Uninstalling a graphics card driver

[John Mora]

I'm fairly sure the reason I've been getting intermittent freezings and crashes playing back video on my computer is my graphics card driver. The problems started shortly after a driver update a few months ago and got worse after I upgraded to Windows 7. I've tried updating the driver again, but the problem remained. Toaster recommended uninstalling the driver and doing a fresh install. Will I be able to uninstall a graphics card driver and safely reinstall it? I'm worried I'll suddenly get a black screen or something.

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

You shouldnt have any problems uninstalling it, unless something is really REALLY wrong. Ive done it before, and it all worked out okay.

Uninstall, restart.
Re-install, restart.

Easy.

[Jehuty]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

Purge your motherboard with fire. Its the only way to kill heathen drivers.

[JLaCroix]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

I agree, uninstalling a video card driver and reinstalling it will help. However, what size hard drive do you have? What kind of video card? SLI or single?

The reason I ask is because certain Seagate drives over 1TB are freezing video these days and need a firmware update, and sometimes SLI can be problematic.

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

I have an Nvidia GeForce GT220 and my HDD is 750 GB.

Uninstalling the video card driver and reinstalling didn't help. :V

[JLaCroix]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

I have an Nvidia GeForce GT220 and my HDD is 750 GB.

Uninstalling the video card driver and reinstalling didn't help. :V

Perhaps it's System Restore? That's known to cause problems with games, at least for me. Try turning that off and rebooting.

[Translucid]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

REFORMAT

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

Perhaps it's System Restore? That's known to cause problems with games, at least for me. Try turning that off and rebooting.

System Restore?

Anyways, the problem isn't really with games yet, that I've seen, I've just seen it happen frequently during video playback or when I'm booting up WMC. Sometimes it'll just happen during startup or when I'm browsing, too. The screen will either stop displaying a picture or it will freeze and get some pixellated discoloration, especially around the mouse cursor.

[AbstractOrigin]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

You might need to get some type of Driver Cleaning program to completely
remove everything related to your Video Card and then install the software.

That's what I do when I have video problems.

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

What sort of driver cleaning program do you recommend?

[AbstractOrigin]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

Here's a good free one that'll work.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D--....html#download

And here's a little guide on how to use it.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/

Make sure you download your updated drivers before uninstalling,
and cleaning out your drivers before installing the new ones.

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

How do I keep Windows 7 from automatically searching out a new driver? :[

[JLaCroix]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

I think some more information is necessary. For starters, did you upgrade to Windows 7 or perform a full install?

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

Upgrade. But the problem was there before Windows 7, people.

Edit: After the last crash, I upgraded to the latest driver AGAIN and haven't crashed yet. Maybe... just maybe... it's fixed? {:c

[John Mora]

Re: Uninstalling a graphics card driver

NOPE, IT'S NOT :V