optimized nForce chipset driverpacks for XP (32/64bit)

[Fernando 1]

@ all Windows XP (32/64bit) users with an nForce 2/3/4/5/6/7 series chipset mainboard:

Actual informations (dated 16th February 2010):

• Although I had stopped the support of this thread in October 2009, I have now uploaded new "MCP65-79 Actual Driverpacks" for XP (32/64bit) again.
• The main reason was, that the newest nForce chipset driver sets 15.52 and 15.53 do not support all devices of all related MCP chipsets. I have customized the drivers by adding the missing DeviceID's.
• This does not mean, that I will restart the support of this thread. Users, who want to know the best suitable driverpack for their system, should read this post carefully and maybe test different sets.
• Please don't bother me with PM's asking which is the "best" package for your system.

Thanks for your understanding!
Fernando

Preliminary notes
Many users with an nForce chipset mainboard, who are running or going to install Windows XP (32/64bit), are searching for actual nForce chipset drivers, which are suitable for their special chipset and will give them the best possible performance and stability of their system. NVIDIA itself doesn't offer them.
This was the reason why I started this thread.
Besides some other nForcersHQ Forum members it was mainly TwL, who helped me to find the best nForce driver mixture for each nForce chipset series. Whithout their assistance I wouldn't have been able to present these "Best for NF4-7" chipset driver packages.
If you want further informations about TwL's benchmark results and his review about the properties and features of all actual nForce IDE drivers and the impact done by different Ethernet driver versions, you should have a look into this special thread.
For whom are these driverpacks suitable?
The installation of my driverpacks makes sense for owners of an nForce chipset mainboard, who ran into problems with NVIDIA's official packs (for example NF4 RAID users) or who are searching for a driverpack combination, which gives them a better performance (owners of all NF2-7 chipsets).
Important:

1. Only my modded "NF4-7 Actual Driverpacks" are optimized for the advanced AHCI features, which are supported by the newest nForce chipsets from MCP65 up. Users, who want to run their SATA hdd(s) in full "AHCI Mode", but avoid to install any modified driver, may take NVIDIA's official driversets.
2. All my packages contain the untouched original NVIDIA drivers (that are the files with the extension ".SYS"). The customization of my "modded" driverpacks concerns just the associated text files (with the extension ".INF") to make the original drivers compatible with other nForce chipsets.

Here are my actual nForce chipset driverpacks for Windows XP (32/64bit):

Last update: 02/16/2010
Changelog:
- new: modded "MCP65-79 Actual Driverpacks" v7.3

A. "Special WHQL Driver Packs":

1. "NF4-5 non-AHCI WHQL Driverpacks" for XP (32/64bit)
(rock stable set with the latest WHQL certified XP 32/64bit non-AHCI nForce drivers)

Changelog:
- nothing

All actual nForce S-ATA drivers named NVGTS.SYS (32bit) and NVGTS64.SYS (64bit) were developed to be used with nForce S-ATA Controllers, which do support the new S-ATA feature AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface). Since all NF4 and some NF5-7 chipsets do not support AHCI at all, I have bundled these special 32/64bit packages, which contain the latest "non-AHCI" nForce IDE drivers. They are primarily designed for NF4-5 users, who are not able or don't want to use any AHCI capable nForce IDE drivers, but can be used with nForce 680i/650i and nForce 780i/750i chipset mainboards too.

Here are the download links (with multilingual installer):

32bit package v5.8 for Windows XP:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

64bit package v5.8 for Windows XP x64:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components of the actual XP non-AHCI driverpacks:

Code: Select all

Ethernet Driver (v67.89) WHQL
SATAIDE Driver (v6.99) WHQL 
SATARAID Driver (v6.99) WHQL 
RAIDTOOL Application (v6.95) "Sedona"
SMU Driver (v1.70) WHQL
SMBus Driver (v4.69) WHQL
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
Installer (v6.14)

Compatibility:

