Larry's INFs for Dell 5150/5160

[kane81]

I can say that I get the code 43 error on reboot with

16932 vista 32, 16938 vista 32, 17412 vista 32

infs by Larry and Pieter...

[kane81]

This appears to be the MS Vista WDDM Driver for the Go5200 that got installed by default on my Vista install.

any mod suggestions for the inf?

This driver enables Aero on the Go5200.

Main things I'd like to specify in this driver is

- custom resoultions .. ie 1366x768

- enable VSync

- Enable use Overlay

- Max Performance for 3D as running aero and video is jerky. running basic and video is quite smooth.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Kane

nv_DM.inf

Edited March 6, 2008 by kane81

[kane81]

actually I have a go at slimming it down a little

ok here is a baseline, with custom resolutions and the "widepanel" bug removed.

I will try integrating larry's changes and see how I go.

P.S I'd post a zip of all the files, but it is 2.97mb ... I cant post more than 700kb.

if you PM your email, I can send it to you

nv_DM_baseline.inf

Edited March 6, 2008 by kane81

[kane81]

well here is all I have, unfortuantly there does seem to be much improvement, full screen MCE is jerky, but windowed is ok....

BTW: 9813_vista using pieters inf seem to work fine on the 5150 ... again issue with full screen MCE ... its odd cause if its in a window it is fine, but full screen it goes really slow.... be nice to have a 9813 inf for 5150....

better still, if we could get the 9886 MS driver working with control panel that fab.

tried 100.30 driver and bombs our with code 32 error :)

edit: removed dependency from inf

nv_DM.inf

Edited March 7, 2008 by kane81

[LSudlow]

Kane81, thanks for all your work on this. The more input we have on what works and what doesn't, the better!

:)

[kane81]

Windows Vista Options for the Dell Inspiron 5150

If you want Aero here are your two native Vista 32 options

1) Use the default driver installed by Vista version 98.86 (No Nvidia Control Panel)

2) Download 98.13_Vista and the Modded INF (Pieter's Vanilla Inf) and Install

Options 1 & 2 give reasonable video playback and aero (video is better with turned aero off), but Vista MCE in full screen for some reason is jerky as hell! Vista MCE in very large window which is almost full screen is smooth :/

(I think it is a bug as the chip can handle the screen size fine. I think the bug might be fixed, but unfortunately vista native drivers higher than 98 series don't work with the 5200 graphics cards'Code 32 Error)

- Additionally with options 1 & 2, you can mod the inf by using Larry's Vista Series inf's as a template

- The default 98.86 driver can be found in Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_sm.inf*

If you want good video playback (windowed or full screen) and Vista MCE not jerky, you have to do the following ?Hack?. No, you won't get Aero as you are using XP drivers. (You also get the Nvidia control panel)

0) On a clean install of Vista do the following'if you don't have a clean video install, load the 98.86 driver from the directory specified above.

1) Download the 67.66 XP driver and extract. Replace the inf with Larry's 67.66 inf (nv4_disp.inf).

2) In Device Manager ->Display adapters and right click on ?Nvidia GeForce FX Go5200?

3) ?Update Driver Software?->?Browse?->?Let Me Pick?->?Have Disk?->?Browse?

4) Select the inf for the 67.66 and ?OK?->?Next? - Progress Bar

5) Select ?Install this driver anyway? when it pops up

6) SCREEN WILL GO BLANK! DON'T PANIC!

7) Wait 15 seconds with no screen showing

8) Press <Enter>

9) Press<ALT>+<F4>

10) Press <Enter>

11) Laptop will reboot in a few seconds. (If you get stuck, just power off or keep repeating steps 8 and 9 till it restarts)

12) Computer reboots and is back on again with screen visible!

13) Did you see the hack? I didn't, but it was there!

14) What seems to happen for some unknown reason, the install for the 67.66 drivers didn't complete properly / or it did? not sure. Either way it ensures that 67.66 is installed which means smooth Vista MCE and something is left behind from 98.86 driver which allows smooth video playback. (Do not repeat the install for 67.66 as the second time around does wipe the good stuff from 98.86, meaning you will get jerky video again'if this happens, repeat from step 0)

15) You now have smooth video windowed or full screen, smooth Vista MCE full screen or windowed, and the Nvidia control panel.

