unable to launch both demos

[the DXM]

I tried the demo for both overture and BP and I get the following message on startup:
"NVIDIA display driver files from different (incompatable) versions of the driver have been detected.

NVIDIA OpenGl acceleration is disabled in order to maintain system stability.

to resolve this problem update the NVidia display dirver
the latest driver is available at http://www.nvidia.com."
an immediate critical failure always follows. I can only presume that the full game would exhibit the same issue and would like to discover the source of the issue. I currently have the newest drivers that I -can- use for this particular laptop and card, and while they are not the latest release from NVidia they should certainly be updated enough...

just curious what would be the possible source of this error.

[Wyrd]

It sounds like you have mixed versions of driver files installed on your system. That can happen if you install a new video driver on top of the old one. You can fix by doing a clean driver install.

1. Uninstall the Nvidia display driver ONLY. Don't uninstall any other Nvidia drivers, such as network, chipset, or audio drivers.
2. Reboot.
3. Get Guru3D Driver Sweeper* and use it to clean out your Nvidia display driver files.
4. Reboot into Safe Mode (tap F8 during bootup until you get a boot menu, then select Safe Mode).
5. Run Driver Sweeper again and clean your Nvidia display driver files.
6. Reboot.
7. Reinstall the latest display drivers.
8. Reboot.

* http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=driversweeper

[the DXM]

I'm now getting an error stating that my GPU doesn't support vertex shaders, which obviously can't be correct, I'm running an Nvidia 9650m GT.

[Wyrd]

Sounds like a problem with whatever OEM driver your manufacturer provided. Make sure there isn't a newer one or try the Nvidia drivers.

[the DXM]

can't be. I'm using the Nvidia drivers as it is. While I COULD update to a newer version the reason I haven't is because Nvidia's drivers are broken for this particular card on this particular model of laptop. Lucky me.

but in any case I'm using the 179.48 version which I can't imagine is outdated for Penumbra anyway.

very odd indeed.