• The included WHQL certified nForce IDE drivers v6.99 dated 05/15/2007 do support all CK804 (nForce 4 AMD Ultra/SLI/SIx16), MCP51 (nForce 430/410) and MCP 55 (nForce 590/570/550) chipsets, but obviously can be used with nForce 680i/650i and nForce 780i/750i chipset mainboards too and may solve problems caused by the actual AHCI supporting nForce IDE drivers (look here). Users with an nForce4 Intel Edition chipset mainboard and nForce4 PataRAID users should take the suitable "nForce LEGACY Remix Pack" you will find within the section "Modded XP Driverpacks".
• These driverpacks do support SATA1 and SATA2 hard disk drives. Nevertheless it is possible, that users with SATA 2 hdd's may get a better performance by using one of my "Performance Packs".
• Contrary to NVIDIA's recently presented nForce chipset driver packs v15.25/15.26 these packs are fully supporting all nForce4 AMD RAID systems.

2. "Special WHQL Performance Packs" for XP (32/64bit)
(usable with MCP51, MCP55, nForce 680i/650i and nForce 780i/750i chipsets)

Changelog:
- nothing

Here are the download links to my "Special WHQL Performance Packs" (with multilingual installer):

32bit driverpack v5.8 for Windows (32bit):
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

64bit driverpack v5.8 for Windows XP x64:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components:

Code: Select all

Ethernet Driver (v67.89) WHQL
SATAIDE Driver (v9.99.09) WHQL - with AHCI support (contrary to NVIDIA's original driver)
SATARAID Driver (v9.99.09) WHQL 
RAIDTOOL Application (v9.99.09) "Sedona"
SMU Driver (v1.70) WHQL
SMBus Driver (v4.69) WHQL
HD Audio Driver (v1.00.0.55) WHQL
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
Installer (v6.14)

Compatibility:
My "WHQL Performance Packs" are fully supporting nForce 430/410 (=MCP51), nForce 590/570/550 (=MCP55), nForce 680i/650i and nForce 780i/750i chipset mainboards. Users with other chipsets, who want to enhance their performance, have to take one of the "Modded XP Performance Packs" (see below).
Performance details:
The nForce IDE drivers v9.99.09 of my "Performance Packs" are as rock stable as the 10.3.0.42/10.3.0.46 ones, but have a better performance. Users will get the best results, if these IDE drivers are combined with Ethernet drivers, which do not drop the speed. The Ethernet drivers v67.89 obviously are the best choice as partner of the 9.99.09 IDE drivers (tested and reported by TwL, look here).


______________________________________________________________

B. "Modded XP Driverpacks":

1. "NF4-7 Performance Packs" for XP (32/64bit)
(with the currently best/fastest nForce IDE drivers, compatible with all NF4-7 chipsets)

Changelog:
- nothing

Here are the download links to my modded XP Performance Packs (with multilingual installer):

32bit package v5.9 for Windows XP:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

64bit package v5.9 for Windows XP x64:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components:

Code: Select all

Ethernet Driver (v67.89) WHQL
SATAIDE Driver (v9.99.09) customized by Fernando - with AHCI support (contrary to NVIDIA's original driver) 
SATARAID Driver (v9.99.09) customized by Fernando 
RAIDTOOL Application (v9.99.09) "Sedona"
SMU Driver (v1.71) customized by Fernando
SMBus Driver (v4.74) customized by Fernando
HD Audio Driver (v1.00.0.63) WHQL
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
Installer (v6.14)

Compatibility:

• My "Modded Performance Packs" with the customized nForce IDE drivers v9.99.09 are supporting all nForce chipsets from NF4 up.
• The nForce IDE drivers v9.99.09 do not fully support the AHCI features. Users with any AHCI supporting mainboard (MCP65 and up) should better take the "NF4-7 actual Driverpacks" with the nForce IDE drivers v10.3.54.4, which offer all AHCI features.
• Contrary to the officially offered nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.42, v10.3.0.46, 11.1.0.30 and 11.1.0.33 my modded v9.99.09 ones generally do support nForce4 RAID systems too. Nevertheless some RAID users with an nForce 4 AMD Ultra chipset mainboard reported, that they were not able to get any of the nForce IDE drivers v9.xx.xx or 10.x.x.xx series installed while installing or running Windows XP (32/64bit).
  Unless this problem will be solved by NVIDIA, affected users should take the suitable version of my "NF4-5 non-AHCI WHQL Driverpack for XP", which definitively works with all NF4 RAID systems.[/b][/color]

