Installing new video drivers...

[elmer92413]

I happened to read the install guide from Nvidia...
It stated that I needed to uninstall all Nvidia display drivers before installing the new ones...
...
Is that really necessary...???
Wouldn't that ruin that display, so that I wouldn't be able to see to install the new drivers...???

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Nowadays it's generally not necessary. The installer removes the old drivers. Sometimes (rarely) something goes wrong and you need to remove all traces of the old driver. There's some free driver cleaners that do that (do a Google search).

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: elmer92413
I happened to read the install guide from Nvidia...
It stated that I needed to uninstall all Nvidia display drivers before installing the new ones...
...
Is that really necessary...???
Wouldn't that ruin that display, so that I wouldn't be able to see to install the new drivers...???

Windows has PnP, so with the exception of a few drivers (hard disk, HAL) you can swap anything out at will and it will PnP, find the drivers, and/or prompt you for them.

That said, you should follow the *vendor's* recommendations - if nVidia itself (not a fan site) says to uninstall a given driver first, do so. Just realize that if you don't, you won't hurt your machine.

I've switched between ATI and nVidia on my PC several times; it's not an issue - just pop out the old card, put in the new one, cancel all driver prompts, download the latest driver from the website, and install it. Very simple.

 

[Fern]

Wouldn't that ruin that display, so that I wouldn't be able to see to install the new drivers...???

No, your system will then be using standard MS display drivers. The resolution will be very low. But you'll be able to see until you get the new ones installed.

Fern

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: elmer92413
I happened to read the install guide from Nvidia...
It stated that I needed to uninstall all Nvidia display drivers before installing the new ones...
...
Is that really necessary...???
Wouldn't that ruin that display, so that I wouldn't be able to see to install the new drivers...???

This came up in a recent thread.

I always uninstall my vid card before I swap it out for another. It takes a few minutes and saves a big headache if you don't and there's a problem.

Sometimes when swapping vid cards (without uninstalling), I've heard of windows getting really confussed and do various things like go into a reboot loop, not get past the splash screen and not want to enter normal mode among other things.

Though you can many times get away with not uninstalling, I would suggest doing it if only to have piece of mind.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: youph

Originally posted by: elmer92413
I happened to read the install guide from Nvidia...
It stated that I needed to uninstall all Nvidia display drivers before installing the new ones...
...
Is that really necessary...???
Wouldn't that ruin that display, so that I wouldn't be able to see to install the new drivers...???

This came up in a recent thread.

I always uninstall my vid card before I swap it out for another. It takes a few minutes and saves a big headache if you don't and there's a problem.

Sometimes when swapping vid cards (without uninstalling), I've heard of windows getting really confussed and do various things like go into a reboot loop, not get past the splash screen and not want to enter normal mode among other things.

Though you can many times get away with not uninstalling, I would suggest doing it if only to have piece of mind.

Video drivers are loaded dynamically, and are chosen during PnP bootup. Why would you need to do this? In my opinion, you should use the add-remove control panel to remove *programs* the vendor might leave on your system (say, an nVidia control panel applet, or an nVidia program that runs after login that allows you to change some feature of your nVidia graphics card), but the driver itself is fine. I'd suggest leaving it there so that if you ever want to plug in another card from that vendor in the future, you can easily do so and the driver (albeit an older one) will already be there and 'ready'.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Let me qualify: If changing manufacturers (NVidia to ATI for instance) you should ALWAYS uninstall the old driver and video apps.

If just upgrading to a newer version of the same manufacturer's driver, it's generally okay to just install the new driver over the old one. The driver will overwrite or uninstall the older files.

You should NEVER use PnP and just let Windows detect the hardware and find the driver. That's NOT a safe thing to do for modern video cards. NVidia and ATI both want you to run their installers. If you don't, you MAY install the latest driver BUT you will probably not install the latest application. Mixing old display setting apps with newer drivers is bad.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
You should NEVER use PnP and just let Windows detect the hardware and find the driver. That's NOT a safe thing to do for modern video cards. NVidia and ATI both want you to run their installers. If you don't, you MAY install the latest driver BUT you will probably not install the latest application. Mixing old display setting apps with newer drivers is bad.

Why do you say this? PnP is exactly how video cards are found in XP.

Don't believe me? Try this: Go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314479 and read the entire article. Still not convinced? Go to the last section (titled Existing Windows Installations) and modify the registry as listed there. Put your ATI or nVidia drivers into that directory (extracted; nVidia's are easier if you've not done this before). Use the Add/Remove control panel to remove the old drivers/applications/etc. Reboot. Watch as your drivers will be Pnp'd and autodetected and the drivers autoinstalled.

Can you imagine any other way of doing it? Imagine an unattended build process in which it didn't work that way. Horrors!