Where'd my Aero go?

[DaShard]

If anyone could help me here please, that's be great.

I upgraded from XP Pro

Intel D845EBG2 Board
2.8Ghz OEM Proc
2 GB RAM
nVidia 5500 Geforce Card

After a couple of firmware updates - and a few Vista "rollback" installs -
Vista Business installed and I had the Aero Graphix.

I then went to the nVidia site and downloaded their latest 'for Vista' 97.46
drivers.

Not only did I get a failed install from the nVidia drivers but after the
reboot I've never had the Aero Graphics again.

No matter which nVidia Drivers I re-install the Aero won't come back, nVidia
thinks it sees DirectX 8.1 and my experience number went from 2.5 to 1.

Apart from that things are okie dokie! Can anyone help me with getting
either the Aero Graphics back or, is it possible somewhere to tick the Aero
theme back on or, do I have to patiently wait for nVidia to get a real Vista
driver release together?

If you can help. Thank you.

 

[SAM-R]

Your problem with Aero is Nvidia has dropped Aero support for the 5000
Series Video Cards. Try to roll back the Driver to the original Driver from
the DVD. The 97.46 and newer Nvidia Drivers will not support Aero on your
5500 Card.

 

[Chris]

If anyone could help me here please, that's be great.

I upgraded from XP Pro

Intel D845EBG2 Board
2.8Ghz OEM Proc
2 GB RAM
nVidia 5500 Geforce Card

After a couple of firmware updates - and a few Vista "rollback" installs -
Vista Business installed and I had the Aero Graphix.

I then went to the nVidia site and downloaded their latest 'for Vista'
97.46
drivers.

Not only did I get a failed install from the nVidia drivers but after the
reboot I've never had the Aero Graphics again.

No matter which nVidia Drivers I re-install the Aero won't come back,
nVidia
thinks it sees DirectX 8.1 and my experience number went from 2.5 to 1.

Apart from that things are okie dokie! Can anyone help me with getting
either the Aero Graphics back or, is it possible somewhere to tick the Aero
theme back on or, do I have to patiently wait for nVidia to get a real
Vista
driver release together?

If you can help. Thank you.

Go to system restore (type that into the search bar in the start menu)
and do a restore to a time before the driver install.

 

[DaShard]

I hate to admit this but, I intentionally had System Restore turned off! It
was a mistake and a hangover from the old 'stable' XP days.

I've already kicked myself 100 times for that - just in case anyone else was
thinking of it!

Thanks for the - should have worked - suggestion Chris. Mea Culpa.

 

[DaShard]

Hmmm. It kinda implies on their site that the 97.46 update would 'update'
the 5500 for Vista - I haven't seen anywhere that they've dropped support
for that card under Vista but I'm sure you're correct and it doesn't
surprise me.

There are many others out there as well with nVidia problems under Vista -
with way newer cards than mine *sigh&* - the true cost of an upgrade is
always 'too much' !

Thanks.

 

[Chris]

I hate to admit this but, I intentionally had System Restore turned off!
It was a mistake and a hangover from the old 'stable' XP days.

I've already kicked myself 100 times for that - just in case anyone else
was thinking of it!

Thanks for the - should have worked - suggestion Chris. Mea Culpa.

I usually turn mine off in XP too. I am leaving it on here.

 

[SAM-R]

Go to Device Manager, to the FX5500 Driver and click on Roll Back Driver.
As of now Nvidia only supports the 6000 and up Video Cards for Aero.

 

[DaShard]

I think I've tried about three prior versions since the first nVidia upgrade
and if I rollback it will probably take me to another non-Aero-working
Driver.

I'd maybe be better off uninstalling and trying the various versions again
huh?

What is weird though is that where did the supported driver come from that
Vista installed and it worked? Was the nVidia driver replaced during the
Vista install? Would MS have a 'special' nVidia drive on the Vista disk? or,
did I just happen to have the correct driver installed for Vista to update.?
The reason I say that is because now when I try to reinstall the second to
last nVidia driver back it - doesn't recognize the O/S - which is really
frustrating....

Like I say I do have all the old flavors of the nVidia updates through the
years. I can try them one by one....??? But I predominantly get that nVidia
doesn't recognize the O/S...

 

[SAM-R]

You need the Driver that comes on the Vista DVD. That one still supports
Aero on FX5500. Any updates after that Driver does not support Aero on the
FX5500. Even an update from Windows Update will stop Aero on the FX5500.

 

[DaShard]

I thought that had to be the case. I don't know where you found that out but
that's great to know.

So, do I just update the driver - from Devices - and point it to the Vista
CD or, how do I get that Driver from the Vista CD...??