Vista - can't install any drivers

hi folks, ive got an interesting one. this is the third vista format->installation in a row now, and im at my wits end! i cant install any drivers! for some reason i can run the setup files i had from my last fully working install, but anything ive downloaded since crashes as soon as i run the file. windows update seems to work, so ive let it run its course. ive also disabled uac, to no avail. also, i can install drivers off the manufacturer's cds with no dramas (but of course i want the latest!)

all help will be greatly appreciated!
cheers

Hello Super Benny, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Since you are able to install Windows Updates and the drivers from the Manufacturer's CD, then it seems that you may not be installing the correct driver versions for you computer.

Are getting the drivers directly from the device manufacturer's website and not some 3rd party website?

See if you can install these NVIDA video 178.24 drivers for your XFX 8800GTS graphics card for your 64 bit Vista without any problems.

GeForce Release 178


Hope this helps,
Shawn

ok thanks. im throttled for a couple of days which makes using th net painful, but ill try it as soon as i can. interestingly, the windows update just finished for my soundblaster card, and it seems to be working fine now. figers crossed!

well, windows update has taken care of my video and sounds drivers for me, but i tried windows live messenger and it still crashes. so does avg antivirus. weird huh? i guess they may not be compatible with a 64-bit OS...

Super Benny,

Not sure what is causing them to crash, but both Windows Live Messenger and AVG antivirus run just fine on 64 bit Vista. Did you disable UAC or anything?

You might try the free Avast Home Edition antivirus to see how it runs for you. I use it without any problems on my 64 bit Vista.

are you talking about files you have downloaded to another hard drive? if so you may want to either printout a list or write out a list of the files and their current version numbers and reformat the drive. i had a similar problem years ago and it turned out to be a crc problem. the only way i got rid of it was to do just what i suggested.

ah ok. yes have disabled uac, but that didnt work, so now its back on. the files im trying to install have been run off all my different drives, both boot and storage. ive downloaded fresh versions to all drives, to no avail. my intenetis throttled for 2 more days, then ill try again staight from vendors sites. weird poblem though isnt it? it happened once about a year ago, but a format fixed it at time. i seem to be able to run old software from my storage, just not the new stuff.

then i truly do not know. sorry i wish i could have been of help.

ha ha. thanks for your help anyway. i think ill try another format soon, and see how that goes. then ill get rage and burn my computer.

I am having the same problem but only with my video drivers. From time to time when I am playing for a long time, the mouse will start moving erraticaly so I go out to take a break and give the pc a break as well. I do a restart and go for a smoke, when I come back, the LED in my monitor is red and I can't bring the system back up.

I have to hit the reset button, go into safe mode, uninstall the video driver (I am using the latest 178.24 but it also did it with 178.13), restart and come back into the desktop to be able to reisntall a fresh copy of the driver. Restart again and everything works fine.

Tonight though, after going for my smoke break, I uninstalled Tune Up Utilities 2008 because I wasn't able to use the Uninstall option it has, I also uninstalled Avast to try BitDefender 64 (I have heard good things about it) and when I restarted, I had the same problem again, no monitor, went back to safe mode, etc, etc, but I am now unable to get back to use the driver and I have tried this twice already.

Sorry to have highjacked your thread but it seemed like the best place to add my problem as it seemed very similar to yours. If need be, I can open up another thread and a mod can delete this one.

I am new to Vista so I don't have any other ideas to try. I don't know what UAC is so I don't believe I have disable that

Thanks for any heads up you can give me.