Install Matrox G450 and Other “Unsupported” Video Cards in Windows 7
You can find an update to this post here
While working on a co-worker’s computer today, I came across a curious problem. The computer in question was being upgraded to Windows 7, and was configured to support four monitors via two Matrox G450 PCI video cards. These cards have been around quite awhile and have been supported from Windows 2000 through Server 2008 R2, so I figured I would have no issue installing the new OS.
When all was said and done, Windows could not locate the drivers for the video cards on the installation DVD, nor could it install them via Windows Update. So, I did what any normal person would do, and headed straight for Matrox’s web site.
Much to my dismay they did not seem to have any drivers listed for these cards for Windows 7. The closest I could come to the proper drivers was this set of WHQL drivers meant for Windows Server 2008 x64 and Server 2008 R2. When I tried installing the drivers, my video cards were detected properly, but the installer simply could not finish the job. Each time I tried, the installer would fail.
I went through the standard procedure of attempting to update the driver via the Device Manager, only to be told that no better driver could be found. Even when I selected to locate the driver myself and picked the folder where the Matrox installer had extracted all of its files, I simply could not install the driver.
I returned to the Device Manager and selected to update my drivers once again. I chose to locate the driver on my own, but instead of simply picking the folder this time around, I clicked “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”. From that dialog window, I clicked the “Have Disk” button and again browsed to the folder where the Matrox installer extracted its files. I looked through the list of .inf files in the directory and one caught my eye – it was named W7G4G5.inf. I opened the file in a text editor to take a look around, and after poking around for a few moments, I knew I had the file I wanted. The file’s name signified that it was meant for all G4XX and G5XX Matrox cards running under Windows 7.
I selected the file and clicked OK. The Windows Hardware wizard presented a box asking me to pick between the Matrox G450 PCI card and the Matrox G450 PCI card. Decisions, decisions. In the end, I picked the first card in the list and let Windows do its thing. Everything installed properly and I was on my way.
The whole process is actually quite simple, but for the uninitiated, it can be a daunting problem. I imagine that most people would end up digging around online looking for a driver pack that does not exist, so hopefully this saves somebody a bit of hair pulling and a lot of time. I really have no idea why the installer comes packaged with the proper Windows 7 drivers, but is unable to actually install the software. Either way, it’s an easy fix.
17 Responses to “Install Matrox G450 and Other “Unsupported” Video Cards in Windows 7”
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I can’t get it working. I’ll give you $50 if you can.
Is it the same card I mentioned?
Hi Mike, thanks for a great post.
I recently managed to acquire a PCI G450 DVI+VGA card to have a go at setting up a 3-monitor system and hoped your article would help me get it working too. I’m on Win7 x64 Enterprise and although I used your download link (and a newer one for a later release of a driver) it seems Matrox have removed the W7G4G5.inf file from the downloads! There’s only a G4G5.inf file, and when I try you method I receive a message telling me the “the driver selected for this device does not support this version of windows”. Any thoughts? Any chance you could post your W7G4G5.inf and .cat file somewhere for us?
By the way there’s a hotfix from Microsoft that might be useful for Matrox card users. KB980731. It’s actually mentioned in the install notes for these drivers too. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980731/en
Thanks again.
I think I solved my own problem
Looks like Matrox changed their driver links…
Win7 x64 ones are here:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/download/?id=400
And slightly newer ones here:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/download/?id=414
Thanks.
No, thank you!
I definitely appreciate the updated links.
Did the drivers install in the normal straightforward fashion, or did you need to use my method of installation to get it to work?
Hey I am really thankful that you posted this Mike. I am having a problem still though.
I have a Matrox G450 MMS 4x PCI video card. I am trying to get it to work on windows 7 64 bit. I have tried the drivers both links provided by Nick C as he is correct that your original link doesn’t contain the W7G4G5.inf or .cat.
Both driver sets seem to install properly when ever I use the packaged setup.exe or your method. Unfortunately when I restart my computer following the installation I get a message that says something like “the driver for the video adapter is not compatible with the device VGA” or something like that.
I am not sure if I have a different card that you because mine is a 4x (it has 2 DVI heads that I can run multiple monitor dongles off of).