16) If you want custom resolutions like (1366x768), you need to install Powerstrip and add the custom resolution. Yes, I know it is in the inf, but it doesn't work / get registered and powerstrip was the quickest solution. The custom resolutions from the inf do get put into the registry, but for some reason Vista doesn't realise that you have those options?and no it is not the WidePanelBehaviour bug I diagnosed last time (anyone know how to register the resolutions in the registry without powerstrip and without re-install?)

Hope this has been helpful for you 5150 users who are thinking about Vista.

Cheers

Kane

P.S Guessing my Hack is a registry/inf thing? As I check the98.86 dlls and they weren't running when 67.66 as installed?..

EDIT

Update 98.13 driver... works well on MCE given the following work around:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index....ost&p=71287

Edited March 11, 2008 by kane81

[LSudlow]

Again, great detective work on your part, Kane. You are exactly right - if you want good performance (in both games and video), the XP drivers far outperform the Vista drivers, though you won't get Aero Glass effects.

Can you try the attached inf (below) with the new 169.44 Vista32 driver from here?

The inf is pretty vanilla. I took out some things that don't apply to us, added our device IDs, and added 1400x1050 to the available resolutions. Mostly I just want to see if it installs. If so, we can start adding tweaks until something breaks. Thanks.

EDIT: If you've tried it and had it fail, try it again - I've just made a change that may help.

Here it is:

nv_16944_vista.inf

[kane81]

snip..

ahh yes, you did just make a change to the inf ... sneaky! :)

it installs ok, but upon reboot it is the same story.. Windows has stopped the device because it has reported problems (Code 43) :)

Native Vista drivers higher than the 90 series just dont seem compatible with the 5200. the higher version XP drivers on Vista seems ok, but you get jerky video unless you apply my hack process above.

Cheers

Kane

Edited March 8, 2008 by kane81

[LSudlow]

Okay - Thanks. I'll see if I can come up with a 90 series inf that enables all the features.

[LSudlow]

We'll solve this yet. Here's an inf for 98.13 - the most recent 9x Vista32 driver I can find. You can download the driver here.

And the inf is here:

nv_9813_Vbeta.inf

[LSudlow]

March 8, 2008

- Removed XP 169.32 inf

- Removed nonworking Vista infs

- Added XP 169.44 inf

- Added Vista 98.13 beta inf

For those of you running Vista, please try the new 98.13 inf and let me know if there are any problems.

Also, quite a few people downloaded the former Vista infs. If any of you can confirm Kane's observations, I'd appreciate it. If there are indeed problems with all Vista drivers above the 9x series, then 98.13 will likely be as high as we can go unless we can figure out what's happening. It should be solvable since the desktop version of the FX 5200 works with the newer Vista drivers.

About 169.44: I continue to be convinced that the Windows XP 169 series works very well with the 5150/5160, and 169.44 is the best version of the lot (so far). It's handling everything I throw at it with no problems at all. If you're running XP and are at all interested in trying the 160 series drivers, I recommend that you give 169.44 a try. (The 170 series still lags badly on the 5150/5160.)

[kane81]

nv_9813_Vbeta.inf

fails to install, an error message of "the system can not find the file specified" occurs :/

[kane81]

Tested using XP 169.44 on Vista SP1.

Results - first install the max resolution was 1280x1024... tried again and it was 1400x1050 again.

Note: My hack fix does not work with his driver, so video playback was always jerky.

Note2: Nvidia control panel can only be found in Control Panel. and it is broken / doesnt ever show up on double clicking (do get the basic or advanced mode prompt dialog, but after that nothing comes up).

Note3: my hackfix still works with the 67.66 drivers after installing the 169.44 drivers. Only difference was I didnt get a blank screen this time around.

Cheers

[LSudlow]

nv_9813_Vbeta.inf

fails to install, an error message of "the system can not find the file specified" occurs :/

Kane, that's an easy fix. Do you know which file it couldn't find? Thanks.

[kane81]

nope, didnt say, it's a matter of going through the inf and checking all the files exist.... dont have time at the moment, are you able to check?

