There's no need to reinstall if your present inf is working.
January 31, 2008
- Removed obsolete infs.
- Added 169.32 Vista and XP infs
January 15, 2008
- Removed 9x series infs. (The 9x series was horrible for the 5150/5160.)
- Added 169.28 Vista inf
- Updated all 169 series infs
January 14, 2008
- Added 167.58 inf. 167.58 is a huge improvement over earlier 167-series drivers. I don't think it's any better than 169.28, but since it's a true mobile-series driver, some of you may want to give it a try.
December 23, 2007
- Added 169.28 inf - Looks like another good version for 5150/5160 users. The 169 series continues to be a good one for us.
December 12, 2007
- Removed 169.17 inf and added 169.21 inf - a MUCH improved version. If the 169 series continues on its present course, this will become the series of choice for most 5150/5160 users.
December 8, 2007
- Added XP inf for driver 169.17
October 13, 2007
- Updates to nv4_97V_beta.inf and nv4_163_disp.inf to incorporate the blue-screen-on-install fix just discovered by ZZPULP and Pieter. The other infs aren't affected by this bug.
October 3, 2007
- Updates to all XP infs to add new multi-monitor spanning options.
- Updates to all XP infs to fix several D3D bugs.
October 2, 2007
- Added NV4_163_disp.inf for XP driver 163.71, which turns out to work quite well with the Inspiron 5150/5160. Be sure to remove all traces of previous drivers before installing.
September 7, 2007 update:
- Added a beta inf (nv4_97V_beta.inf) for Vista driver 97.34, a driver that reportedly runs Vista fairly well on the 5150/5160. Giving credit where it belongs, this inf mostly adds my 5150/5160 tweaks to Pieter's 97.34 Vista inf. I haven't tried it yet, so please let me know how it works.
- Due to some excellent detective work by kane81, all infs now allow creation of custom widescreen modes.
August 7, 2007 update:
- Added new power-saving tweaks to enable automatic slowdown of the FX Go5200 core and memory clocks when there is no processing going on. This greatly enhances cooling and battery life with no performance hit at all. Thanks to member Jesper for this truly great find!
May 30, 2007 update:
- Minor tweaks to all infs to maintain compatibility with current nvidia practice.
- Added NV_94_Disp.inf to enable installation of the new 94.24 driver. Note there is a long pause during installation that looks very much like a crash. Given enough time, it should recover and complete successfully. Note also that the 90 series drivers require that older drivers be uninstalled first before upgrading.
- Still no customized Vista inf for the 5150/5160 as I have several apps that force me to stick with XP for the moment. I do plan to create one in the future, though.
February 22, 2007 update:
- Returned StartType to "System" since the "Plug & Play" setting caused problems for several people. It also seems to be a bit faster.
- Clarification that these infs are for XP drivers only. They won't work with Vista drivers.
January 5, 2007 update:
- Fixed the problem where resolution and nView Display Settings weren't being saved on reboot. It turns out the Nvidia Display Driver Service, which controls those things, needs to be set to autostart. If you've already installed the December update, there's no need to reinstall. You can just go into the Services menu (under Administrative Tools in the Windows Control Panel) and set the startup type to "automatic." The infs are now fixed for your future installations.
- Renamed the 97.44 inf to "97" since it should work well with all 97 series drivers.
December 22, 2006 update:
- Changed StartType to 3 to conform with current Windows P&P driver requirements and improve compatibility with Vista.
- Fixed a problem where non-default resolutions were lost when restarting the laptop.
- Disabled Texture Precaching, since the FX Go5200 doesn't have enough memory to do it.
- Enabled overclocking in all infs. (Though overclocking is definitely not a good idea with the 5150/5160.)
- Removed obsolete custom infs.
- Created a custom inf for the 97 series drivers. It doesn't use the new control panel, though.
NOTE: You may need to uninstall your previous driver before installing drivers in the 9x series. Upgrades seem to fail for some reason, but clean installs should work fine.
October 24, 2006 update:
- At the request of (quite a few) people needing more performance, I've optimized all default settings to the highest performance available. If you're a tweaker who is comfortable adjusting your own settings, you don't need these new infs. This update is for those who prefer to use default settings, but need more performance.
May 9, 2006 update:
- Fixed problem that prevented application profiles from loading. They should work fine now.
April 8, 2006 update:
- Incorported sn0wl's superb overlay enhancement for video performance and troubleshooting. Nice work, sn0wl!
- Removed support for Vista Glass. These infs work well with Vista, but support for Glass effects with XP drivers has been removed from recent and future Vista builds, so I've removed it from these infs as well.
