Nvidia 158.18 Vista drivers released.........

[jollster101]

April 17, 2007

Dear NVIDIA Customer,

On behalf of NVIDIA, the Vista Quality Assurance team would like to thank our user community for participating in the bug report system. The information you provided is valuable and will help us improve the quality and performance of our drivers.

There is a new Windows Vista Beta driver release available to download from NVIDIA, v158.18. This is a new driver which will support GeForce 6, 7 and 8 series graphics boards; it does not support GeForce Go mobile GPUs. Please continue to check with your notebook manufacturer for a new driver for GeForce Go GPUs. GeForce FX users should continue to use the v96.85 driver.

Before installing the new Windows Vista drivers, please make sure to review the installation steps for the v158.18 driver. These instructions will be found after clicking on the 'Download Driver' link on the next page.

* Download Windows Vista 32-bit driver
* Download Windows Vista 64-bit driver

Here is a summary of new features and bug fixes this new driver addresses:

New Features

* Adds support for GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8600 GT, and GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8400 GS, and GeForce 8300 GS GPUs.
* Increased performance in 3D applications.
* PureVideo™ HD support.
* Add support for forcing Vertical Sync in DirectX applications.
* Updated NVIDIA Control Panel with improved user interface (Please see the Release Notes for more details).
* Numerous game and application compatibility fixes (see below for some of the top issues).

Key Bug Fixes

* Fixed numerous "Display driver has stopped responding" error messages.
* "This is not Vista" error message appears when installing Windows Vista 32–bit drivers on a Windows Vista 64–bit operating system. The error message did not indicate which operating system (32–bit or 64–bit) is installed. NVIDIA has fixed the installer error message to better tell the end user which version of Windows Vista drivers and operating system are running.
* Warhammer 40k Dawn of War (all versions) has driver error message and does not run.
* The gamma and brightness controls in the NVIDIA Control Panel Adjust Desktop Color Settings page do not function or affect the desktop appearance consistently.
* GeForce 8800 GTX/GTS, Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: Text in the Ultimate Game:Hold'em flashes at the start of the game.
* GeForce 8800 GTX: Elder Scrolls: Oblivion-NVIDIA Control Panel antialiasing does not work when HDR is enabled.
* GeForce 8800 GTX: Half Life 2-fog is broken or misapplied. This fix requires the user to update their Valve Source–based games to the latest versions of the game engines.
* GeForce 8800 GTX: Splinter Cell Double Agent-there is corruption in the game.
* GeForce 8800 SLI: The system does not resume from S3 mode when SLI mode is enabled.
* GeForce 8600/GeForce 7900 GTX SLI: "Display driver has stopped responding" error message appears when changing the resolution, or when resuming from Standby\Hibernate.
* GeForce 8800 GTX: The Windows Experience Index tool crashes when trying to refresh the system score in Windows Vista 64-bit.
* Please view the driver Release Notes for a list of all of the fixed issues in this driver release.

Windows Vista Limitations

* In previous drivers, Vertical Sync (vsync) was listed as a Windows Vista limitations. However, NVIDIA has worked around this issue in our drivers.
* Please view the driver Release Notes for a list of all Windows Vista limitations.

Application Limitations

* NVIDIA has found application limitations and is continuing to document in our driver Release Notes. Please view the driver Release Notes for a list of all application limitations.

NVIDIA Vista Graphics Driver Issues

* Please view the driver Release Notes for a list of all of known issues in this driver release.

NVIDIA Features No Longer Supported

* Please view the driver Release Notes for a list of all features no longer supported.

[jollster101]

Links are here

32 bit

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_158.18.html

64 bit

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_158.18.html


Guys and girls,

Take note as Nvidia have shifted the goal posts slightly when it comes to installation. When you click on the links above and then take note of the info they have posted about how to install before you proceed.

[JNRidgway15]

Thanks Thats A Huge Version Jump My 8800 Purs like a kitten as of yet no dreamscene or aero failure

[jollster101]

Originally Posted by JNRidgway15

Thanks Thats A Huge Version Jump My 8800 Purs like a kitten as of yet no dreamscene or aero failure

There was a lot of talk on other forums about whether or not they were a fake or not due to the massive leap in version numbers.

Obviously Nvidia are busy trying to fox us............they can do what they like as long as the drivers are more stable and work as advertised.

That I will only be able to test tonight.

[gregc182]

It is great to see Nvidia are still working on drivers... However upon reading the release notes the biggest problem for most people with VMC is still NOT fixed...

Under "open issues" the first line reads:

• On resume from sleep state, the monitor screen is black (no video) but
computer is still on. [295481]

Oh well at least it looks like it is at the top of their list, and fingers crossed it will be fixed with the next driver release...

[jollster101]

Originally Posted by gregc182

It is great to see Nvidia are still working on drivers... However upon reading the release notes the biggest problem for most people with VMC is still NOT fixed...

Under "open issues" the first line reads:

• On resume from sleep state, the monitor screen is black (no video) but
computer is still on. [295481]

Oh well at least it looks like it is at the top of their list, and fingers crossed it will be fixed with the next driver release...

Something I have just stumbled across is that the resume from sleep state problem only seems to be an issue listed in the 32bit version of Vista.

I am interested to see if this is the case as I have both a 64bit and 32bit image of Vista (a big thanks to the company I work for paying for MSDN) .

I have the issue with my 32bit which is what I run all the time but am going to start building up the 64bit image this weekend with a view to seeing if it runs ok. If it does and the resume issue isnt there then that would be a huge bonus as it is the only thing my system has issues with.

Fingers crossed.

[gregc182]

Originally Posted by jollster101

If it does and the resume issue isnt there then that would be a huge bonus as it is the only thing my system has issues with.

Fingers crossed.

Same here, it is really the only thing wrong with my VMC, wish i had the 64bit to try, let us know how you go...

Although from the look of the release notes Nvidia are making this problem a top priority and i'll be surprised if it's not fixed in the next Driver update, however that is probably going to be another couple of weeks away from now so i'll keep my X550 in till then...

[arkay]

Didn't see it listed but has this driver put back the advanced timings yet?

Cheers,

Arkay.

[gregc182]

Originally Posted by arkay

Didn't see it listed but has this driver put back the advanced timings yet?

Cheers,

Arkay.

Advanced Timings, Custom Resolutions
This driver does not support adding arbitrary resolutions and timings.

[philzgr8]

From the release notes it seems that Nvidia have not yet properly implemented underscan/overscan compensation for HDTV modes but have provided some standardised resolutions using masking to provide limited compensation. It seems odd to me that Nvidia still can't get this right but hopefully they will fix it soon. I may give this driver a go anyway just to see if the standardised resolutions work for my display.