Windows Vista: Video Drivers and Windows Versions

Video Drivers and Windows Versions

I have a Sony VGN-SZ780. The system itself sports a graphics system which has two chips, an integrated Intel GMA chip and a discrete NVIDIA Gefore chip. The machine came with Vista Business installed and of course loaded with freeware and other software. And like any laptop I buy the first thing I did was lay down a new OS. In this case I used Vista Ultimate x86.

Keep in mind Sony uses proprietary drivers only available from their FTP site. So third party drivers are not supported.

The problem is with the NVIDIA driver (nvlddmkm) it continuously crashes, however in the past Vista was able to recycle the driver without loosing the session. For a few weeks now the crashes have become more severe and more frequent. Windows is no longer able to recycle the driver automatically, and because of this goes into an idle state without a display. Which then forces me to restart the PC in safe mode and uninstall then reinstall the drivers manually. This temporarily fixes the driver until it crashes again.

Upon contacting Sony support the tech told me that the driver for my NVIDIA chip was only supported under Vista Business not Ultimate. I disagree however Business and Ultimate is basically the same OS, they both utilize the WDDM and Aero subsystem and therefore the drivers should be universal across all versions of vista, right?