Video Drivers - Help!

Hey guys,
A few days ago I bought a macbook pro, not the retina display one but the $2199 15 inch one. Here is a screen of it.


I then installed windows 7 64 bit, booted up, did the whole setup using bootcamp etc...
I then started up windows, and none of the devices worked (internet, etc..) So I did the thing where you get the updated drivers for windows 7 through the bootcamp app. I then installed that into windows 7.

For some reason the driver for the graphics card didn't get installed or something. I've been trying to play one of my fav games, and I keep getting a driver error. "Please make sure you have DirectX 8.1 or higher installed. Also verify that your video card meets the minimum requirements."

So basically my problem lies in the display drivers. I have the Nvidia GeForce GT 650m graphics card, but my computer wont recognize it, it comes up as "standard VGA graphics adapter." I've tried to install the beta drivers that are supposed to work, and they just say that they are incompatible when running the installer. So I'm not sure if it's my driver or what.

Anybody know whats going on? And how to fix it?

That's because in Windows 7 your machine is defaulting to the Intel HD 4000 not the nVidia 650M. Try downloading the latest drivers from the Intel web site for the HD 4000. When in OS X you can control which GPU is being used (from software) but while in Windows 7 (at least for now) you can't.

I just tried to get drivers for the HD 4000. I tried all of the downloads compatible with windows 64 bit, and 32 bit. But I got the same error message for each one. "The computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software"

I don't completely understand why I cant just use the Nvidia video card.

The 32 bit drivers are not going to work so don't waste your time on any drivers that are 32 bit. Try opening the Boot Camp control panel application and run the Apple software update. Let's see if there are any updates for drivers that you can install. I don't know why the Intel HD 4000 drivers won't work unless you didn't download the correct ones from Intel.

I'll try to do some digging around and get back to you if I find drivers for the HD 4000 that will work.

Update:

Here is the LINK for the latest drivers from Intel. You may have already downloaded this set.

I did some digging around and it seems everyone is having the same problem as you. The nVidia chipset is not being picked up by Windows 7 and it defaults to the HD 4000. However, it seems Intel is having some difficulty with the drivers for the HD 4000. Even folks with Windows machines are having problems.

You may have to be patient for awhile until things get sorted out. The OS X program that switches the GPU from the HD 4000 to the nVidia has not been updated yet for Windows 7, so that too may be a while in the making.

So there isn't a thing I can do?

benhenry96 said:

So there isn't a thing I can do?

Click to expand...

Not for the time being. What you might wish to do is to install Windows 7 using virtual machine software. Parallels seems to be the choice for folks who wish to play games, however, some games are not going to play well there either. But at least Windows 7 will be useable. VMWare Fusion is also another choice and one that I personally use but I'm not a gamer.

Yea, I used parallels before this, and it had lots of glitchy errors and such. I thought that mac would run windows perfectly, drivers and all. The reason I switched to bootcamp instead of the virtual stuff is because I want the full computing power to go towards one OS. I think I made a mistake of buying a mac for what I wanted to do, and am going to return it, and get a laptop suitable for what I need. Thank you for your help.

Sorry to hear you have to return the MBP but if you really need a machine to play games, a Windows machine designed specifically for that is best. You might want to take a look at the latest offerings from Alienware. Warning though.... they ain't cheap!

Ha, not like the macbooks are cheap either. I'm a 3D artist for games, and at home I have an alienware beast. Definitely considering an alienware, I love my desktop at home.

You will also need to make sure you have DirectX 9 installed. Those games may not support DirectX 11 and may not recognize that DirectX is even on the system. You can get DirectX 9 from here:

Download: DirectX End-User Runtime - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

This is strange...

I never got that issue with my install, and I played a game or two and had no issues. I read somewhere online that Boot Camp only uses the nVidia card, and I am surprised that you are getting errors with it. Maybe try reinstalling it?

I don't have any issues with my Windows XP or my Windows 7. Maybe you should try a fresh install of 7?