Windows 7 on MacBook Pro Bootcamp - Doesn't Recognize Graphics Card (Render)-SOLUTION

Hello Everyone,

Issue Summary:

Received a renderer error when I tried to run Civ4 on my Windows 7 Bootcamp MacBook Pro 15".
My MacBook Pro has a GeForce 9600M GT Graphics Card that easily ran this game when I had XP.

With the switch to Windows 7 I noticed that the graphics card had not been installed correctly as it was listed as being the VGA Graphics rather than my GeForce 9600M GT that came with my MacBook Pro.

I downloaded the latest Nvidia Windows 7 64 bit graphics and tried to install them, however the latest Nvidia patch wasn't able to recognize my card. Therefore when I tried to run the patch I got an error saying: "The Nvidia setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware"

In order to solve this problem you must replace the device id and subsystem id within a file called NVAM.INF which is located within the patch (by opening it in notepad) with your own device id and subsystem id.

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Detailed steps on how to fix the issue:

First download the latest patch for Nvidia drivers (currently 186.81_notebook_win7_winvista_64bit_international_whql for a 64 bit Windows 7 installation).

Next run the DXDIAG report through Windows 7 on your computer. You can find your own device id and subsystem id by running the DXDIAG report on Windows 7. In order to run this report go to Start -> Search -> Search for: "DXDIAG"
Only one result will pop up. Select it and it will bring up your system specifications.
In the bottom right hand side there is an option to "Save All Information". Save this information on your Desktop. It will save a .txt file to your desktop. Within this text file search for "Device Key". This will show you the Device Key for your graphics card.

You only need to use a certain piece of the Device and Subsystem ID.

My full key was: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0647&SUBSYS_00BC106B&REV_A1

However you are only looking for the portion starting with DEV. Therefore (in my case) I copied the: DEV_0647&SUBSYS_00BC106B&REV_A1

Download the NVAM.INF.txt attachment I've included on this post. Do a "Find/Replace" throughout the document. Search for my Device Key DEV_0647&SUBSYS_00BC106B&REV_A1 and replace it with the one you found from your DXDIAG report.

Next save the file as a .INF file on your desktop (without the .txt ending).

Then move the file into the following folder:
C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\186.81\International\Display (replace the existing file)

Once you've replaced the file run the Setup.exe file in: C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\186.81\International
*NOTE: Do not unzip the full patch again because if you do it will re-write the NVAM.INF file you just replaced.

It should now install correctly and solve your issue (it did with mine!).

Hope that helps everyone out, please feel free to post questions if you have any.

Cheers,
Jer

Hey there,

I followed these steps and it didnt quite work. The drivers have been updated since this post in October. The driver I downloaded was version 195.62. The next thing I noticed was that the DEV number (DEV_0647&SUBSYS_00BC106B&REV_A1) you mentioned was the exact same for me. Thus, there wasn't really anything to replace in the NVAM.INF.txt file you attatched. I also couldn't find a file located under C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\186.81\International\Display to replace the .INF file with, even when the version was replaced. My search could only go as far as C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\186.81\International.

Did you have any problems like this?

Thanks

is this also running in bootcamp?

Welcome to CFC

Yes it was running in bootcamp. I fixed the problem by using the snow leopard install disc in windows seven.

I know this is kind of a late bump. But im having the same issue you were all having and i know if i can get these damn drivers installed it'd fix it. I got as far as your directions up to the replacing the NVAM.INF text file. There isnt one in my nvidia folder. Anywhere. Any idea what else i can do to fix it?