How to upgrade OpenGL1.1 to 2.0 or higher on Vista for GeForce owners?

OpenGL
1

I have a similar problem to Updating OpenGL to 2.0 - Super User except my windows is Vista not 7

When I got the Extension Viewer at http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/download.html it said my version was 1.1

I need to upgrade to at least 2.0 to play a Steam game.

I went to Getting Started - OpenGL Wiki and Page Not Found | NVIDIA where I’m directed to since Nvidia makes GeForce cards.

using Piriform Speccy here is some data about my system:

Operating System
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Kentsfield 65nm Technology
RAM
3.00GB
Motherboard
ASUSTek Computer INC. Basswood3G (Socket 775)
%1 Chipset
Graphics
Standard Monitor (1280x1024@1Hz)
NVIDIA GeForce 7350 LE (MSI)
Storage
298GB Hitachi HDT725032VLA380 (SATA) 39 °C
298GB Hitachi HDT725032VLA380 (SATA) 40 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H653L
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

from this model computer https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c01070924

I tried looking up support for the 7350.

The latest update I could find for 32-bit OS was Geforce Driver Results | NVIDIA so I installed this. It mentions:

supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL,

It doesn’t mention which version of openGL it supports though.

I installed the above driver (Version 296.10 - WHQL from 13 March 2012) but am still getting the error saying I have 1.1 and need to upgrade it, the Extensions Viewer still says 1.1

The extensions viewer says it’s gone far beyond the 2.0 that I require all the way to 4.5 or something.

I want to find out of it’s possible to get this from Nvidia/Geforce but I’m just not finding the right thing on the site.

I found a more recent one GeForce 309.08 Driver | 309.08 | Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit | NVIDIA which is 309.08 WHQL released 24 February 2015. It also says it supprots Vista 32.bit and also mentions openGL support. It says the GeForce 7350 LE is a supported product.

After I did a clean install for this, I tried playing the Steam game again and still got the 1.1 error. The Extensions Viewer still says I only have 1.1.

So I must be looking in the wrong category of updates… which one elevates me above 1.1 to 2.0 or 4.5 or something like that? If NVIDIA is supposed to provide this OpenGL update to all GeForce owners, where am I not looking?

2

Here is the newest driver for your legacy GPU. For the record is a legacy Geforce 7 series GPU.

It is 13 generations old so I doubt it can do more than OpenGL 2.1.

3

That is for a 64-bit OS, I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 so I’m not sure if it will work, don’t I need 32-bit?

What you linked is just like the one I said I installed from GeForce 309.08 Driver | 309.08 | Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit | NVIDIA both are 309.08 released 24 Feb 2015

I think my issue might be that because I run in Safe Mode it may shut down the graphics card so I need a bypass to re-enable it.

Not using safe mode doesn’t appear to be an option because if I don’t run it, it locks up during start up.

4

Yes, this is what Safe Mode does and you really should have said that in your original post.

No, there is no “bypass” for this. Safe Mode is intended to be used as a troubleshooting mode and disables most drivers; it’s not intended for general use. If you’re intentionally doing things the wrong way then you should have no expectation that they’ll work.

You should start by fixing that lock up during startup and run Windows normally. Then your graphics drivers will work.

5

Sorry, you are right that’s the driver:

While in Safe Mode disable the GPU from Device Manager and try booting normally again. This will determine if the GPU driver is the culprit or not. If it boots normally then is the GPU driver or the GPU adapter itself, otherwise it is something else.
It can be anything though, you are running a dated system and the operating system is end-of-life. Beside GPU malfunction, you may also have malware.
You should move to Windows 7 to extend your system life span a bit. Though patching a clean install of Windows 7 SP1 is not an easy task.

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