Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Nvidia Driver For Macbook Pro

S

Shorties

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 22, 2007
582
1
Southern California
I Installed Boot Camp and Vista but the Nvidia driver that was included with bootcamp isnt working too well with Halo 2 Vista, Ive tried to install the drivers and beta drivers from the Nvidia website but I always get the error: "The Nvidia Setup Program Could Not Locate Any Drivers That Are Compatable With your current hardware". Anyone know how to fix this?
 
I can't seem to find a vista 32 bit driver for the geforce 8600m gt or my macbook pro. The link the above poster gave was for the 64 bit version of Vista.

Well actually I found a driver but it has no modded inf yet. Does anyone know where I can get a proper driver and INF?

Thanks in advance.
 
Heya all. Having a small problem with thee drivers. When I attempt to d/l the laptop2go drivers and install them, the setup says "Can't find any computable drives or hardware (basically telling me that I apparently don't have an nvidia geforce 8600 in my laptop. So, needless to say I'm a bi confused, because I really do have Nvidia equipment. The reason I'm trying to updte is that Splinter Cell Double Agent keeps making all the models stretch out like spaghetti and function improperly.

Anyway, i'm running bootcamp 1.4 on the latest incarnation of the Mac Book Pro.

Thanks for the help.
 
Did you download the modded INF file that came with that driver? You gotta download both the driver and the modded INF file and replace that driver's inf file with the modded one.
 
Where's that go? (sorry, so used to mac, plug it in and it just works.)

*edit* Should the inf be disappearing from the place I d/l it to?
 
Ok after you download the driver and then the modded INF. Extract the drivers to a location of your choice. Then open the extracted folder and look for an INF file that has the same name as your modded one.

Replace that one with the modded INF and run setup.
 
I tried both mtehods, and both times my Nvidia 8600 becomes a CM51 on the hardware screen and gives me BSOD when i try and run a game. :( So i system restored and went back to my current state. My only remaining question is, why does the .inf file not appear in the folder I saved it in?
*edit*

I tried just "saving as" in the extracted folder and overwriting the .inf file apparently already in there, still, I seem to not have the graphics card that i actaully do have...
 
Manually tweak your own inf file instead!

I did the driver inf tweak manually for my MacBook Pro's 8600M GT. Here's how:

1. Download and extract the official Nvidia driver. You can do this either by running it (it'll go to C:\NVIDIA\...), or right-clicking and extracting to a folder (if you have WinRAR/7zip/etc).

2. In the extracted folder, open nv4_disp.inf in Notepad.

3. Under [NVIDIA.Mfg], find this:
Code: 
%NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0402.1%  = nv4_WSApps_NV3x,          PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0402
%NVIDIA_G86.DEV_0421.1%  = nv_G86_1,                 PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0421

4. Insert a line (which I adapted from Apple's Boot Camp 1.4 drivers) between them like so:
Code: 
%NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0402.1%  = nv4_WSApps_NV3x,          PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0402
[b]%NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0407.1%  = nv4_WSApps_NV3x,          PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_00A0106B[/b]
%NVIDIA_G86.DEV_0421.1%  = nv_G86_1,                 PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0421
This tells the drivers how to find your video card and which driver to install. I told it to install the 8600 GT driver.

5. Find this in Localizable Strings:
Code: 
NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0402.1  = "NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT"
NVIDIA_G86.DEV_0421.1  = "NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT"

6. Insert a line between them like so:
Code: 
NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0402.1  = "NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT"
[b]NVIDIA_G84.DEV_0407.1  = "NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT"[/b]
NVIDIA_G86.DEV_0421.1  = "NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT"
This tells the drivers what your video card is named.

7. Run setup.exe and it should now detect your card and install the driver. It may not count as WHQL certified for your hardware, so make sure your computer is set to allow unsigned drivers.

That's all there is to it! :) Working perfectly for me here. Fixed a few game bugs, and allowed me to enable Triple Buffering too!
 
There is an easier way to install the drivers from Laptopvideo2go.

1. Download the drivers and extract them to a folder
2. Open the Device Manager and double click on the video adapter
3. Click the driver tab and update driver
4. Select "No not at this time"
5. Click "Install from a list or specific location"
6. Click "Don't search . I will choose the driver to install"
7. Browse to the folder with the drivers and select the 8600 GT.


Thats it.
 
What number is that from Nvidia's site? It says 162 on my web browser, but several driver scan utile tell me I have ver. 163.44 from Bootcamp, am I then downloading an *older* driver?
 
What number is that from Nvidia's site? It says 162 on my web browser, but several driver scan utile tell me I have ver. 163.44 from Bootcamp, am I then downloading an *older* driver?


Raptor, you are a saint BTW, newer driver or not, I finally got it to install!
 
Nohg said:
What number is that from Nvidia's site? It says 162 on my web browser, but several driver scan utile tell me I have ver. 163.44 from Bootcamp, am I then downloading an *older* driver?
Click to expand...

I'm not certain what version Apple gives us, but it is a bit limited and buggy compared to the official Nvidia driver. If Apple's is newer than Nvidia's latest, it may even be based on Nvidia beta drivers, though I'm just speculating. Whatever the case, things are working much better for me with the official driver.

Nohg said:
Raptor, you are a saint BTW, newer driver or not, I finally got it to install!
Click to expand...

Glad that it worked for you too. :)
 
One last question, can I download the newest of the new from laptopvideo2go and mod the INF myself?
 
Nohg said:
Well that's the thing though. When i did it myself, it worked. When I tried they pre-done INF, I got the same old error.
Click to expand...
I've had their modified INFs all work before for other cards. If you got it working yourself then I don't think it's an issue anymore. :p
 
Nohg said:
One last question, can I download the newest of the new from laptopvideo2go and mod the INF myself?
Click to expand...

I don't see why not.

On the other hand, the "newest of the new" isn't always a better (surprised to see myself typing that, actually). Very often, the newer drivers are leaked betas or OEM drivers for some particular hardware. I only delve into Nvidia beta drivers when I hear that it'll solve a particular issue that I'm having. Otherwise, I stick to the release versions.

If you really want the newest of the new, Nvidia offers their beta drivers here:
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html

Looks like 163.44 (the version Apple gives us in Boot Camp 1.4) is indeed a beta version.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back