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So, basically you're best to start by using DDU to remove any traces of old drivers. Then download and run the Nvidia installer for the 474.11. Let it fail but do not close it down. Go to your C: drive and find the NVIDIA folder. Copy and paste this in the same C: drive. It will auto-name itself NVIDIA - Copy Close down the failed installer and the NVIDIA folder should disappear and you're left with the NVIDIA - Copy folder The original NVIDIA folder is protected and you can't save any changes. The Copy is not. Navigate into the Display.Driver folder. Scroll down and find and open the nvdmi.inf Scroll down to find the first list of hardware ID's. Note: There are multiples of these list for different operating systems Copy and paste this line anywhere in the list. The Section# doesn't matter %NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.0550.1028% = Section001, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BA1&SUBSYS_05501028 Scroll down further and there will be a small break and the list will start again. Paste the above line in this list as well. Scroll down to the end of this list and see if another list of ID's starts again and do the same. Drivers around this era had support for Windows 7, 8 and 10 so that's why there could be 3 lists of ID's so it's best to put your modded line in each of them just to be sure. Then quick scroll almost right down to the bottom and find the list of Strings. Copy and Paste this line in there. NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.0550.1028 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070" Save and exit the inf and folder. Restart the laptop with Disable Driver Signature Enforcement. For Windows 7, I believe you just hit restart and then spam F8 to get into the hidden Advanced Menu. Select the option for Driver Signature Enforcement. Once the system starts up you just go to the NVIDIA - Copy folder and into the International folder and double click on the Setup.exe at the bottom of the list. If you've done things right then it should pass the compatibility test and start installing. Then a red/white warning will pop up and you just have to accept it to complete the installation.

I replaced the BIOS chip and the problem was resolved. I was going to try to figure out how to program it myself, but it was turning into too much of a time suck, so I just grabbed one of the pre-programmed ones for 20-something bucks, if I recall. It was a fair amount of work, but I figured the laptop was worth it since it's something of a legend, lol