Kyle January 8th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

You claim to be using 180.X geforce drivers, but I find none for the 9600m GT that are that recent on laptopvideo2go. Are you using drivers that aren’t approved for that card?

chitoac January 10th, 2009 at 3:27 am

it its working atm moment let me know anything else thx =)
i report anything happens

tommy January 10th, 2009 at 9:48 am

Hi, thanks for the nice article. I will be trying it. But can i do the same procedure on windows xp? and what was your experience before you updated the drivers? do you had a black sreen with soundlooping? and how long do you played with the new drivers? because i only get the blackscreenissues after playing 1 h dead space…
thanks and sry for my bad english…^^

thom January 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am

I can’t instal the GeForce drivers only the nForce?
But it doesn’t solve the problem :-(

mycall January 10th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

Which version of nForce drivers should I use? I have Vista 64-bit so I can’t use the link you supplied.

mycall January 10th, 2009 at 10:29 pm

nevermind, it can be found at http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_vista64_20.08.html

Xin January 11th, 2009 at 7:10 am

@tommy

My experience before updated the drivers:

1. Sound quality is really poor.

2. Black screen with sound looping, yes!

3. Fans are not speeding up at all when gaming.

If you’re experiencing the fan speed problem, it causes all parts too hot to continue so that a black screen, I think it’s worth trying updating drivers.

Xin January 11th, 2009 at 7:11 am

@thom

Not all official released GeForce drivers can be installed on laptops, you’ll need to use modified version for laptop.

Xin January 11th, 2009 at 7:17 am

@tommy

On how long it lasted, I just finished Call of Duty: World at War on my MacBook Pro this weekend (it cannot last over 30 minutes before drivers update), it lasted a day. :D

Xin January 11th, 2009 at 7:21 am

@Kyle

I’ll confirm the detailed version and download URL for my GeForce drivers when I’m on Windows Vista. Currently I’m working on Mac.

Xin January 11th, 2009 at 7:37 am

@Kyle

This is the GeForce driver I’m using, be sure to download the Modded INF as well:

http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22520

David January 17th, 2009 at 12:44 am

I have tried your above steps, but it doesn’t seem to have worked for me in Vista 64 Ultimate;

Crashes consistantly when taking 3DMark 06, always during the fairy portion, goes to black screen.

Audio, it was working fine before I installed the drivers listed, and now my audio port is now red (digital audio), having to find a fix for that

Any ideas? It’s also VERRRRY hot in the top left of the keyboard when it’s charging while playing etc, is this concurrent with everyone.?

~D~

David January 17th, 2009 at 2:11 am

Ok, I resolved the audio problem, I didn’t read the installer, it does 2 functions, first time it UNINSTALLS the old drivers, and restarts, then you need to run it again to install it, then restart. Then I had an issue with the sound not playing, easily fixed by putting the headphones in and out (not sure what caused it, and it wasn’t giving the digital audio red light).

As far as the crash, it’s still crashing, but I have it consistantly crashing now using 3D Mark06, just run the standard test, and during the 2nd test (glowing fairies), it will crash at 47 seconds. Can you test and see if you’re able to reproduce this please Xin?

GeeThreeForce February 1st, 2009 at 9:20 pm

I found a solution for the fans not spinning up in Vista32.
Follow the instructions above (i used tht Nvidia 1.80.20 driver from laptopvideo2go).

When your done (and i know this sounds crazy) uninstall your video-driver through the device-manager.

Now remove bootcamp.

Reboot

Reinstall bootcamp from the original OSX dvd (tested with late 2008 models only)

Reboot after the installation.

Fins are spinning up under heavy load as they should. No more black screens of death. Unfortunately bootcamp restored the original Realtek audio driver. So yes, you will still have crappy audio. Haven’t tested installation of the new audio driver yet. I will later this week, and post my findings here.

GeeThreeForce February 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 am

I solved the heat-issue in Windows Vist32 (tested and worked!)
This should also work in XP, XP64 and VISTA 64 although not tested.

Goto the Nvidia website and download the latest notebook drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_drivers.html).

Uninstall your old notebook drivers through device-manager and restart.
Now install the Nvidia notebook drivers you just downloaded and restart.

NOW THE IMPORTANT PART!!!
After numerous hours of testing i found out that installing new Nvdia display drivers overwrite some Nvidia chipset drivers. This causes your fans not spinning at all under heavy GPU load.
THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE BECAUSE TEMPERATURES CAN EASILY PASS 100 degrees celsius.

Now for the fix in four easy steps!
1. Under Windows insert your MacOS original install-disc (the one with the bootcamp drivers)
2. Choose to explore the Bootcamp folder.
3. Now open the drivers folder and browse to the Nvidia folder.
4. Now install the package called nvidiachipset. These come in all flavors (XP, XP64, VISTA, VISTA64) choose the correct version for your OS.

