HP Firebird 802 Drivers

[EvilHenchman]

So did HP just stop supporting this machine completely?

There hasn't been a new driver for anything on this machine in over 1 year.   It's near impossible to get updated graphics drivers especially.

Can any HP person please advise on what the most current supported Nvidia driver for these 9800S chips would be?  

[Fieldy510]

It sure seems like nobody cares about firebirds anymore...  Im not going to be able to play Battlefield 3 because nobody wants to put out a driver for our 9800s  760i SLI  machines... its pathetic, Im sorry HP but your firebird computers are terrible and i will never buy another Hp computer. 

Ive had nothing but problem after problem with the 802.. first my external power supply goes out.. then my cd/dvd drive stops working and now you guys stop putting out new drivers..

Thanks a lot.

[Newcombc7]

I'm hitting a wall with finding drivers as well. The only one I could find that seemed to work for me was NVIDIA's 257.21 update from more than a year ago. It makes SLI active and running, but has no support for anything coming close to a new game. Every update after 257.21 breaks SLI again. Planning on calling NVIDIA on Monday to see if there is a fix.

[EvilHenchman]

Yes, it's pretty sad that HP just gave up on this machine.  I can definitely say I won't be buying another HP system again because of this.

[Dunsany]

---

EvilHenchman wrote:

So did HP just stop supporting this machine completely?

There hasn't been a new driver for anything on this machine in over 1 year.   It's near impossible to get updated graphics drivers especially.

Can any HP person please advise on what the most current supported Nvidia driver for these 9800S chips would be?  

---

The newest GeForce driver from the NVIDIA website that includes the 9800 S GPU in its NV_DISP.INF file is 266.58 released January 18, 2011.

; NVIDIA Windows Vista / Windows 7 (64 bit) Display INF file
; Copyright (c) NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

[Version]
Signature   = "$Windows NT$"
Provider    = %NVIDIA%
ClassGUID   = {4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Class       = Display
DriverVer   = 01/07/2011, 8.17.12.6658
CatalogFile = NV_DISP.CAT
...
%NVIDIA_DEV.062F.01% = Section004, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_062F                
...
%NVIDIA_DEV.062F.01% = Section005, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_062F                
...
NVIDIA_DEV.062F.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce 9800 S"
...

The 270.61, 275.33, 280.26, and 285.62 GeForce drivers all installed and worked well on my two Firebirds running Windows 7 and Vista. What works best for me is to first install version 266.58 using the Custom (Advanced) option with the Perform clean install box checked. Then install the newer version with the Perform clean install box NOT checked. When I'm done experimenting with the newer drivers I reinstall 266.58 with the Perform clean install box checked again.

I ran the Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5 on every driver version from 266.58 to 285.62 on both Windows 7 and Vista. It was just a casual test to see if there were any obvious problems or improvements between versions but I didn't notice any big differences. I'd have to take more time and run more tests before I could say it's worth upgrading from version 266.58 to any of the newer versions.

There is some minor flakiness in the NVIDIA Control Panel and Windows Device Manager with the newer drivers so proceed at your own risk. Device Manager shows all 9800 S and 760i GPU's are "working properly" but the driver version numbers and hardware compatibilty signing look a bit off for the 9800 S.

[EvilHenchman]

I'm only using 260.99 right now.  Last time I tried upgrading past that I had all kinds of issues with SLI not working and the control panel not opening, so I reverted back to 260.99.

[Newcombc7]

Just wondering....How did you get Windows 7 up and running on Firebird 802? I wiped my hard drive and reformatted to upgrade to Win 7 from Vista, and never had any success getting the FB to operate at full graphics capacity ever again. Did you use any additional drivers upon install or accessory DVD's?

[Dunsany]

---

Newcombc7 wrote:

Just wondering....How did you get Windows 7 up and running on Firebird 802? I wiped my hard drive and reformatted to upgrade to Win 7 from Vista, and never had any success getting the FB to operate at full graphics capacity ever again. Did you use any additional drivers upon install or accessory DVD's?

---

I use the following three files from the NVIDIA website on both Windows 7 and Vista. In my experience they are the most trouble-free, most complete, and most up-to-date files that install correctly on my two Firebirds.

nForce Driver Version: 15.56 WHQL
Release Date: 2011.05.02

GeForce Driver Version: 266.58 WHQL
Release Date: 2011.01.18

NVIDIA System Tools with ESA Support Version: 6.06
Release Date: 2010.04.09

[Newcombc7]

Thank you for your response.

I took this advice and applied it to my Firebird 802 running windows 7. I used driver sweeper in safe mode and cleaned out all existing Nvidia drivers, (with unistalling them from control panel one at a time before that), then installed the 15.56 whql nforce driver. That installed successfully. Restarted. Installed the 266.58 driver, which also installed correctly. The same with the system tools. 

However, things are not all fine. I am not able to enable SLI. In the Nvidia control panel, I am able to click "Maximize 3D Performance" tab under SLI/Physx settings, but it does not enable my SLI. What could be going wrong? 

[Dunsany]

---

Newcombc7 wrote:

Thank you for your response.

I took this advice and applied it to my Firebird 802 running windows 7. I used driver sweeper in safe mode and cleaned out all existing Nvidia drivers, (with unistalling them from control panel one at a time before that), then installed the 15.56 whql nforce driver. That installed successfully. Restarted. Installed the 266.58 driver, which also installed correctly. The same with the system tools. 

However, things are not all fine. I am not able to enable SLI. In the Nvidia control panel, I am able to click "Maximize 3D Performance" tab under SLI/Physx settings, but it does not enable my SLI. What could be going wrong? 

---

On your Set SLI and PhysX Configuration page, below the Maximize 3D Performance button, does it say "GPU's in SLI are driving the display(s)"?

Does the Hybrid SLI UI appear in your System Tray? It should look like two little green boomerangs if you're in Boost Performance (SLI) mode? The Hybrid SLI UI is what switches the Firebird GPU's between Boost Performance, Save Power, and Additional Displays modes, not the NVIDIA Control Panel.

It's possible that you're trying to use SLI with a program that doesn't have a Program Settings entry on the Manage 3D Setting page in your NVIDIA Control Panel. Programs run in Single-GPU mode unless there is a Program Settings entry supplied by NVIDIA with the GeForce driver, or added by the user, selecting which SLI rendering mode to use: Single-GPU, Force alternate frame rendering 1, or Force alternate frame rendering 2.

One good way to test this with a program I know is supported by GeForce driver version 266.58 is the free Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5 Basic Edition. Before running the Unigine Benchmark, or whatever program you want to test, select Show SLI Visual Indicator from the 3D Settings menu at the very top of the NVIDIA Control Panel. There will be an obvious SLI indicator on-screen if SLI is being used.

It's also easy to add a Program Settings entry for programs that are missing one. I've added a game engine I tinker with that NVIDIA hasn't included in any driver and it turns the SLI Indicator on now.