Performance details:
The nForce IDE drivers v9.99.09 of my "Performance Pack" are as rock stable as the 10.3.0.xx/11.1.0xx ones, but have a better performance, if they are combined with Ethernet drivers, which do not drop the speed. The Ethernet drivers v67.8x series obviously are the best choice as partner of the 9.99.09 IDE drivers (tested and reported by TwL, look here).
This is what TwL wrote about the IDE drivers, you will find within this package:[/b]

General Notes:
v9.99.09-[Modded by Fernando]: These are probably the best drivers you can add to your system.

2. "MCP65-79 Actual Driverpacks" for XP (32/64bit)
(on the basis of the newest 15.52/15.53 sets, with fully AHCI support)

Changelog:
- new packages

Here are the download links to my "Actual Driverpacks" (with multilingual installer):

32bit package v7.3 for Windows XP:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

64bit package v7.3 for Windows XP x64:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components:

Code: Select all

Ethernet Driver (v73.19.1) customized by Fernando
SATAIDE Driver (v11.1.0.33) customized by Fernando
SATARAID Driver (v11.1.0.33) customized by Fernando
RAIDTOOL Application (v11.1.0.36)
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
SMBUS Driver (v4.78) customized by Fernando
SMU Driver (v2.04) customized by Fernando
Away Mode Driver (v6.0.6000.115) WHQL
HD Audio Driver (v1.00.0.63) WHQL
Installer (v8.07 multilingual)

Compatibility:

• The drivers of these actual Driverpacks are based on the 15.52/15.53 sets, which were recently published by Station-Drivers. Contrary to the 15.52/15.53 sets my driverpacks do support all MCP65-79 chipsets.
• Since I have added the HardwareID's of all NF4-7 chipset devices, they probably will support MCP51, MCP55 and MCP61 chipsets too.
• Unfortunately the included nForce IDE drivers will not work with all nForce4 systems. This possible issue has nothing to do with my work, but with the structure of the new nForce IDE drivers v10.x.x.xx and v11.x.x.xx series, which obviously are not compatible with some or maybe even all nForce4 systems.

AHCI support:
The nForce IDE drivers v11.1.0.33 do fully support the AHCI features. Users, who own an AHCI supporting nForce system and want to run their SATA hdd in AHCI mode, should do the following:

1. Create a Windows XP (32/64bit) CD with integrated AHCI capable NVIDIA nForce SATA textmode driver by using a tool like nLite (for details look into part B of this guide).
2. Enable the "AHCI Mode" of the NVIDIA nForce SATA Controllers within the BIOS.
3. Install Windows XP (32/64bit) by booting off the just created CD. Don't hit F6 when prompted.

Performance details:
Since I didn't yet get any benchmark results from users, who had installed these drivers, I cannot give any performance details.


3. "NF2(3)-4 Remix Packs" for XP (32bit/64bit)
(even suitable with all "LEGACY mode" = PataRAID+SataRAID supporting nForce chipsets)

Changelog:
- nothing

a) 32bit version
Here are the download links to my modded 32bit "NF2-4 Remix Pack" (with multilingual installer):

32bit package v5.8 for Windows XP:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components:

Code: Select all

NVIDIA AC'97 Audio Driver (v4.66)
Audio Utility (v4.51)
Ethernet Driver (v65.65) customized by Fernando
PreNRM Ethernet Driver (v5.38) customized by AdvModDev
GART Driver (v4.40)
SATAIDE Driver (v6.99) customized by Fernando 
SATARAID Driver (v6.99) customized by Fernando
LEGACY mode SATA/PATA and RAID Driver (v6.99) composed and customized by Fernando 
RAIDTOOL Application (v6.95) "Sedona"
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
Memory Driver (v4.40)
SMBus Driver (v4.69) customized by Fernando
Installer (v5.17)

b) 64bit version
Here are the download links to my modded 64bit "NF3-4 Remix Pack" (with multilingual installer):

