Windows Update now has later-model drivers (9746) available than the RTM version of Windows Vista, I accidentally discovered.
The drivers currently on Windows Update are also later than the Windows Vista RC2 set that Nvidia have been offering since October, and they fix a bunch of problems in Windows Vista – Media centre glitching when UI is overlaid on video, flickering when switching into full-screen mode from windowed, and general graphical hell in Armed Assault.
If you’re using the RC2s (96.85), you will need to uninstall them, go back to the RTM drivers, then use Update Driver in device manager to detect the new copy on Windows Update.
I posted this to the Armed Assault troubleshooting wiki, but it’s generally useful info, so here it is again:
The Nvidia RC2 drivers will not be replaced by doing a “Update Driver” check at this time, perhaps because they are dated later than the Windows Update drivers, despite being earlier versions.
To get back to the WindowsUpdate set, if you’ve installed the Nvidia RC2 release on RTM:
- Open Device Manager
- Open display adapters, and open properties for the GeForce card to the Driver tab.
- Uninstall the driver, or you can roll back if it’s an option. This will dump you into VGA compatibility mode.
- If you uninstalled the driver, use the “Scan for hardware changes” button in the top menu bar to re-scan and install the default driver. I had a couple of crashes related to Nvcpl, but everything’s working fine anyway.
- Use the Update Driver button to check Windows Update for the newer build (7.15.10.9746, dated Aug 22(!?))
Towards January 30 2007, it seems likely Nvidia will offer an updated set of drivers for most of its cards, for the launch of Windows Vista.
Confusing versioning, but again, it really does fix a bunch of issues.