If you could PLEASE help me fix this problem I would really appreciate it. I have tired all of the following driver packs to no avail:
xddm64_209_03_015_se_u
xddm64_209_03_015_se_u_whql
xddm64_209_04_061_se_u
xddm64_209_04_061_se_u_whql
Thank you in advance
Kyle,
Do you happen to have another video card in that machine, made by another manufacturer?
I have found, when working on another computer, that I could not mix a pair of ATI cards with the onboard video card, nor a Matrox PCI card.
When I installed the Matrox drivers, everything appeared to be ok, but I received an error stating that the card was not compatible with the vga driver. It sounds like you are receiving a similar message.
From what I was able to find online, Windows 7 (and Vista) will not allow you to mix graphics chip manufacturers when using WDDM video drivers. When the system does encounter a mixed chipset configuration, it simply disables one of the video cards.
I purchased another ATI card from a different vendor than the two which were already installed in the computer, and it worked like a charm.
In your case, I would try disabling the onboard video, or removing any cards built using different GPUs and see how you make out.
Any idea where the win7 32bit drivers might be? I can’t find them on the Matrox site?
I tried installing the G450 Vista drivers for Win7 (32bit, home edition) thinking that would work. It made my computer so unstable it was unusable to the point it wouldn’t boot. I reformatted and reinstalled Win7.
Yep. Confirmed. There was a chance it was due to Windows7 SP1. Nope. After reinstall, I waited two weeks. Just installed the Vista32-bit G450 driver for my G450 AGP card. Upon reboot.. a bluescreen. Only fix was the automatic System Restore.
Download the g450 dualhead xp driver, use winrar to extract the self-extracting archive and run setup in xp sp3 compatibility mode! WORKS PERFECTLY!!! Win 7 ultimate 32
Hi
I have been using a G450 MMS 128MB Quad Graphics card with Windows XP 32bit. I decided to upgrade my operating system to Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit as I wanted to increase the amount of RAM I could use. I installed Windows 7 today but I have been unable to get the Quad Graphics card working. I have tried all the suggestions on this page but I still can’t get my monitors working. I point the drivers manually to each monitor on the Device Manager screen and they seem to install successfully – it then tells me to restart my PC but they still don’t work and there is still a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark next to the monitor on the Device Manager screen.
I have also installed the software for Powerdesk which was working fine on Win XP but now whenever I try to open it, nothing happens – I presume this is something to do with me now running Windows 7 too.
If anyone can think of anything else that I could do to try to get this working please let me know as I have trawled the internet but I am now out of ideas.
Many thanks in advance for your help.
Well I just tried one last thing that I realised I hadn’t done – I disable my current Graphics card, restarted my PC and the monitors are now working! Very pleased. Sorry to waste everyones time!
Hello Everyone,
I see this is an old thread but this will resolve most of the questions regarding this Matrox card and Windows 7. If you have a Matorx quad card that is a PCI (NOT PCIe or PCI Express), this will work with Windows 7 using the 64 bit Vista drivers. IF you have a Matrox Quad card that is a PIC Expresss (PCIe) it will NOT work with Windows 7. I tried making the PCIe card work with every driver (Vista, XP, W7, etc…) with every compat. setting. No dice. I had an old Matrox 450 Quad card that fit a PCI slot and it installed using the Vista 64 bit drivers in 5 minutes. I think this will save you all a lot of time.
-Vin
Cheers mate worked for me. Didn’t have the W7G4G5.inf file but used the G4G5.inf file.
Nicks packages official dont include G450 support, but its included anyway. With your method it can be installed. Not working @all. Displayed as Code 43 in Device Manager. Only Working if i prior the VGA in PCI (not e) in BIOS, but then only the Matrox is working, not the PCIe Card anymore….
I give up now
Many thanks Mike!
I found the right driver for my G450 at http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/download/?id=414!
After deciding to build a Windows 7 machine to replace XP on a workstation (with new SATA disks), I was deeply hacked off to find my existing Nvidia GeForce 5400 twinhead monitor card wouldn’t work, and there were no Windows 7 drivers for it. I went up to the attic and took the G450 out of another old machine, and it’s working perfectly!
I’m annoyed that Nvidia wouldn’t support their card, but the Matrox is just as good for WP (we won’t game on this machine), so thanks for saving me an unnecessary hardware purchase!
Cheers!
Duncan