Windows Vista RC1 Installation

Problem Installing with an Nvidia 7950 GX2

Ive seen quite a few people complaining of a Blue screen of death during the installation of Windows Vista RC1 caused by their graphics card. I used to be one of them. This problem infuriated me and im sure im not alone, so when i found out how, i made this site to help others who might be in the same predicament

This Bug is caused by a lack of updated graphics drivers in the windows installer itself, as the installer cannot use a standard vga driver like earlier versions of windows..
I am not from microsoft but i have a fix for both the 64 bit version and the 32 bit version..

These are the, hold your hand, step by step, instructions on how to install Windows vista RC1 on a pc equipped with an Nvidia 7950 GX2 Graphics Card (this fix may work for some other unsupported Nvidia SLI setups but im not sure..).

The requirements for this fix is either two hard drives - one with vista and one with xp, or two computers, and Win rar. An external caddy compatible with the hard drive you are installing windows vista on is needed if only one computer is involved with the process.

Step One:

Download the RC1 Release of vista.. burn it to a DVD at the lowest possible speed.
Chances are that if your reading this you have already completed this part.

For thoses that haven't:

  1. Go to The Microsoft Home Page
  2. On the left hand side is a Menu - Click Windows
  3. On the left hand side is a Menu - Click Windows Vista
  4. In the middle of the screen reads "Try Windows Vista" - Click it
  5. On that page there is a link called "Get Windows Vista RC1" - Click it
  6. Halfway down the page is "Download Windows Vista RC1" - In the "download now" list pick your country and press go
  7. Fill out your details and Microsoft will issue you a key for vista - Write it down! (At this point you may be asked to log in with your microsoft/msn/hotmail account)
  8. After filling in your details, you are at page "thank you for participating in the microsoft windows vista customer review program" - Click the link to the language you prefer (my fix has only been tested on the english version)
  9. On this page you can choose from the 32 bit or 64 bit versions and how you want to download.. - i downloaded just with my browser but if the download manager on the site works for you i would suggest using it
  10. When the download is finished - burn the image onto a DVD using your preffered program but make sure the burn speed is set as low as possible

Step Two:

Download the Latest version of the Nvidia drivers for the version of vista you are installing (64bit or 32 bit)

I have downloaded and unpacked the 96.33 Drivers already.
If you want to download them already unpacked instead go to step

  1. Got to the Nvidia Home Page
  2. Top left - Click Download drivers
  3. In the left box click "Graphics Driver"
  4. In the middle box click "Geforce and TNT2"
  5. For 32bit users press "Windows Vista x86" - For 64 bit users press"Windows vista x64"
  6. Press "Go!"
  7. Click "Primary download Site" - If the download doesnt work - try a mirror below it

 

Step Three:

Unpack the drivers contained in the downloaded installer file.

The Unpacked versions of driver version 96.33 for 64 bit and 32 bit can be downloaded on step * if you cant get it right.

  1. Right click the file you downloaded and click "extract to"
  2. Extract the files to C:\Vistafiles\
  3. Close winrar
  4. There should now be a folder on your C: drive called vistafiles with the extracted files in it..
  5. Click "start" then click "run"
  6. Type "command" into the box that pops up
  7. An MSDOS window should come up

After this window pops up - follow the instructions below that apply to your version (32bit or 64bit)

64bit:

 

 

 

 

32bit:

 

 

 

Step Four:

in "C:\Documents and settings\<currentuser>" will be the expanded files you made.. - Put them somewhere you can find them later!!

If you have exhausted the steps above and are still scratching your head then the unpacked drivers can be downloaded below (i only use the free version of filefactory so dont be surprised if its unavailable - try again later:

32 bit unpacked drivers
Size: 7.41 MB - Download - Go down and find "Download for free with FileFactory Basic" - click it - press skip advertisement and press "Click Here to begin your download"

64 bit unpacked drivers - Coming soon

Put them somewhere you can find them later!!

Step Five:

Pc's with one drive will have to boot from the cd - install till it resets after the "Installing updates" stage, and turn it off instead of booting - put the hard drive into someone elses computer, complete steps 8-13 below, then put it back into thier system to complete the installation.

For pc's with two hard drives follow these steps..

  1. restart your computer and open the bios setup
  2. Make sure that the first boot method is your Windows XP harddrive - This step is important!!!!
  3. continue booting into windows xp
  4. insert your windows vista disk and start the installation - make sure you choose the harddrive that is not your windows xp drive for windows vista to install on
  5. allow the installation to continue - it will restart once after unpacking files and will boot into the setup again
  6. When the setup reaches the installing features or the installing updates section (cant remember wich one) the pc will reset
  7. It will show a dual boot screen - CHOOSE "EARLIER VERSION OF WINDOWS"!!!!!!! - This step is important!!!! - (if the installation is allowed to continue past the completing installation point on accident you will get a blue screen and be brought back to the dual boot screen - you should then boot back into windows - format the vista harddrive and redo steps 1-7 of this section)
  8. When in windows xp - open your vista hard drive and go to "<Vistaharddrive>/windows/system32/ DriverStore/FileRepository and open the folder nv_lh folder
  9. 32 bit users should find three dll files and a few other files.. - 64 bit users will find four - they should be the same as the previously expanded/downloaded files
  10. Right click each one of the files you need to replace in the vista hard drive
  11. Click properties - click security -click advanced - click take ownership - choose your current user as the owner then press ok.
  12. go into the properties, security tab again - click add then add your user to the list then click full controll - press ok
  13. replace the files on the vista drive with the ones you obtained earlier

Step Six

Reboot the computer back into the dual screen and choose the setup (single drive users just boot from their hard drive with the vista DVD still in the drive..) - it should then continue at the "Completing installation phase" and install correctly - if you experience a blue screen again - start over - you did something wrong...

Since this is only a fix to get the thing working - i would then suggest downloading and installing the latest drivers from the official nvidia drivers site for your vista version after installation.

Any questions or comments (or corrections) can be directed to Maelgwn87@gmail.com - (You must put "7950gx2 vista query" into the subject or i wont open it..)

you can also email me if the download links have run out of bandwidth and i will send it via mail :-)

if nvidia or microsoft have any complaints about this website they have only to email me and i will take the site down - but since i am only providing help to allow vista to install - i dont see a problem arising.. but if there is - still put "7950gx2 vista query" into the subject or it may get put in my spam folder..

*** EDIT ***
27/9/07
I no longer use/maintain this webpage as the proper versions of windows vista are available now and this problem is no longer an issue, However i am still recieving many hits on this page so i will leave it up for reference by people who may still need it.