How to enable Aero Glass in Vista?

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euanandrews

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#9442 17-Sep-2006 10:53

Can someone help....been lookin all over the net for a work around but yet to find one that works...

I'm tryin to enable the Aero graphics in the latest version Vista OS, but am having no joy...

Its telling me my laptop has a Windows Experience Index base score of 1

Tried lots to improve this score, and I woulda thought the specs of ma lappy is up to minimum standard...although I admit I had alota trouble gettin Vista on it in the first place, even when I tried Beta 2....and as ive found out, its a problem with Toshiba Laptops...I had to delete two files as a workaround...

My laptop specs:

Toshiba M40
Vista RC1 build 5600

Processor: Centrino 2GHz (subscore 3.9)
Memory: 1GB ram (subscore 4.2)
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce Go 6600 (Nvidia driver auto updated after vista install from default vista driver) (subscore 1.9)
Gaming graphics: not detected (subscore 1.0)
Hard disk: 60GB (subscore 4.3)

Interesting thing is my Nvidia graphics states it has 128MB memory, but this report states that it has none?

Display adapter type: Nvidia geforce go 6600
Total available graphics memory: not detected
Dedicated graphics memory: 0
Dedicated system memory: 0
Shared system memory: 0
Display adapter driver version: 7.3.4.0
Primary monitor resoloution: 1024x768
DirectX version: 9.0 or better

So any recommendations people?
I'm happy with a proper fix/improvement to my score to enable the Aero feature, or a workaround to enable it anyway...
I know it can be done, just strugglin to find the answer myself

bradstewart

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#46285 17-Sep-2006 12:49

If you cannot enable Aero by going to Personalize (right click on desktop or control panel) > Window Colour and Appearance and selecting aero from the list then there is no way to do it.

The graphics card has shared memory doesnt it? You may need to download the latest nVidia drivers. There is a link in the Vista RC1 thread or you can find them on http://www.nvidia.com

freitasm

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#46287 17-Sep-2006 14:21

Certainly go for the NVIDIA Vista Beta drivers. There's a version specific for Windows Vista RC1. My M205 Tablet PC also runs the GoForce chipset, and I am not sure it supports Aero Glass now (I haven't tested with RC1), but it did at some stage with older drivers (not very stable back then though).

euanandrews

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#46297 17-Sep-2006 22:18

Hey cheers guys....

I downloaded and installed the vista driver from Nvidia website as ya advised....

I thought I had the most recent nvidia vista driver as that was the first windows update that installed after I booted vista for the first time...

Noticed it would not install just by runnin the program, had to install driver manually through the device manager/update driver etc
Also I noticed there were many drivers to choose from, so was lucky dip for me as I dont know...

Previously I had the:
Nvidia Geforce Go 6600

This time I installed:
Nvidia Geforce Go 6600 GT
(simply because they are simular and I have noticed it on others that have aero runnin properly, get good WE result)

The result:
Aero now works sweet...after I refreshed the WE score that is.....

Funny thing is now it says I have 376MB total graphics memory (120MB dedicated, 255MB shared), when previously it said I had none.

Processor: 3.9
Memory: 4.2
Graphics: 4.2
Gaming graphics: 3.9
primary hard disk 4.3

Anyway, thanks again guys, now Im gona play with the features etc....sweeeeetttt!

bradstewart

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#46300 17-Sep-2006 23:14

Vista will use up to so many MB of RAM for shared graphics as required

NokiaRocks

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#46301 18-Sep-2006 00:02

I'm having the same problem with my intel intergrated video card

bradstewart

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#46307 18-Sep-2006 00:56

Post the card model etc for more help

dudphilips

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#46834 26-Sep-2006 07:04

Hi, I also have a geforce 5200 card but cant find any vista rc1 drivers on the nvidia site could someone please post me a link or give explicit instruction. Much appreciated Cheers

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chiefie

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#46835 26-Sep-2006 07:55

If you have a good look at nvidia.com's site and look for driver for Windows Vista x86, then you will see it.

Or if you're lazy, here's the link.

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dudphilips

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#46919 26-Sep-2006 21:40

Thanks for the link. but i'm still having problems installing the drivers. i've uninstalled all the old nvidia drivers that windows update installed, and in device manager its telling me my display adapter is just a standard vga adapter.
but when i go to install the new drivers it tells me that it cant detect any compatable hardware, even thought my card is listed on the nvidia website as supported. Anyone else had similar problems or knows of a solution? Any help is appreciated, cheers.

freitasm

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#46920 26-Sep-2006 21:54

Have you tried manually extracting all the files to a temporary folder and manually changing the drivers by selecting the folder instead of listing compatible software?

euanandrews

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#46923 26-Sep-2006 23:07

dudphilips: Thanks for the link. but i'm still having problems installing the drivers. i've uninstalled all the old nvidia drivers that windows update installed, and in device manager its telling me my display adapter is just a standard vga adapter.
but when i go to install the new drivers it tells me that it cant detect any compatable hardware, even thought my card is listed on the nvidia website as supported. Anyone else had similar problems or knows of a solution? Any help is appreciated, cheers.

Yeah I had the same problem....

Heres what I had to do, as I found by some research online, people with the same problems etc....

Presuming the file ya downloaded is an .exe, ya run and it extracts to a folder ya specify, or the default of c:\nvidia\......

From there when I tried to use the device manager to install updated drivers for the graphics...it came back telling me it could not find any, so this is what I had to do....

From device manager:
1) right click and select 'update driver software'
2) select 'browse my computer for driver software' (locate and install driver software manually)
3) select 'let me select from a list of device drivers on my computer'
4) select 'have disk'
5) select 'browse' and go to the location where the drivers were extracted too....and the only file that should show should be the new driver (just one file)
6) select file

From here it it should be easy for ya too work out, and that one file will open up a whole selection of Nvidia drivers for you too choose from....dont ask me which one, I just guessed, I selected Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT, and that got everything working for me....

Oh...another point to add....
When installing, I read ya must:
1) uninstall any previous versions of Nvidia (which u have done)
2) disable the antivirus during installation
3) disable DAP (if you have it)

Good luck

Hope this helps.