Question about when video card drivers are updated

[Larry_OHF]

Well...when I installed Windows XP, I thought I had gone to Nvidia's website and downloaded the latest drivers so that when I got around to installing my games...they would be okay. I was surprised that I received a message saying that my game could not play due to the lack of the latest Open GL and all that. I went to the NVidia's website and downloaded the newest thing there, but received a warning that I should remove the old drivers before adding the new ones. I remember hearing about that...that you are supposed to go into safe mode and do something, but I could not remember all the rules about it, so I just installed the new drivers without removing the old ones. Everything seems to be fine, and the game seems to work correctly.

So...what is the big deal about removing the old drivers first before adding the new ones? Is this something that I should not have skipped over? Is there a need to redo it all?

[Harkoliar]

im not REALLY sure about this but you go to safe mode... then start-- settings--control panel-- add/remove programs-- remove all nvidia drivers. hope this helps..

[realbinky]

It is a good idea, but is unecessary when the old and new drivers are well written and well behaved, which is par for nVidia. All you do is change the drivers to standard VGA, then install the new drivers - the idea is you removed all the old drivers first, so the old and new similar drivers won't trip over each other. I never do it, but then again, I can fix it if it blows up (never has with many video cards over the years).

[Larry_OHF]

Have any of you tried this new update? It is freaking awsome! It gives you a little tray icon that allows you to change some stuff. I can make my tray or an open window transparant if I want to !!! It can do alot of other things, but I have not yet learned enough to mess with it yet.

[Mouse]

The Nvidia Detonator drivers are generally excellent. I have used them since day one with my GeForce Ti4200 card in preference to the OEM drivers and have had no problems.

[Larry_OHF]

I have a question or two about these new features like transparant windows, and color coded I dunno whats. My question is...how do I effectively use them? What good are they to me? Why would I bother?

[lethoso]

mostly unnecessary to uninstall old drivers unless you are going from ati to nvidia or nvidia to ati, or are into benchmarking...

[Animal]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: I have a question or two about these new features like transparant windows, and color coded I dunno whats. My question is...how do I effectively use them? What good are they to me? Why would I bother?

The majority of new features packed into driver revs are mostly fluff and just chew up your system resources.

True, these days old drivers do not need to be uninstalled, but it's always a good idea to do so if you can to eliminate possible driver conflicts.

What you want to do is boot into safe mode, and through the Add/Remove applet in the control panel, remove the driver program for your Video Card. Windows will then load a generic VGA driver. At that point reboot your machine, disable all background apps, including Anti-Virus and load the new drivers, rebooting again when installation is complete.

It always goes without saying, that under XP you want to create a Restore Point previous to any driver changes.

[Larry_OHF]

Thanks! I am one of those types that needs a step-by-step guide in order to do it right. It is much appreciated.

[Bahamut]

or you can just uninstall it in the add/remove programs right? [img]smile.gif[/img]