Vista and the GTX 280

[Xylaquin]

I have Vista SP1 32bit installed on my system, and a GTX280 installed to. My motherboard is an Asus P5VD2-MX.

I installed the sound drivers no problem, and sound now works. But my graphics card on the other hand, only works in safe mode or when there are no nvidia drivers installed.

On installing the latest drivers for my system (177.41), it installs them fine then asks to restart. But when you restart, the system usually starts loading and for a few seconds I see the mouse cursor. The the screen goes blank and then the monitor reports no video signal is received.

Any help?

[AvalancheDiode]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

I guess Vista switched to onboard GPU for some reason. The VIA board is REALLY old. Sorry I don't know how to solve your problem, maybe wait for Geforce 9300 to hit the market.

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

Yeah, I was thinking maybe if I upgraded my motherboard (to a Asus P5Q) then perhaps it would like it.

What is strange though, is when I took out my GTX280 and put my old 7600GT into it, it didn't require me to install any drivers, it didn't even flinch that I hadn't uninstalled my previous drivers. It worked perfectly.

This leads me to believe perhaps there's an issue with the GTX280's compatibility with Vista. I tried the drivers that came with the card and the latest from the website, but neither work. Vista Upgrade advisor even states that the GTX280 won't work in Vista

surely this isn't true?

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

No it isnt anything to do with the Vista, is your power supply up to the job?

[AvalancheDiode]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

No it isnt anything to do with the Vista, is your power supply up to the job?

He is using Gigabyte Odin Pro 800W. That one should be more than enough. I think he can't get it wrong, since that PSU has 4 6+2 PCI-E connectors.

I still think that it should be board compatibility issue. A lot of people are using GTX 280 with Vista 64 and OK with that.

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

I doubt it's the PSU as it has enough watts and more than enough amps on the 12 lines. Plus my system ran fine with all my hardware under XP.

My theory at the moment is the chipset:

VIA chipsets don't like PCI Express 2, which is what my gtx280 uses. But as you know, there is backward compatibility written into the drivers. This explains why the 7600gt works in vista, since it's a pci express 1 card. It also explains why the gtx280 only works in xp because the drivers for xp support the backward compatibility with the VIA chipset. In vista, the drivers for VIA arn't there, which is what's causing the problem. Unless the backward compatibility with VIA is in the vga bios, and not the drivers.

Whether my theory is correct or not, I've purchased an Asus P5Q motherboard which has an Intel P45 chipset. I will be very pleased if Vista works with that when I receive the board tomorrow.

If Vista still has the same problem with the new board, I will have just wasted £100 on buying vista, and have to revert to XP. I am fortunate not to have entered my serial key or activated vista yet, so I might be able to get a refund.

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

I can PROMISE you its not vista, there are thousands of people using a 280 on vista perfectly fine. Nvidia would never have gotten away with releasing a card that isnt compatible with vista :)

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

I can PROMISE you its not vista, there are thousands of people using a 280 on vista perfectly fine. Nvidia would never have gotten away with releasing a card that isnt compatible with vista :)

I know! And what would be the point in making a DX10 card that doesn't work in vista lol

Anyway, I'll post back here later today with the new mobo in.

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

With the new motherboard (and thus, new chipset) everything works fine and dandy :)

CPUID shows my ram as being PC2-6400 though, despite the ram being PC2-8500, and despite the BIOS being set to PC2-8500. Strange.

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

:yay::yay: and :hmm:

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

fixed the ram issue. thread fin!

[Flt. Sgt. Powderhound]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

How did you do it, as it's got me wondering about my PqQ-E and OCZ reaper.

[Xylaquin]

Re: Vista and the GTX 280

http://www.asktheramguy.com/v3/showthread.php?p=366537#post366537