Which Display Driver -- iMac 27", Bootcamp and Win 7

[Velin]

After some troubleshooting, I finally was able to complete a Windows 7 32-bit bootcamp installation by deleting the NV and ATI Windows display drivers. After that, I ran the bootcamp driver update from the Snow Leopard disc.

The problem: the display looks like crap. The max resolution Windows Control Panel allows me to go to is something like 1900 x 1400, yet the monitor is capable of far higher resolution.

I tried installing a package of ATI's Windows 7 drivers, but there was no improvement. Windows device manager was no help.

This iMac has an ATI Radeon HD 4670. Can someone advise how to get Windows 7 and this ATI card to properly render the native resolution? Any specific instructions are appreciated. PS this kind of time-wasting nonsense is precisely the reason I left Windows and use Mac and OSX exclusively. But I now need Windows via bootcamp for one particular application. Hate Windows. Hate it.

 

[iMatthew]

I also have the 27" base with the 4670 and I did the same thing as you trying to get Windows 7 installed - deleted the ATI display driver and finally got Win7 booted up past the final stage. I installed the bootcamp drivers and ran the update which only found a bluetooth update. Then I went to ATI's website and download the latest catalyst drivers for Windows 7 64bit - rebooted and had the correct native display. So you might want to remove/uninstall any video drivers you have and check the drivers that you are downloading and make sure they are correct.


I have a question for you - if you only need Windows for one application then why not use VMware Fusion? I use VMware Fusion 95% of the time (it rocks)for all my Windows neeeds and only use Bootcamp to mess around every now and then. There is a 30 day trial so its worth a try.

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

 

[maflynn]

Apple provides 64bit drivers on your snow leopard install disk. Just navigate to the drivers and manually install.

 

[Zonyc]

I'm having a similar issue as well. I've tried using the ati catalyst drivers for windows 7 but I just boot up a black screen. The only fix is to boot into safe mode and uninstall the drivers but then I'm back to the crappy low resolution desktop. Anyone tackle this problem yet?

 

[Zonyc]

Ok well shortly after my last post I figured it out!

What I did was boot windows 7 in safe mode (f8). Then I went to device manager and uninstalled the VGA adapter (radeon 4850), then restarted normally. Once I restarted, the display came back and Windows installed a VGA driver. At this point it asks to restart, but I declined and went into Windows update. I downloaded the 4850 driver which was under "important" in addition to the 4850 driver in "optional". After a restart my resolution issue was solved and it is now running at the full 2560 x 1440.

Hopefully Apple will issue a patch so that we don't have to jump through hoops just to get our TF2 fix