Driver could not find compatible graphics hardware - cuda

Question

I was installed CUDA 4 on my laptop (Dell - Vostro 3500) and started to write CUDA programs. But I got an error: driver is not compatible with this versios of CUDA.
So I decided to update my GPU driver (GPU: Nvidia GeForce 310M) and downloaded the driver from Nvidia's site. But when I want to insall the driver, see this error:
NVIDIA Intaller cannot continue
This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware.
I tried 301.42 , 301.32 , 275.33 and 270.81 versions of Nvidia GPU drivers.
My friend installed 275.33 on his laptop with GeForce 310M on an Asus device.

Answer 1

Finally I found my answer with the help of Ben Stewart.
I hacked the INF file in this way:
Go here.
At the second part (NVIDIA Video Drivers and Tools) select suitable part. For example select 29X for 296.10.
Select appropriate part for your downloaded driver and Windows version.
In this page download INF file.
Replace the INF file with INF in the Display.Driver folder at driver unzip location (for example, C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\296.10\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver)
Set up the driver!

Answer 2

I had the same problem recently running Windows 7 on an iMac and managed to hack the nv_disp.inf file on version 301.42 to get it to install fine. Basically, you need to add an identifier from your graphics card to the inf file and away she goes. Not to hard.
Here's how I did it.
First, we need the identifier from your graphics card. Open Device Manager and bring up the property box for your graphics card in Display adapters. In the "Details" tab you will find a drop down box, open it and select "Device Instance Path"; you should be able to right click on the value in the field below and copy it.
Then find the temporary folder that the driver setup was extracted to when you ran it previously. For me it was "C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\301.42\WinVista_Win7_64" - if you can't find it, just run the setup again and note where the installer extracts itself. The file we need to edit is located in the Display.Driver directory, and it's called nv_disp.inf. Open this in Notepad or your favorite text editor.
Now we need to modify the string you have copied and add it to this file.
If you scroll about 15% of the way down you will find a heading similar to [NVIDIA_SetB_Devices.NTamd64.6.0]. This is the start of Nvidia's list of supported devices.
If you paste your device instance path here you will probably notice that the first 21 or so characters of your device path are similar to the last 21 on the proceeding few hundred lines. Something like PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0240. You can delete the rest of the text you have copied in.
The devices are organised into groups, so it's probably best to search for a line that is similar to yours in the last four numbers and use this as a template for creating the entry.
You want to use this information to create an entry that looks like the others that are already here.
I modified the line:
%NVIDIA_DEV.0868% = Section005, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0868
with the identifier PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0869 to be:
%NVIDIA_DEV.0869% = Section005, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0869
Note that the four-digit number near the beginning of the line matches the number at the end.
Save the document over the original nv_disp.inf, then run setup.exe from the already extracted folder. If you run the file you downloaded again, it will just extract again and overwrite your changes.

Answer 3

Are you downloading the notebook drivers from http://nvidia.com/drivers?
If you were using the notebook drivers, then it is likely that NVIDIA didn't include your GeForce 310M in the INF file for the latest drivers. You can hack at the INF files yourself to fix this. It is not simple, but can be done by googling for it and carefully reading certain forums where others have hacked at the INF files themselves. No fun.