64bit package v5.8 for Windows XP x64:
Main download link (eSnips)
Mirror (MediaFire)

These are the components:

Code: Select all

NVIDIA AC'97 Audio Driver (v4.66)
Audio Utility (v4.51)
Ethernet Driver (v65.65) customized by Fernando
GART driver (v4.34)
SataIDE Driver (v6.99) customized by Fernando
SataRAID Driver (v6.99) customized by Fernando 
LEGACY mode SATA/PATA and RAID Driver (v6.99) composed and customized by Fernando
RAIDTOOL Application (v6.95) "Sedona"
optional IDE driver registry cleaner (made by TwL)
SMBus Driver (v4.69) customized by Fernando
Installer (v5.10)

Informations regarding both "NF2(3)-4 Remix Packs" (32/64bit):

• Compatibility
  • Both nForce LEGACY driverpacks (32/64bit) can be used with the suitable 32/64bit version of Windows XP and - when being run in "XP Compatibility mode" - even with Vista and Win7.
  • The LEGACY IDE drivers of my "nForce LEGACY Remix Packs" do support the following nForce chipsets and nVRAID configurations:
    • nForce2 incl. PataRAID/SataRAID (only 32bit package version)
    • nForce3 incl. PataRAID (only 32bit package version)
    • nForce3 250 incl. PataRAID/SataRAID
    • nForce 4 AMD Ultra/SLI/SLIx16 incl. PataRAID/SataRAID
    • nForce 4 Intel Edition Ultra/SLI/SLIx16 incl. PataRAID/SataRAID
    • nForce 430/410 (MCP51), recommended for PataRAID systems
    • nForce 590/570/550/680i/650i/780i/750i (MCP55), recommended for PataRAID systems
    • nForce 430/405/400 (MCP61), recommended for PataRAID systems
    • nForce 560/520 (MCP65), usable with PATA and SATA running in IDE Mode
    • nForce 630a (MCP67), usable with PATA and SATA running in IDE Mode
    • nForce 780a/750a (MCP72), usable with PATA
    • nForce 630i/620i/610i (MCP73), usable with PATA and SATA in IDE Mode
    • nForce 730a/720a/710a (MCP78), usable with SATA running in IDE Mode
  • Users with a PataRAID array have to load (F6) or integrate the LEGACY driver subfolder.
• Ethernet driver details
  Although it would have been no problem to add a customized version of NVIDIA's newest Ethernet drivers v67.89, I have put the modded Ethernet driver v65.65 into this Remix Pack, because TwL found out, that the actual nForce Ethernet drivers v67.xx series are not the best choice when used in combination with older nForce chipsets (look here).
• nForce PATA (= IDE s/w) drivers
  If you have any native IDE (=P-ATA) device and have checked the "IDE drivers" installation option of the installer, you will get a popup with the option to install the nForce P-ATA (=IDE s/w) driver instead of the generic MS IDE drivers. This is generally a good choice for NF2/3-4 chipset users, who are running IDE connected hard disk drives. Only disadvantage: Some CD/DVD drives do not like any nForce P-ATA driver.
  If your IDE connected optical drives should not work properly after having installed the nForce P-ATA driver, you can easily remove it by doing the following:
  • Open the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Device Manager and search for a device named like "NVIDIA nForce Parallel ATA Controller" or similar, where your optical drive is connected.
  • Right click onto the Controller and choose the "Update driver software"
  • Let the Device Manager show the compatible Devices.
  • Choose the listed "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" > "OK".
  • After a reboot the nForce P-ATA driver will be replaced by the generic MS IDE drivers.

