Gaming drivers and Fn-key brightness problem

I've tried at least ten different modded Nvidia forceware drivers since getting my T61p yesterday and they all override the laptop's brightness adjustment via its Fn-keys.

Are there any geforce drivers that preserve this feature?

 

I am using the 163.44 drivers with the modified .INF file to install them from www.laptopvideo2go.com. Brightness adjustment works just fine, the 163.44 driver is also one that is availible from www.nvidia.com so I trust it somewhat. www.laptopvideo2go.com does not modify the driver files at all, they just repackage the driver and make a new INF availible.

Also if you had 10 driver sets installed, find one of the utilities to fully clear those out before installing a new driver.

 

I originally used the modded 163.44 drivers on a clean install and instantly lost my brightness adjustment control.

I've been using driver sweeper to clear out nvidia driver leftovers.

I've noticed some other people having the same problems on this forum.

 

There's a set of 150-series drivers for the 570m that are available through Windows Update. I've been using them without issue so far, and they run Bioshock, Oblivion and ET:QW pretty decently. You might give them a try.

 

Installing the Forceware 163.44 drivers over the stock 570m driver seems to have solved the fn key problem.

 

Glad you got that working. That was the same process I took, I installed the 163.44s right over the stock driver and never looked back

 

I too have the brightness problem. I uninstalled the stock drivers, used driver sweeper, then installed the modded 163.44 driver and lost my FN key brightness control. Does anyone know how I could get it back? The 163.44 driver seems to be MUCH faster than the quadro driver.

 

Install the quadro driver then install 163.44 over it.

 

Ok, lemme get this straight....

After installing the quadro driver, do I uninstall it or just double click the setup icon for the 163.44 drivers and let it install?

 

I've experimented with replacing the power driver, and manager, as well as the hotkey utility. None of that fixed the power and key issue. I'm interest to see what happens with the over-installation.

Any clues what's going on? It's very unusually to install one driver on another. It's seems that someone has a hunch.

 

If the over-installation technique does work, perhaps the magic file could be isolated.

 

A clean install of modded Forceware drivers will make you lose the Fn key brightness adjustment. Something in the Quadro drivers must have maintained Fn key function, so I had a hunch about installing Forceware on top of the standard drivers.

I simply installed the standard Quadro drivers and then installed the Forceware modified drivers right over it with no uninstall at first. Voila! Fn key functionality with 163.44 driver speeds! I've only tested it with CS:S, but it seems to work fine.

 

Not knowing which files are really installed as a driver, I usually create a folder called C:/Program Files/Nvidia where I usually extract the installer files to.

I never bother to check whether or not it uses non-driver support files, so traditionally, I just leave the extracted files there, and run the Setup.exe from that folder, leaving the setup files. So now, that's my file situation.

(I've been wiping this folder between installations.)

Should I empty the setup file folder before extracting the Geforce drivers? Should I overwrite the Quaddro setup files, or does all the magic happen with the actual drivers themselves, being the files installed in the Windows system/system32 and all?

Thank You.

 

So this seems to be the Vista solution to obtaining greater gaming performance out of the T61p's Quadro FX 570M; is there an equivalent Forceware driver for Windows XP Home/Pro.?

A search on NVIDIA's site brings up Forceware release 90...but I don't think that that includes the 8 series of GeForce cards.

I'm looking to remedy my laptop shutting off in the middle of 3D games, as chronicled here.

 

Get your drivers from laptopvideo2go.com

They have a modded 163.44 driver for Win XP as well.

 

if you install the 163.44 over the stock 570M drivers, do you still need the modified .inf file? Also, would you mind supplying the name of the .inf file to be used if I need it? I have trouble following laptopvideo2go's instructions.

 

Jes.

No, all you have to do is download the nvidia driver, extract it to a folder, download the modded inf, replace that inf with the inf that came with the driver that was extracted, and then install.

 

There is a new .inf on this page which seems to solve the power and brightness control key issues with the Geforce Drivers. : )

 

Good post thanks.

What do you mean by "dont set the res higher than 1680x1050"?

 

Brenda, which inf exactly? I don't see one on the page you linked...do you mean that they updated the one at the start of the thread?

 

On this page (the first page of the thread), you'll see all the download links and some documentation.

The first link is for the driver, the second for the modded INF.

Later down there's a link to how to install the driver via a "have disk" method, which has worked for me and maintained the brightness control functionality.

Unfortunately, my graphics card seems to be going awry, so I haven't had much chance to enjoy the new drivers.