nVidia Drivers

[ming]

This concerns the software side of things more than the hardware side.

I've been having difficulty getting the 66.93 drivers installed on my machine ever since it was released to the public. After installing it through the normal procedure, i.e. double click on the detonator_66.93.exe file... and restarting the pc, I am presented with a 4-bit colour screen with 640x480 resolution.
I reverted back to the 57.23 version driver until this evening when I decided to try another method of installing the newer driver... > device manager, video card properties>update driver.
This seems to have done the trick (touch wood).

Now, what I would like to ask you guys and girls, what is the proper method of installing a driver? Open and install straight from the .exe file you are given, OR, through device manager>update driver?

 

[Tuffgong4]

matters on what type of driver you have...if it's a straight installer file like from nvidia you just run the .exe and make sure that you have your antivirus disabled while it's installing. Don't know why it should be but it's recommended and I do while I install every driver release.

If it's a package where you can extract to c:\Nvidia after uninstalling and windows new hardware thing pops up you just tell it where to look and install...restart and everything should be fine.

I notice some drivers change my resolutions and what bit color it will be but after setting things back to what they used to be everything goes back to normal...

 

[ming]

Well, I always download from nVidia's website so the files should all be the same.

I usually download, open and it'll ask where to install to as you mentioned. However, so far only the 66.93 version changed my resolution and colour to that mentioned above and wouldn't let me change it to anything above 8-bit colour and 640x480 res.

 

[Electronic Punk]

extract the exe using winrar and doing a manual installation.
if that feels, drivercleaner it and try again.

 

[ming]

extract the exe using winrar and doing a manual installation.
if that feels, drivercleaner it and try again.

Yeah, I did use the extracted drivers and done driver update through device manager.

I was just wondering what is the proper method of installing drivers as mentioned in the first post.

 

[Tuffgong4]

best way to do it would be
1. download, extract new driver.
2. uninstall driver and reboot.
3. (in your case) use a driver cleaner to get rid of existing stuff in safe mode
4. windows will find the new hardware and tell it to look for the inf and it should say everything is fine
5. reboot and check settings.

other than that I think cleaning the system from driver remnants might be the problem.

also some driver cleaners that are out will delete the files you have extracted just before installing and that can be a pain so double check...

 

[Electronic Punk]

No real need to remove previous drivers and the newer versions will even ask you if you wanna keep your custom graphic settings.

 

[ming]

nah.. i get the problem even from a fresh install with no previous gfx drivers. As I said it's only with the 66.93 version of the drivers.
I might end up having to install through driver update in device manager with any later drivers.