General notes regarding my "modded" driverpacks:

• What means "modded"?
  There is no reason to avoid "modded" drivers. Only the information (*.INF and *.OEM) files of the original driver folders have been customized (to make the driver compatible with other nForce chipsets), the drivers themselves (*.SYS files) are the original and untouched ones.
  The modification of the INF file doesn't have any negative impact on the function of the associated driver and on the stability/performance of the system.
• Installation/update procedure of "modded" drivers:
  • The included drivers, which have been modified by customizing the associated INF file, automaticly have lost their WHQL stamp. As a consequence you have to force the driver installation, if you are running the installer of the package. Just hit the "Continue" button when prompted.
  • If you do a manual driver update from within the Device Manage, you have to choose the options "Browse my computer ....", "Let me pick ...." and "Have Disk". Otherwise the OS will give a message, that it has already installed the best driver software.
  • Regarding the update of the nForce Ethernet and IDE drivers please read the following informations (chapter "Attention").

_____________________________________________________________

You may use all above presented packages at own risk.

Any feedback is much appreciated - wether you succeed with the driver installation or not.
Please add a short information about the OS, the used package and your nForce chipset.


Attention:

Update of the Ethernet drivers:

1. The Ethernet drivers, which are part of these inofficial nForce chipset driver packages, are running fine with nearly all nForce chipsets, if they are installed the correct way. The running Ethernet drivers should not be just updated! You have to uninstall the previously loaded Ethernet drivers before you run the installer and decide to update the complete chipset driver package!
2. After the installation of the new Ethernet drivers you should verify, that the hidden device ("View" > "show hidden devices") named "Bus Enumerator" has been updated too. Otherwise the Ethernet Controller will not work. Some nForce chipset mainboards need more than 1 reboot to get the Ethernet devices (Bus Enumerator and Network Controller) completely and properly installed.

Update of the nForce IDE drivers:

1. Although the nForce IDE drivers of my packages do support all related nForce chipsets, you should keep in mind, that some of them belong to a new generation of nForce S-ATA drivers with advanced AHCI features. Before you are going to install them, you should do a backup of all important files or - even better - of the whole OS partition. The safest way to get these new nForce IDE drivers installed is to do it from scratch.
2. It is always risky to replace previously installed nForce IDE drivers by other ones, especially with nForce RAID systems, but you can minimize the risks. After having run the installer of the suitable nForce chipset driver package with checked "Storage Driver" or "MediaShield" update, you should NOT REBOOT unless you have checked, that all NVIDIA related Storage and RAID devices have been successfully updated.
   This is what you should do:
   1. Open the "Device Manager", select "View" and check the "Show hidden devices" option.
   2. Open the "SCSI and RAID Controllers" section and look for the actual driver version (right click > "Properties" > "Driver") of ALL listed "NVIDIA RAID Controllers" and ALL listed RAID Devices (with the name of your RAIDed hdd's). If needed, do a manual driver update by loading the SATARAID driver folder content and using the "Have Disk..." option.
   3. Search for devices named "NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller" (within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" or "SCSI and RAID Controllers" section) and look for their actual driver version. If needed, do a manual driver update by loading the SATA_IDE driver folder content and using the "Have Disk..." option.
   4. NOW YOU CAN REBOOT.
3. Use of the optional registry cleaner (made by TwL):
   Since NVIDIA has renamed their nForce IDE drivers and due to the fact, that only nForce IDE drivers with exactly the same name will be overwritten by a driver update, it is possible, that previously installed nForce IDE drivers will remain within the system. These "old" drivers can drop the performance and even let the system crash.
   That is why all my nForce chipset driver packs now contain an "optional.reg" file, which is able to erase all registry entries regarding previously installed nForce IDE drivers. You will find this REG file and a text file how to use it within a new folder named "optional after IDE driver update".
4. Driver update via Windows Update:
   It is highly recommended to disable the automatic Windows Update option, because otherwise you risk, that you get nForce drivers installed, which are broken or worse than those you had previously installed yourself. If Windows Update is offering any new nForce chipset driver, you should only accept it, if you are sure, that the update is useful and safe.

