Stuck in driver update hell (nVidia Installer Failed)

[Jimbo Mahoney]

It seems my drivers have become really screwed up since a Windows update yesterday.

Basically, when I try and install the latest nVidia drivers, installation fails with no explanation as to why.

I can get the system working by manually specifying the location of the files that are unzipped as part of the nVidia installer (i.e. update driver from Device Manager).

If I watch Device Manager during the nVidia installation process, I can see that the GTX1070 disappears from Display adapters and appears as "Display" in Other Devices, at which point the installer fails.

Here is what I've tried:

1) Start in Safe mode and run Guru3D's DDU to remove all nVidia drivers.
2) When I reboot, the device is "Microsoft Basic Display Driver", but that is automatically updated by Windows to (presumably) its own GTX 1070 drivers.
3) nVidia installer fails in the way I've described.
4) Start in Safe mode and run DDU and disable Windows auto driver install.
5) Reboot and install nVidia drivers.
6) Install Windows 10 2004 update.
7) I've also tried Clean Install in nVidia as well as Uninstall device from Device Manager and "delete drivers for this device".

Everything fails except manually installing via Device Manager.

The hardware is fine - i.e. after manually installing the drivers, I can play Doom Eternal at the expected performance. I just cannot get the nVidia driver installer to work, hence no Geforce Experience.

Interrestingly, when I run the nVidia installer after manually pointing to the drivers, in the first step where it shows which version is currently installed, it says "None".

I really want to avoid a clean Windows install if I can, but I fear that might be the only option. I would have thought all the DDU and Safe Mode would clean things up?

Any ideas?

 

[jinxpad]

Have you tried using nvcleaninstall?

 

[chaparral]

Any ideas?

Sorry can't help

But that sig reminds me of when it used to be around £1 on the GPU for every £2 on CPU

 

[yashiro]

What is the file name of the driver you’re trying to install?

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

I've tried two:

452.06-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql

and

452.06-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql

NVCleanstall ends up with the same problem - "nVidia Installer Failed".

Basically, it seems I'm stuck with the 01/05/2017 version that Windows installs automatically, or I can "force" whatever version I want from Device Manager, but the nVidia installer constantly fails.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Sorry can't help

But that sig reminds me of when it used to be around £1 on the GPU for every £2 on CPU

Is it not the case any more? Are you saying CPUs are expensive, or GPUs, or both?

(I haven't done anything with desktops for years now!)

 

[yashiro]

You’ve probably goosed things up trying to install DCH drivers over older ones and vice versa. Do a new windows install then use the DCH driver file.

The base driver from Windows 2004 should not be from 2017 which suggests you’re doing an in place upgrade.

 

[eeii]

Check you don’t have any windows updates pending or are in an install loop. If you have resolve this first. Disconnect network cable and or WIFI.
Run DDU in safe mode. Now try to install you drivers.

 

[FlyingFish]

Sorry if I've misread something, but you know those drivers listed above are for the mobile gpu's?

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Sorry if I've misread something, but you know those drivers listed above are for the mobile gpu's?

Yup - I'm on a laptop.

I've given up and used this as an excuse to wipe everything and start with a fresh Win 10 install using the 2004 build.

Fingers crossed I can actually install the drivers now!

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Yup - this time, the installer didn't do weird things like uninstall the GTX 1070 and turn it into a generic "Display Device".

Phew!

Now I just need to reinstall everything! Joys!

Nice to have a fresh system though.