[LSudlow]

I think so. Try this version:

nv_9813_Vbeta2.inf

[kane81]

Wow!

98.13 with your inf (which is working now) is pretty good! so good that I'm almost tempted to use it instead on 67.66 xp driver!

Only thing that is holding me back is it is slightly jerky when scrolling media library horizontally. It jerks so slightly that it is still not kind to the eye... just ..maby 2 - 5 frame lag...

(tried 3d performance setting, but still a tad jerky. also tried turning aero off,with no change)

2 things missing -

1) custom resolutions are not in the inf ...ie 1366x768

2) wide panel bug reported previously is not in the "unistall section". not sure if that is important or not...

Cheers

Kane

P.S I might just switch over.... hmmm

[LSudlow]

Here's a new version to try. I've added Pieter's custom resolutions and all of my 5150/5160 tweaks. I haven't used the old WidePanelBehavior tweak in a while, so it might be in your registry from Pieter's inf. If so, uninstall the "Nvidia Drivers" from the Windows Control Panel before you install this. That should clear out all the old leftover stuff.

Anyway, let's see if I've broken anything else:

nv_9813_Vbeta3.inf

[LSudlow]

March 10, 2008

- Restored the "PowerMizerEnable" line to all infs except the one for the 84 series.

- Added new beta3 inf for Vista driver 98.13.

I'm not sure if the new beta Vista inf works, so please let me know. And please let me know if you spot any other problems.

[kane81]

your 98.13 vista drivers works well, you know what I seem to have also discovered.... the laginess I was talking seems to go away once I play a video clip....

strange I know, but I tried MCE, and it was jerky. I watched a divx, then went back into MCE and it was all speedy and not jerky. Here what I plan to do... instead of shutdown, I just hibernate, thus I wont have to load a divx all the time.

Looks like I have a new driver i'm going to be using! yay!

Thanks Larry!

Edited March 11, 2008 by kane81

[LSudlow]

Thanks, Kane. I'll pull it out of beta status and encourage all 5150/5160 Vista users to try it.

I appreciate all your help with i!

:)

[LSudlow]

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. As always, please let me know if you spot any problems.

Many thanks to kane81 for his great help with troubleshooting!

:)

[LSudlow]

March 21, 2008

Good news for all Inspiron 5150 and 5160 users - Nvidia has given us a present. The new 174.60 XP driver will install on the 5150 right out of the box, with no modification needed at all. I was pleased (or gratified or something) to see that Nvidia uses the same settings I've used all along for 5150/5160 support. The Go5200 in the 5160 uses a slightly different system ID, so 5160 users still need to use a modded inf. My modded inf includes some tweaks that might help 5150 users as well, and you can download it from the first post in this thread.

174.60 is significantly different from any previous nvidia driver and you should uninstall your current driver before installing this one. I can't pre-set the nvidia control panel defaults as I usually do. It's not a big deal, but if you usually use my defaults, you now need to set them yourself. The important ones are:

- In Multiple Display Setup, Use Only One Display.

- In "Manage 3D Settings" set Maximum Pre-rendered Frames to 0

- In "Manage 3D Settings" set Multi-Display, Mixed GPU Accleration to Single Display Performance Mode

- In "Manage 3D Settings" set Texture Filtering Quality to High Performance

- I personally set my Desktop Color Settings Gamma to 25 as well. My display looks too washed-out otherwise.

With 174.60, both Video and Windows performance are improved and 3D performance, while not quite as fast as 169.44, is still in the top group of 5150/5160 drivers. Since this is a brand new architecture, and since nvidia went out of their way to include support for the FX Go5200, 174.60 definitely is worth a try.

I'll be interested to hear your results.

[LSudlow]

April 4, 2008

I've removed some old infs and added one for the newly released 169.47 XP driver.

I like the 169 series a lot, and 169.47 is the best to date - it's 3D performance is significantly faster than 169.44 and 174.60, and it's more efficient when playing videos. (If you're currently running 174.60, be sure to uninstall it before installing 169.47.)

As always, let me know if something doesn't work properly.

[Guest Jeff]

THANK YOU LARRY IT WORKS (5160 no more white screen in between res switches)