Additional informations:

1. You won't be able to get any nForce IDE driver (not even the S-ATA one) installed by running the installer of any pack unless you have checked the "MediaShield" or "Storage/IDE Driver" option (the exact name depends on the installer version)!
2. Tip:
   You can easily integrate the complete package into a Windows XP-CD by using nLite and choosing the "integrate multiple drivers" option. You will be asked, if you want to use the nForce SATA/RAID drivers as TEXTMODE (required for RAID systems) or PNP drivers.
3. When you have run the installer of any of my packages, you should verify after the reboot, if all nForce chipset drivers really have been updated. It is a known issue of nearly all NVIDIA's nForce chipset driver installers, that they will not automaticly update all previously installed nForce drivers. So you should compare the driver versions and - where necessary - do the driver update manually within the device manager.
4. The new nForce SataRaid drivers require an up-to-date mainboard and nVRaid BIOS (MediaShield ROM) version.
5. You won't find a NAM folder with NVIDIA's "Network Management Tools" within my packages, because they are useless for nearly everyone and may cause problems. Big advantage: The download is much quicker due to the small package size.
6. Don't be astonished or even afraid, if you get a "safely remove hardware" icon within the systray after having installed any of the new nForce IDE drivers. This is not a bug, but a feature of the new generation of nForce S-ATA drivers with AHCI support.

Have fun!
Fernando

[inkol]

For the last week, I've been using the version for Windows XP (32-bit) that you posted on January 12 (and which appears to be the same as the one you have reposted today) on an Nforce 570 motherboard (Asus M2N-E). So far the results on a clean install of Windows XP SP2 appear to be favorable - the install went smoothly and there have been no obvious problems.

Thanks
Robert

[Wrath of God]

Thanks!

[one]

I only updated the IDE driver on WinXP SP2 + nForce 570 SLI to SataIDE Driver (v9.98) WHQL, it's been working so far. I didn't measure the perf before installing it (I was using 6.95), does anyone know the diff? This is my first try of NVGTS.SYS.

I read
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/3-vt707 ... &&start=20
, did anyone try nForce IDE drivers v.10.1.0.26 on XP + nForce 570?

[psychodad76]

this package is causing endless reboots on my rig.

[Fernando 1]

this package is causing endless reboots on my rig.

Which nForce chipset does your mainboard have and which OS are you running?
Do you have created an nForce RAID array?
Was it a driver update or a clean install of Windows XP (32/64bit)?
How did you manage the driver installation (manually update, running the installer or integrating into an OS)?

[psychodad76]

Which nForce chipset does your mainboard have and which OS are you running? nforce 4 SLI, xp sp2
Do you have created an nForce RAID array? yes
Was it a driver update or a clean install of Windows XP (32/64bit)? update from 6.86
How did you manage the driver installation (manually update, running the installer or integrating into an OS)? manually & by running the installer (tested both)

[riderkid]

my nf570 amd xp32 appear blue screen

[Fernando 1]

Which nForce chipset does your mainboard have and which OS are you running? nforce 4 SLI, xp sp2
Do you have created an nForce RAID array? yes

Is it just an nForce SataRaid array without any hdd outside the RAID?

Was it a driver update or a clean install of Windows XP (32/64bit)? update from 6.86
How did you manage the driver installation (manually update, running the installer or integrating into an OS)? manually & by running the installer (tested both)

When you tried to manually update the nForce IDE (=MediaShield) drivers, did you reboot before you had updated all NVIDIA related devices (NVIDIA RAID Controller and NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller) or did you follow the advice of Microsoft and rebooted after having updated the driver software of just one of the mentioned NVIDIA storage devices?

my nf570 amd xp32 appear blue screen

What have you done (driver update or clean new install, manually update within the Device Manager or update by running the installer) and which nForce IDE driver version did you use before trying to update them?
Please give some more informations.

[riderkid]

ide driver is ver.5.10.2600.687