VPR Matrix video card drivers

[Ioman]

I decided to create a seperate thread for the driver upgrades a lot of people were trying to make for their 200A5 laptop. Just out of curiosity, why is everyone so interested in upgrading them? I am pretty happy with the way mine are right now.

[cnc137]

This is what nVidia has to say about the new drivers. I think their words speak for themselves.

4.1.0.9 Release Highlights:

- Compatibility and performance enhancements for Windows XP Media Center Edition
- Up to a 25% increase in performance
- nView™ 2.0 multi-display technology increases productivity and provides the necessary tools to control the way users access and view applications.
- NVRotate™ enabling image rotation on today’s advanced flat panel displays.
- NVKeystone™ allows for real-time image correction on portable projectors and heads-up displays.
- Digital Vibrance Control™ allows users to adjust color controls to achieve accurate, bright colors under all conditions.
- New control panel streamlines user interface and enables faster and easier access to all video settings
- Robust Channels enables higher faster performance and better stability for all applications through fail-safe paths in the drivers
- CineFX™ Simulator allows developers to use Cg—“C for graphics”—to write complex shaders in a high level language faster and more easily than before.
- NVIDIA’s patented Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) – supports all products in a single driver binary


Hope this helps.

cnc137.

[Ioman]

Did anyone just try downloading the regular drivers off Nvidia's website? Any luck with those?

[flyguy42]

I have a 170b4 which uses a ATI 7500 Radeon Mobility /w 16MB. That 16MB is killing me, but with updated drivers I found on the web I gained over 100 3dmarks. Thats not too bad. I found em linked at www.rage3d.com

[Angus]

Originally posted by Ioman
Did anyone just try downloading the regular drivers off Nvidia's website? Any luck with those?

Of course. I got them from NVidia the day I bought the computer. But I didn't realize that when i installed them they didn't really "take" if I just ran the NVidia installer. When someone said that they had to go into manually update the driver I tried that. Sadly, when I did that the new drivers were there, but the damn screen wouldn't go into 1280x854 (it wasn't listed).

And so began our quest to hack the 41.09 drivers.

[geekrock99]

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm

PowerStrip 3.20
should give you the resolution you need for 185A5 and 200A5. it doesn't hurt to try.

[cnc137]

Has anyone tried the PowerStrip 3.20 program yet with the new nVidia drivers?

Does it work?

I don't have access to my laptop at this time so I can't try it myself.

Just wondering.

cnc137.

[geekrock99]

i'm downloading this new release over my 56k modem.

let's see if it will work on our laptops!

www.betanews.com <- for driver

[ahbrown41]

VPR Matrix is not helpful in any way when it comes to drivers. They do not post version numbers and they never post updates. I think the computer has significant flaws.

Perhaps that's why Best Buy no longer carries it.

Anyone have any insight into that?

Well if anyone gets new drivers to work or has any ideas at all. I would certainly appreciate a reply

Thanks

[flyguy42]

I think I made a post elsewhere about BB not carrying VPR... they have just discontinued the 185 and 200 laptops as well as all of the desktops. They are aparently revamping the design of both systems and will be releasing new models soon. My information was not very specific on what was going on, just that instead of upgrading the current models, alot should be changing. Possible the asthetics of it? Who knows?

[TroyG]

Originally posted by ahbrown41
Perhaps that's why Best Buy no longer carries it.

Anyone have any insight into that?
Just to clarify, vpr Matrix IS Best Buy. As far as I can tell, they aren't even separate companies.

Here's an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune
http://www.gtamarketing.com/StarTrib-BestBuyPCs.html

And here's a quote from a vpr Matrix page (http://www.vprmatrix.com/about_vpr_matrix.asp)

vpr MatrixTM is Best Buy Co., Inc.'s line of private-label PCs.
Troy

[flyguy42]

Yup. I wasnt aware that was a big secret. :)

[ahbrown41]

Hmmm I thought Best Buy was the sole distributor not the owner (But clearly they are).

I still have problems with my notebook. Currently I need to restart a few times in order to even get it to go past the bios screen.

Often it makes a crackling noise when it reboots around the time the bios (VPR Matrix) logo comes up

Video is surprisingly slow on the machine considering the fact it is marketed as a gaming type notebook. I find even DVD movies are slow and choppy with no other programs running on the system.

I even increased my memory to 768!

VPR Matrix 200A5

[flyguy42]

The 200a5 is not marketed as a gaming laptop. It does have a Nividia 420MX /w 32MB of ram. Which isnt exactly great for games, but still better than alot of notebooks out there. The only laptop marketed for games that comes to mind is Alienware.

[TroyG]

Originally posted by ahbrown41
I still have problems with my notebook. Currently I need to restart a few times in order to even get it to go past the bios screen.

Often it makes a crackling noise when it reboots around the time the bios (VPR Matrix) logo comes up

Video is surprisingly slow on the machine considering the fact it is marketed as a gaming type notebook. I find even DVD movies are slow and choppy with no other programs running on the system.
I'm no technician, but it sounds like you have some major problems. I have NO issues w/ any of the stuff, and I only have a 185. All my colleagues are in envy of my new laptop.

If you're comfortable w/ it, you can restore your system by using the CD provided or (better yet) building it from scratch (a real MS XP CD, not the one from vpr Matrix).

If that doesn't fix it (and my guess is that it won't since you're having boot issues), give vpr a call. From other forums here, it sounds like you need to go to the 800 number for good service vs. taking it to a Best Buy store.

Note that I would HIGHLY recommend that you blast away any personal info before taking a laptop in for service. Use a DOD rated disk cleaner.

Troy

[ahbrown41]

I talked to the people at Best Buy today. Looks like they are having some issues with their other laptop vendors (Placement etc) they need to work out before the new line comes out.

I clearly have hardware issues with my 200A5. Hopefully I can switch it for one of the new ones.

Buying the BB warrenty is good (Hopefully).

[Ioman]

Originally posted by ahbrown41
I talked to the people at Best Buy today. Looks like they are having some issues with their other laptop vendors (Placement etc) they need to work out before the new line comes out.

I clearly have hardware issues with my 200A5. Hopefully I can switch it for one of the new ones.

Buying the BB warrenty is good (Hopefully).

Not sure if you mentioned this or not, but do you have an extended warranty on it? If so, I would be bugging the hell out of Best Buy to fix it ASAP or replace it.

[cnc137]

Anyone have any luck with getting the newer NVIDIA drivers to work yet on their 200A5?

The document located on NVIDIA's web site below seems to have the answers we need but I haven't had time to play around with the drivers to find the solution.

NVIDIA Compressed Modes User's Guide (PDF) (http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/40.41/NVCompMode_UG_20.pdf)

This document is located on the Windows XP/2000 41.09 Drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=winxp-2k_41.09) page at the bottom.

Has anyone read this document and figured it all out yet?

Just wondering...

cnc137.

[kingkato]

slight increase in performance after installing ali agp driver 1.9...my 200a5 came with 1.8 and 3dmark increased 200 points or so.....might be worth a try although uninstall your 1.8's ist.....