Reinstallation / Video card issues

[sarah]

hello,
i recently had to reinstall my Windows Vista Home Premium. I am not the
best with computers, so I am very stuck on this issue. I have a NVIDIA
GeForce 8400 M GS video card installed. When I went to put on a screensaver
and use the photo option, it said "this computer's video card cannot play
themes." I am very confused because before i had to reinstall windows, this
option worked perfectly fine. If someone could help me, i would greatly
appreciate it because I have looked for an answer everywhere!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

hello,
i recently had to reinstall my Windows Vista Home Premium. I am not the
best with computers, so I am very stuck on this issue. I have a NVIDIA
GeForce 8400 M GS video card installed. When I went to put on a screensaver
and use the photo option, it said "this computer's video card cannot play
themes." I am very confused because before i had to reinstall windows, this
option worked perfectly fine. If someone could help me, i would greatly
appreciate it because I have looked for an answer everywhere!

What happens when you install the Vista-specific drivers for the
computer's video adapter, as provided by the video adapter's
manufacturer (*not* from Microsoft)?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[John Inzer]

hello,
i recently had to reinstall my Windows Vista Home Premium. I am not
the best with computers, so I am very stuck on this issue. I have a
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 M GS video card installed. When I went to put on
a screensaver and use the photo option, it said "this computer's
video card cannot play themes." I am very confused because before i
had to reinstall windows, this option worked perfectly fine. If
someone could help me, i would greatly appreciate it because I have
looked for an answer everywhere!

==================================
Maybe you need to update your video driver.

The following link is an nVidia driver for your
card that was released 12-20-2007. I suspect
it is more recent than your current driver.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_169.25_whql.html

Driver Installation Hints
http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_installation_hints.html


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/695

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Curious]

If you have a laptop which I suspect since you have the M version of the
8400 card get the latest drivers for your laptop from the laptop
manufacturer's website. Do not try and install the drivers from the NVIDIA
website since they do not contain custom driver changes made by almost if
not all of laptop manufacturers.

 

[Chuck]

The most likely reason for this behavior is that windows defaulted to a
generic video card driver instead of the correct one for your 8400.
The correct updated driver may or may not be available from the PC vendor.
If it's a desktop pc, download the drivers from NVidia. If a laptop, usually
you must get them from the laptop OEM. If the install CD you used came from
the PC OEM, a version of the correct driver may be on the CD. Usually this
version is not the latest, and may or may not be satisfactory for your use.


"and use the photo option, it said "this computer's video card cannot play
themes." I am very confused because before i had to reinstall windows, this
option worked perfectly fine"