So I need to install a video driver for my laptop, but I'm not sure where to get the driver download from. I looked into it using Aida and all I came up with was "ATI Radeon Mobility", which is hardly helpful since there are so many drivers until that category. Is there any way I can pinpoint the one I need, or is there another way I can solve this problem without buying driver updating software?

If you go onto your laptop manufacturers website and the model page, there should be a download tab/page with drivers there.

This is what I use.

Thanks for the replies!

 

If you go onto your laptop manufacturers website and the model page, there should be a download tab/page with drivers there.

 

My model is not on the manufacturer website. However, that being said, it is a rather old laptop so I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturer (Sony) no longer supported it.

 

This is what I use.

 

How do I use this? When I download and run it, every field just turns up blank.

First, go into your Start menu. Go into "run", and type in "dxdiag"

 

Go into the Display tab, take a screenshot, and post it here.

 

When looking for a graphics driver, you must first know what graphics card you are using.

I don't think it'll help much.

 

That's very weird. Let me do some research, and get back to you.

Thanks so much, I appreciate the help.

Try downloading this (download will start when you click the link): http://www.piriform.com/speccy/download/standard

 

Run it, and if it comes up with something, screenie is and post it here. This is another program to help me find info about your video card. If it works, skip the next step that I'm about to post. If it doesn't work, try the next step.

 

If that doesn't work:

 

First off, run windows update. If that doesn't come up with any drivers, try the next step.

 

I would like to warn you before I tell you to do this. This will delete your video drivers. If you delete them and we can't find what drivers you need (unlikely, but still) you may be forced to run your computer without a video driver for a little while.

 

I noticed in the right side of the dxdiag box, it says your current driver is vga.dll, which is a generic video driver meant to be used until you can update your current driver. I'm assuming you don't have any driver disks that came with the computer, so I would likee you to try something. We're going to delete that vga.dll driver

 

Download this (it's safe, don't worry) and run it. Only erase the display drivers. Since you're using an ATI card, only erase the Display drivers for ATI.

 

After that, re-run a windows update and install the display drivers that it should find.

 

As I said, this might not work. I just don't know what else to do.

Also, information about the laptop your using would be useful.

Sony Vaio PCG-5A1C, currently running Windows XP Service Pack 3.

 

Did your first recommendation, here's the result.

 

Looks like that laptop is running a Ati Mobility Radeon M6. Try looking for that on the ATI website

I can't even find your laptop model anywhere, let alone any drivers.

 

 

Edit: Try this: http://xpdrivers.com/ati/_2_135301.cfm?gclid=CMCvsIi59akCFQ495QodIix9Zg

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I'd be tempted to try the Mobility modder - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php

 

On the Radeon pre-R300 driver (the last ever driver for Radeons that pre-date the DirectX8 models)

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/radeon-prer300-xp.aspx

Any official downloads (this includes all the stuff everyone has suggested) that are official software always tells me that it can't find the ATI Video Driver...which I think is very strange.

What exactly is the issue at the moment with your laptop? Does it not come up with a display? Or is the display really low resolution?

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The issue with the laptop is that it is using the standard VGA video driver (as far as I can deduce). Standby mode is disabled, which means that it has to be using the standard driver, right? However, even though some programs can detect a better driver, the Radeon Mobility driver, the official driver downloads from the company don't recognize the hardware as exiting on the computer, and I can't find any other downloads that work.