I was recently tasked with a small challenge. Given that we have a fair amount of circa-2005, quad-screen workstations running Windows XP for which we know the clock is ticking, is it possible to upgrade them to Windows 7 even if they have ancient Matrox graphic cards?
The answer is, yes, with some limitations. Matrox doesn't have a clear stance on Win7 support for the G450 series. By downloading their latest driver which is supposed to support Win7 SP1, the installer fails without even a hint of what is going on.
By searching for and trying various older drivers, I found out that the WHQL drivers do not support the G450, but the non-WHQL do. To get these drivers, you have to go to the "archived support drivers" area and scroll down to the latest non-WHQL driver you can find for your platform. In my case, it was version 211_00_183. The driver installs and the graphic card works. Case closed.
Of course, by using non-WHQL drivers, you might be asked by Microsoft to remove these drivers if you run into problems and ask for support.
For the curious, these workstations have been limited to being quad-screen ICA clients a long time ago, so I don't expect any performance impact by moving them to Windows 7. If we move on with this scenario, we'll be saving the company some money by extending the life of this equipment for a few more years.
6 comments:
You sir, are a hero.
Olivier... it's been some time since your post regarding G450x4 MMS driver updates for Win 7 compatibility... due to some hardware contraints, am trying to use this same Matrox card on a Win 7 computer. Do you still stand by the non-WHQL driver to accomplish this task, and can you recommend any more recent articles or blog posts regarding this same subject...?
thxs
Will
Will: We didn't go in production with this solution so I did not pursue further. I would still recommend the non-WHQL drivers if the official ones do not work.
Oliver, I have been trying to get my G450 to work in windows 7 for a while now. thanks for the solution.
Oliver: I'm another very happy follower of your advice.
Installed to W7 SP1 + first rollup.
xddm64_211_00_183_nowhql_se_u.exe
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/download/?id=476
Thanks,
Kelly
I have translated and read your description!
It was very helpful.
Thanks to that, I did not have to replace my PC and display.
Thank you very much! ! !
Hiroshi Imai living in Japan
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