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Driver updating - is it still such a pain in the a**?

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Joined
4 Apr 2010
Posts
1
I am mainly interested in Catalyst drivers as I have an ATI card, but I guess this could be a general question.

I remember a while back, it was difficult to cleanly remove and update graphics card drivers. We were advised to use all kinds of file/registry 'cleaner' tools and safe mode to do something which should be simple and taken for granted (cleanly remove drivers so that we can update with no issues / conflicts). I remember I often ended up just formatting.

I was wondering, with recent drivers and OS's (Windows 7), is this still an issue? Or can I just go into control panel, un-install the driver and control center, restart and install a new driver without fear of conflicts/issues?

If not, then what is the recommended process these days? Some of the articles I read on this seem to be very outdated (including the tools they mention to use).
 
That driver sweeper business was a fad, it does no good whatsoever and in fact causes a lot of problems for people. I've had ATI cards since the 9800Pro and all i have ever done is install new drivers directly over the old ones. I don't even use the ATI uninstall program.

Never had a single problem so far.
 
Have Always :-

1. Deleted old drivers via control panal.
2.Re-start
3.Install new drivers
4.Re-start

Never had any issues with either nvidia or ati cards - fortunately :D

Recently have used Driver sweeper between stages 2. & 3. (running in safe mode) just in case. Probably not needed but .....

Issues I've had have usually been down to me - deleting 'more' than the actual gpu driver etc:(

BTW - Welcome to the forums:)
 
With my Nvidia cards I just install the new drivers over the top of the old ones without uninstalling the previous ones and I've never had any issues from doing this..

I can't speak for ATi though.
 
1) dl new drivers
2) double click setup.exe
3) reboot

simples.bmp
 
I agree with the comments about just installing the new driver without uninstalling the old. The only exception for me is when switching between ATI/Nvidia and I then remove the old drivers first before changing the card.

I strongly recommend against general driver cleanup applications, although ones from the supplier of the driver should be fine of course.
 
Things have become so easy these days I have trouble convincing others I am Uber PC fixing/Sorting/Tweaking Dude.
Nowadays a Chimp could do it. Went round a mates whose System/Network I pretty much built/set up & maintained over the years & his wife had installed a new HD, Got the wrong one first she says it was IDE & I needed SATA **** Noob i am. :eek: Done now though just updating me drivers. :eek: + :cool:
At least now I don't have to do it. :)
Come to think about it I haven't touched there set up in over a year when it used to be once every 6 weeks & last time I was round there she was using W7, What a gal. :cool:


What am I rambling on about. :o
 
just install over the top and don't use driver sweeper. Last time I used driver sweeper it trashed my system and the new drivers wouldn't install CCC. I ended up having to do a fresh W7 install.
 
First time ATI owner here and pleasantly surprised how painless it all was.

Put 10.3 on top of 10.2 without uninstalling and everything just worked. Had to move 5870 to different x16 slot due to my Xonar playing funny buggers - shoved 10.3 in again, reboot and everything perfect.

Win7/Cats are ace!
 
I've found that you only really need to uninstall the old drivers (and sometimes manually remove them) when going back to an older set of drivers.
 
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