i've taken to letting nvidia remove my old drivers - use clean install on their install page.Thanks. I'll try again tomorrow and do it the simple way.

BTW, I did a complete image restore. From the moment I started the boot using the restore CD until I was rebooting my restored partition was just under five minutes. Partitioning the main computer drive so only the O/S and Windows resides on C: saves SO much time when something like this happens.

+1 your imaging method...

however, i found out the hard way that with the new uefi bios you really have to check that your software handles them correctly - i was shocked to find wins own imaging doesn't!

So John, does that mean you install every other program on drives other than C?

The normal Nvidia installation update always worked really well for me in Vista but don't know about XP.
They revised their install/update procedure after I sent them a scathing diatrabe about the old procedure
that you had to go into safe mode.
JJK

i found out the hard way that with the new uefi bios you really have to check that your software handles them correctly - i was shocked to find wins own imaging doesn't! I had some issues during the restore yesterday because I used an earlier version of the True Image restore CD. That one didn't recognize my SAS boot drive.

Also, I checked my BIOS and found that all my SATA drives are connected as IDE, not AHCI. I guess this has always been true. I wonder how much performance I've been giving up? I briefly looked into installing AHCI drivers (Windows won't recognize the SATA drives once you change the BIOS to AHCI unless you first install the drivers), but I couldn't find drivers for my ASUS P6T Deluxe. The ASUS site was too confusing.


So John, does that mean you install every other program on drives other than C?I'm not sure what you mean. My method is simple, and is quite common (I didn't make up this idea): I use disk partitioning software to split my main physical drive (an SAS 15,000 rpm drive) into the C: drive and D: drive. I then put Windows and all my programs on the C: drive, and then my data on all my other drives (I have about twenty drives).

If you don't want to deal with partitioning, you can arrive at the same place by just using a relatively small, but really fast drive for your boot (think Cheap 120 GB SSD, for instance). Then, move your My Documents (or whatever Windows 7&8 call it) to another drive by following the directions given here: Redirect a folder to a new location


I sent them a scathing diatrabe about the old procedure that you had to go into safe mode.Ah yes, I'd forgotten the old ritual of un-installing, re-booting into safe mode, and then doing the installation there. Maybe I should try that. Thanks for reminding me!

> "So John, does that mean you install every other program on drives other than C?
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I'm not sure what you mean."
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John, I misinterpreted your words. When you said "Partitioning the main computer drive so only the O/S and Windows resides on C" I thought you meant only Windows on C and other programs on D or another drive.

Like you, I have always had data on other partitions or drives, and I have just completed a reinstal of W7. I shall now get True Image and make an Image for restoring when the need presents ....

edit: Just completed my first back-up. John - how did you get yours onto CD - mine is 63Gb!

Just completed my first back-up. John - how did you get yours onto CD - mine is 63Gb!Sorry about the confusion. What I said was "... from the moment I started the boot using the restore CD until I was rebooting ..." What I was describing is that when I restore, I do so from the True Image boot CD, which uses Linux rather than Windows as the O/S. This eliminates all sorts of potential locking and other issues that might be involved when trying to restore using Windows as the O/S.

So, for me, a restore operation always starts by re-booting the computer using this boot CD. The backup itself can be done from within Windows, and in fact I usually continue to use the computer for other things while doing my C: drive image backup.

Once I am booted using this boot CD, I then select the media that contains the actual backup. A C: image backup is obviously a lot more data than can fit onto a few CDs, although it can still fit it onto DVDs, In particular, because I run a really tight PC, I can actually fit a backup onto two DVDs (Windows XP) , and twice that for Windows 7. However, I long since gave up using DVDs because it is so much faster to backup and restore from SATA hard drives that I plug into my removable drive bays. I also occasionally back up to thumb drives, epecially when backing up laptops which obviously don't permit the attachment of bare SATA drives.

John, I have an antique computer running XP x64 and 2 x GeForce 8600 GT graphics cards. The highest version I have ever been able to get the Nvidia driver to is 301.42. If I try to update it beyond that I end up having to do a C: image restore with Acronis.

Nick,

That is very interesting information. My computer is using XP x32, not x64, and the nVidia 64-bit and 32-bit drivers appear to follow slightly different numbering sequences, but your experience does suggest that perhaps I should try an earlier version.

Thanks!

I have windows7 64 bit,this worked for me. Log in as an adminstrator to your Windows 7 PC:

1) Download the driver from Nvidia
2) Run to unpack files (default folder"C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver
3) Fail initial installation, or cancel
4) Go to Control Panel -> Device Manager
5) Right-click your video card and click "Update Driver Software..."
6) Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
7) Browse to folder where you unpacked the files (ensure "Include subfolders" is checkmarked)
8) Continue with install (may take a few minutes and screen may flicker during install)
9) Restart your computer