After installation a reboot is not even necessary. Start your favorite game and notice the extreme humming of your speeding fans! Should sound like music!

So remember. Every time you update your graphics drivers A REINSTALL OF THE CHIPSET DRIVERS FOR YOUR UNIBODY MBP MUST BE DONE!! If you don’t the fans won’t come up under heavy load which will result in a BUSTED GPU!!!

erickp February 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Are these driver issues the same with XP (sp3)?

My cousin has a Macbook 17″ unibody on order and he’d like me to install WindowsXP on the system. I’m thinking of doing it via Bootcamp. It doesn’t play hard core games BUT is a hard core online poker player and usually has about 8 games going at once. Is bootcamp the best solution or should I just go right to parallels? Thanks!

AppleSucks2009 March 6th, 2009 at 1:58 am

Hi,

I have bought a 2.4Ghz Unibody Macbook Pro in January, and I have experienced the Black screen of death; along with some half black screen + horizontal lines freezes.

These freezes happened in both WinXP SP3 (via Bootcamp), and Mac OS X 10.5.6 playing iTunes/Quicktime or just with the screen saver being turned on.

The freezes have happened under windows using the 9600M GT card (it’s the one being used by default under bootcamp); and under Mac OS X using the 9400M. (not even playing games; but as I said.. it happened while watching movies..)

So, to me … this MacBook Pro is cursed; both graphic cards have issues. Euthectic/Non-euthectic, well.. it’s been MONTHS now, and Apple has still not released any statement/fixes for this.

I am so upset; because they won’t replace the computer here in France. Apple Care told me to bring the computer to an authorized repair center… but of course, that way I am forced to 1. find a way to get there 2. wait a week with no machine

I have also tried spinning up the fans, using smcFanControl; and this does not have any impact on this macbookpro.

The machine is running cold and it still freaking dies.

I have also replaced the drivers in BootCamp (graphics, nForce, Audio… etc) as you have described here: in vain.

Just thought I’d post my experience.

poppul March 19th, 2009 at 12:31 am

@GeeThreeForce

Thank you so much. Your method worked beautifully in vista 32. It seems that installing the chipset drivers after the video drivers is the key. I have had a rock solid install of vista since your method. I have been able to update my video drivers to post 1.8x and the latest nforce drivers from the nvidia website. I also found this website to fix an audio skipping issue I was having: http://alexpopovich.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/macbook-rev-f-audio-skipping-in-vista-analisys-and-solution/

James March 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am

I have windows xp …… what nforce drivers do I need? I have the lastest graphics drivers 185.x and sound drivers.

Scott July 11th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

This makes a lot of sense to me, as my macbook started acting up immediately after an update.
Probably a bad driver. I’m running 2.4 MBP w/Nvidia 8600M (yes it is the same model as in the extended warranty period, yet I am NOT in the specific serial range covered!!!!)
How can I tell what drivers i have?

Here’s my story:
Immediately on restart after updating my OS from 10.5 to 10.7, the screen would not come on. Just stayed black, even though the machine was on, keys worked.
Apple genius claims without any testing or diagnosing under the hood that it is a bad logic board.
I tried deleting the sleepimage as recommended on the forums. That brought back the screen. Then how is it a hardware problem? Only for some reason the black screen of death returned.
When I asked the Apple genius to explain this, he said that the update must have brought out the problem.

This contradicts Apple’s statement:
“About Mac OS X 10.5.7 Combo Update

The 10.5.7 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5 to 10.5.6, and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.”

My Macbook Pro is no longer stable as an immediate result of installing the update!

I asked the genius how could i be making screen shots of working software if the logic board had failed? He could only guess it was the GPU, at which point I realized he was willing to tell me a price to fix the machine when he did not actually know what was wrong. It seems the logic board replacement is a “catch all” fix at my expense, or else one should suspect the logic boards are defective, at the rate they are replaced. Yet there is a precedence noted in the apple forums of dozens of people getting their logic board fixed free, and a lot of problems eerily similar to mine regarding the Nvidia 8600 chipset which is the same as mine!
Still, the Apple genius claims that my specific Nvidia chip is not covered in the warranty extension! How can the chip manufacturer predict that my chip isn’t defective if it did not know there was problem with the specific range they are covering when they sold them???
This is a clear case of a defective product, and there is a precedence set for free replacement, and yet Apple is so set on profiting from my misfortune that they cannot see how they are shooting themselves in the foot. I will never buy Apple again because they do not stand behind the quality of their product, and I will make sure everyone I know will not make the same mistake. $300 saved prevents tens of thousands in future purchases. Good luck with your genius tactics Apple.

Fabian November 26th, 2009 at 9:01 am

True… this is the last time I will buy a MacBook.
My god, don’t sell a product if you can’t get it to work like HP, Sony, Compaq, Dell etc

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