Vista - Issue with Nvidia drivers and Vista Ultimate x64

Good morning everyone,

I set up Vista 64-bit on a new drive (dual-booting with XP) on my main gaming pc last night. After it installed, it automatically downloaded drivers for my 8800gtx- however, these were old drivers. I uninstalled them through the control panel, booted into safe mode, and ran Driver Sweeper (got from guru3d, I had heard this program worked well with Vista 64.) Once I rebooted back into normal mode, I installed 175.16 Vista drivers. However, after they installed and rebooted, I noticed that I could no longer set Aero to work. I ran the "Vista Experience" (or whatever it is called) option from the Computer properties, and it scored my video card performance at 1.

Obviously, something is amiss with my drivers. However, when I went back to the Vista version of add/remove drivers, I don't see Nvidia drivers listed! Clicking on the properties of my video card in the Device Manager lists the proper driver number, however.

This is my first time really using Vista, so I'm confused. Did I do something wrong when I tried to update my drivers? How the heck can I uninstall and reinstall the drivers to get them to work now, if I don't see an uninstall option?

Uninstall driver, reboot and install this one

GeForce Release 175

reboot again after install and that should sort out your problem.

That is the problem though, I don't see the option to uninstall the drivers under the Vista version of add/remove programs. I suppose that I could manually uninstall the video card, and then run Driver Sweeper again in safe mode.

Yes you can do that.

You can also go into device manager and see if your driver is listed under that device and uninstall from there - it is worth a try.

Yeah that's what I was planning to do when I get home- I ran out of steam last night. Thanks for the suggestions

Good luck!

3rd option is go into where it installed C:\NVIDIA\WinVista64\(driver number) and run the nvudisp.exe. I do agree device manager would be your best bet. afterwards run driver sweeper 1.5.5 while in safe mode to clean it all out. If you want, can try the latest WHQL candidate driver. GeForce Release 177

FWIW - Driver installs do not appear in Programs and Features (aka Add / Remove Programs). However, programs that run in your system for manipulation of your hardware do (hence ATI's CCC usually shows up in Programs and Features).