New laptop with XPPro causing trouble

[SLJ]

Just loaded my new HP nw9440 laptop Fri., XPPro,duocore 2.0 mhz.2gig ram, QuadroFX1500. Getting random crashes, no two at the same place, none with error messages, they just go to the screen that sends crash reports to CNC. I loaded from disks sent by my reseller that are the latest builds. I think there was a file to download from mastercam for XP users when X first came out. Is it still needed? I didn't see anything on the website, but probably overlooked it.

[Craig-B]

download the latest Quadro drivers, then Right click on the desktop and go to the Nvidia display menu. Under the "Performance and Quality Settings" page, change the Active Profile to "Solidworks".

 

Now under the Desktop Management section, Profiles page, select the CAD profile and press load.

[Colin Gilchrist]

You should also disable the "save bitmap" with file save. This has been known to cause the 0 kbyte crash.

[Gunnar]

I have used this laptop for 10 months now and it works great with MCX2 and SolidEdge. On the other hand I have not been able to load NVIDIA´s drivers on this machine, just HP´s own but latest. Sign up for new drivers on their website. I think there is a workaround though to load NVIDIA´s driver. Someone else can perhaps tell us how.

 

Gunnar

[SLJ]

Gunnar, curious as to why the trouble loading nvidias drivers. I haven't tried it yet, but was wondering what you ran into.

[Gunnar]

There is some issues with the .inf file. You get some kind of message that says that the system does not recognize the file, or something like that. It is a couple of months since I last tried it, so I don´t recall exactly what it was. But I am pretty sure that someone here at the forum knew how to overcome the problem, but I did not try that at that time.

Gunnar

[SLJ]

So far so good, changed the active profile to solidworks, the desktop management profile to cad, and disabled the save bitmap. I'll wait till I've got more time to update drivers. That weeks downtime from all the water sure doesn't help with keeping up. Thanks guys

[Jeremy Haage from MCAM NorthWest]

You could check out laptopvideo2go for modified INF files that allow you to install whatever Nvidia driver. These are primarily for allowing a laptop user to install drivers intended for desktop cards. Each driver has a built-in list of cards that the driver will install on. The modified INF basically adds more cards to the list. I've done a bit of experimenting myself on my laptop with the files and am currently using desktop drivers. Nvidia usually tells you to go to the laptop manufacturer for drivers, but in my case, Dell hasn't updated the Vista driver for my laptop since January. I'm missing features that I used to have in XP (one which I need for interfacing with a projector properly), so the desktop drivers fixed that. This is definitely a use at your own risk venture though and I can't endorse it.

 

I usually recommend going with the 84.26 Nvidia Quadro drivers for users running the Quadro card, they've seemed to be solid.

[bogusmill]

Did you format and reload XP Pro when you got the laptop? If not thats a big part of the problem. We have to buy from Dell or HP and the first thing we do is format the HD to get rid of the crapware they put on thier systems. This also gets rid of the whatever it is HP put in that won't allow you to use Nvidia drivers on your Nvidia card.

 

You paid for an operating system when you bought the laptop. There is a serial number associated with it. If you can get your hands on a Microsoft Win XP Pro disc you can format & reload the OS using that serial # to get rid of all the crap. If you use the disc that came with the laptop, you just reinstall the crap. Do it now, before you get to settled into the laptop.

[88Matt]

quote:

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You paid for an operating system when you bought the laptop. There is a serial number associated with it. If you can get your hands on a Microsoft Win XP Pro disc you can format & reload the OS using that serial # to get rid of all the crap. If you use the disc that came with the laptop, you just reinstall the crap. Do it now, before you get to settled into the laptop.

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Has anyone done this with Vista? I am having the same issue of getting rid of the "crap". Bought it on Monday and still setting it up.