What tool do you use to uninstall ati drivers?

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PanzeR-

Limp Gawd
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Jun 17, 2006
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I was putting a computer together with some old parts i had over here, just for casual browsing. I put an old ati 4500 agp and installed the latest drivers recommended by AMD. Turns out they had me install the latest drivers, wich works fuck all for this old card. Reading forums feedback, i found some good, old, win 7 supported drivers.

The problem is that I'm used to nvidia where i can just check an option to have it do a clean install nowadays. What 3rd party program do i need to use to acheive the same result with amd?
 
Go like you are going to uninstall a program (Programs and Features Control panel)

Right-click on "AMD Catalyst Install Manager" and click "Change".

Click next, then check "Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software".

Click next...

No 3rd party crapware necessary.
 
GotNoRice said:
Go like you are going to uninstall a program (Programs and Features Control panel)

Right-click on "AMD Catalyst Install Manager" and click "Change".

Click next, then check "Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software".

Click next...

No 3rd party crapware necessary.
Click to expand...

Thats the first step but after the uninstall its best to run a 3rd party software cause there are still traces of the old driver.
 
Stayfr0sty said:
Thats the first step but after the uninstall its best to run a 3rd party software cause there are still traces of the old driver.
Click to expand...

Not with ATI drivers, havent had to do that for years. Actually, you can just install over the old ones, they are made to install like that. But you do what you want, you heard it from some internet person years ago and it hasnt changed since then, right?
 
Comte said:
Not with ATI drivers, havent had to do that for years. Actually, you can just install over the old ones, they are made to install like that. But you do what you want, you heard it from some internet person years ago and it hasnt changed since then, right?
Click to expand...

This. When I went from my NVIDIA GTX 580's to my Radeon HD 7970 I uninstalled the NVIDIA drivers, removed the NVIDIA cards, then installed the Radeon HD 7970, then installed it's drivers. I've had no problems with doing that. I've actually done it that way for years. I've even upgraded drivers several times by installing over the existing ones with reckless abandon. I've had no trouble doing this either.
 
This isnt always the case.

the ATI uninstaller isnt very conprehensive, it leaves many registry entries, and files that are locked by the OS at the time of uninstallation do not get removed properly.

these extra entries and files interfere with newer cat installs.

Try it normally 1st, if it gives you problems, then use ATIman uninstaller.
 
You can bash this all you want......but I find it works well for AMD.

1) use the AMD uninstaller in control panel add/remove.

2) restart to safe mode.

3) I use drivercleaner.net, I donated 10 bucks to the guy about 5 years ago.....still works and updates itself.

4) restart and install new drivers.

I also uninstall the CAPs when I install new drivers, also in safe mode and then install a new uptodate CAP.
 
Thanks everyone!

Manual uninstall + driver sweeper did the trick apparently.
 
Stayfr0sty said:
Thats the first step but after the uninstall its best to run a 3rd party software cause there are still traces of the old driver.
Click to expand...

Ouch!!! i feel like i'm on windows 98 again.

Sorry no need for that any more.

and if you are really worried about it then use Microsofts built in driver removal.

goto device manager, right click on the device and do "Uninstall" and when it asks check "Delete driver software", i don't recommend that method but it is a great way remove the files. I would do this and then do the ATI uninstall method to remove the ati software.


using hack and slash wholesale deletion tools is never a good idea.
 
I've used atiman uninstaller, but generally I just use the programs default uninstaller. I'll follow up with CCleaner sweep and I've never had a problem.
 
First uninstall the AMD CAPs (reboot)

Second uninstall the AMD drivers and remove all.

Third boot into safemode and use Driver Sweeper ( http://www.phyxion.net/item/driver-sweeper.html ). Reboot

Optional: User CCleaner prior to driver sweeper to remove any old installer files. I personally do this. But it's not necessary.

Start windows normally and install AMD drivers reboot and install your monitor INF (if need be).
 
Dan_D said:
This. When I went from my NVIDIA GTX 580's to my Radeon HD 7970 I uninstalled the NVIDIA drivers, removed the NVIDIA cards, then installed the Radeon HD 7970, then installed it's drivers. I've had no problems with doing that. I've actually done it that way for years. I've even upgraded drivers several times by installing over the existing ones with reckless abandon. I've had no trouble doing this either.
Click to expand...