March 8, 2006 update:
- I've completely gone through each inf and removed lines that don't apply to the Go5200, changed settings that were possible causes of instability, and have improved 3D framerates a bit the process.
- Removed Core Slowdown line.
- Changed BandwidthFactor from 4 to 2 (a much better setting for the Go5200 and probably the reason for the improved framerate).
- Change the NvCplConfiguration line to conform with the setting most other laptops use for Windows XP.
- Changed the line that enables Vista Glass to conform with the February Vista beta.
- Vsync now defaults to game preferences.
- Changed PowerMizer preferences, which may or may not help with missing sliders in drivers above 72.14.
March 2, 2006 update:
- Added new nv4_84_disp.inf for new nvidia 84 series drivers. All other infs unchanged.
January 24, 2006 update:
- Updated NV_80_Disp.inf to make compatible with the new 83.xx drivers.
- Updated all infs to add new switches from the 83.xx drivers
- Added new resolutions for wide-screen monitors, and additional resolutions for the 5150/5160 LCD.
January 6, 2006 update:
- Update to repair a problem with OGL games.
January 1, 2006 update:
- Improved Mipmap performance in D3D games.
- Several updates to keep current with latest nvidia drivers.
December 14, 2005 update:
- Updated nv4_80_disp.inf to make it compatible with driver 81.95.
December 12, 2005 update:
- Removed SLI option that the Go5200 is incapable of.
- Using a much improved NV_Modes line that supplies all available resolutions with much less clutter.
- Minor updates throughout to keep current with the latest changes from nvidia.
October 21, 2005 update:
- All infs are now compatible with Windows Vista, so you can use any driver you want. (No Glass effects, though.)
- Removed Vista inf since the beta Vista driver no longer works with current builds.
- Added NV_80_Disp.inf for those who want to use 82.10 or other drivers that have the new Control Panel.
October 17, 2005 update:
- Enabled additional screen resolutions, primarily for games and viewing video.
- Corrected a mode-switching bug that some people have reported.
October 6, 2005 update:
- Updated overlay settings to stay current with Pieter's excellent settings.
- Removed the SpreadSpectrumFactoring switch entirely. It doesn't seem to help the 5150/5160 and may in fact cause a performance hit.
October 2005 update:
- Updated D3D, Overlay, and SpreadSpectrumFactoring settings.
- Reconfigured Control Panel settings to conform with current nvidia practice.
There are several infs here:
nv4_disp.inf is a basic version, intended for all drivers prior to the 8x.xx series.
NV_84_Disp.inf is for all 84.xx XP drivers.
nv_9813_Vista is the inf for Vista driver 98.13.
nv4_16972 is the inf for XP driver 169.72.
nv_9816_W7 is the inf for Windows 7, using Vista driver 98.16.
SPECIAL NOTE: You can use the 169 inf with any of the 16x and 17x drivers by copying the version line yourself.
All infs are fairly polished and bug-free and should work well for all Inspiron 5150 and 5160 users. All should be compatible with both Windows XP and Vista. See notes 5 and 6 below.
Notes:
1. These infs are customized for the Dell Inspiron 5150/5160 and work with all 5x.xx, 6x.xx, 7x.xx 8x.xx, and 16x.xx series XP drivers, as noted above. I've incorporated the latest changes from Dell and enabled all the options they've disabled except for overclocking. Overlay contrast and saturation now default to workable settings. All current DirectX and DirectDraw texture and surface formats are now enabled. VMR (Video Mixing Renderer) is now available. (NOTE: To take advantage of VMR, you must also enable it in whatever video player you use.)
2. For drivers prior to the 98.x series, you need to change the version number, near the top of the inf, to agree with the version number of the driver you're installing.
3. SideBand Addressing works fine on the 5150/5160 and I've enabled it by default. (Because SBA doesn't work on all laptops, Pieter wisely and correctly cannot enable it in his version.)
4. The NView Desktop Manager control panel and all TV Out options are enabled now. Please let me know if you spot anything that doesn't work correctly.
5. All infs are compatible with Windows Vista, so you can use any driver you want. However, you won't have Aero Glass effects with XP drivers.
6. My only true Vista inf is the one for Vista driver 98.13. It's the most recent Vista driver that's compatible with the 5150/5160. If something newer emerges, we'll announce it, but for now 98.13 appears to work well. If you're running Vista, give it a try.
I'm always interested to hear your results, especially if you spot any problems.
Attached Files
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nv_9816_W7.inf 33.86K
1175 downloads
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nv_9813_Vista.inf 30.97K
885 downloads
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nv4_disp.inf 31.99K
971 downloads
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nv4_84_disp.inf 32.73K
791 downloads
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nv4_16972.inf 27.47K
603 downloads