Thirded- there's so much overkill in this thread.

Went from CF HD6950's to a GTX670; just uninstalled AMD's stuff from the control panel and installed the Nvidia stuff. Not sure if I even rebooted.
 
GotNoRice said:
Go like you are going to uninstall a program (Programs and Features Control panel)

Right-click on "AMD Catalyst Install Manager" and click "Change".

Click next, then check "Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software".

Click next...

No 3rd party crapware necessary.
Click to expand...

This is what i've been doing for years with both ATI and nvidia. Only time I ever use 3rd party is if troubleshooting. 9 out 10 times it wasn't the problem anyways.
 
I've switched from nvidia to ati and back again without uninstalling anything, about the only issue is that the control panel apps from the currently missing card, might whine a bit at startup.

Unless something is terribly wrong with your windows install, windows is perfectly capable of not using un-needed drivers.

Growing the system registry hive beyond, I think 12.5 megabytes was last an issue in windows 2000. It was not an issue in XP, and it's not an issue in Vista, 7, or 8.

As for the keys themselves, pretty much every manufacturer specific registry key lives under some sort of GUID, GUIDs are specifically designed to avoid collisions.

The registry is indexed, and most likely uses binary search to find keys, not to mention being heavily cached, so unless you're increasing it's size by 2-4-8x, you will never have any effect on it's performance.

In summary driver cleaners provide no measurable benefit, unless you're running Windows 2000 or earlier. Just use the control panel, and be happy, or if you're really lazy, unplug the old card, plug in the new card, and download and install the proper driver set.
 
H-street said:
Ouch!!! i feel like i'm on windows 98 again.

Sorry no need for that any more.

and if you are really worried about it then use Microsofts built in driver removal.

goto device manager, right click on the device and do "Uninstall" and when it asks check "Delete driver software", i don't recommend that method but it is a great way remove the files. I would do this and then do the ATI uninstall method to remove the ati software.


using hack and slash wholesale deletion tools is never a good idea.
Click to expand...

:D how about unregistering a rogue .dll and then scouring the webz for some unreleased MS version to replace it with.

The good old win98 days!
 
Definitive way to clear out old drivers. Uninstall old drivers. Remove HDD from computer. Drive to city dump. Reach back as far as you can with old HDD. Throw old HDD in a arcing motion over your head into dump as far as you can. Go back home. Install new HDD. Install windows. Install drivers. Install games.

Next month do the same thing again. Sure, its expensive in HDD, but you never have to worry about a old driver problem.
 
Comte said:
Definitive way to clear out old drivers. Uninstall old drivers. Remove HDD from computer. Drive to city dump. Reach back as far as you can with old HDD. Throw old HDD in a arcing motion over your head into dump as far as you can. Go back home. Install new HDD. Install windows. Install drivers. Install games.

Next month do the same thing again. Sure, its expensive in HDD, but you never have to worry about a old driver problem.
Click to expand...

I prefer to shoot my hard drives with a .50BMG rifle. :)
 
stewartjm said:
I've switched from nvidia to ati and back again without uninstalling anything, about the only issue is that the control panel apps from the currently missing card, might whine a bit at startup.
Click to expand...
NVIDIA's and Intel's control panels will behave nicely, starting up, checking for a compatible card and shutting themselves down silently if they fail to find one. AMD's control panel is currently the only one that throws a bitch fit every time Windows boots, so it's the only one which needs to be disabled when switching. It can be safely re-enabled when switching back to an AMD card.
 
I use Driver Sweeper but sadly I think that it is hard to find now since the developers abandoned it or something. Luckily I kept the install file in case I format.
 
Simmonz said:
I use Driver Sweeper but sadly I think that it is hard to find now since the developers abandoned it or something. Luckily I kept the install file in case I format.
Click to expand...

Yeah, using an outdated driver removal tool that might not even be relevant for the latest drivers sounds like a recipe for success.
 
GotNoRice said:
Go like you are going to uninstall a program (Programs and Features Control panel)

Right-click on "AMD Catalyst Install Manager" and click "Change".

Click next, then check "Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software".

Click next...

No 3rd party crapware necessary.
Click to expand...

that is what i did going from a 6950 to a 670. the only other thing i did was run ccleaners registry cleaner before i installed the nvidia drivers.
 
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