stupid question, how do you update drivers?

D

dioxholster

Gawd
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
801
does everyone just do the basic way, uninstall old and install new or do a complicated process of cleaning out the old files? Drivers used to be a pesky thing, they still are in windows 7 and new nvidia drivers? And there are people who do it through steam.
 
Install new ones for nVidia. Straight up install. If updating from older ones, may need reboot. Otherwise, typically don't.

Steam driver install only works with AMD right now.
 
Nvidia drivers, pick yours, download and install. You can install the new ones over the old without any problems.
 
but these are drivers not software, installing over them might cause some conflict or have a lot of unused old files around.
 
okay apparently nvidia agrees with you:

Help Installing Drivers:

Q: After I click Agree and Download, should I select Run or Save?
A: You can select either depending on your preference. If you want to save the driver for use at a later time or on a different PC then you should select Save. If you want to download and start installing immediately then you can select Run.

Q: Do I need to uninstall my older driver first?
A: No. It used to be the case that an uninstall was first required. Today the recommended method is to overinstall the newer driver on top of your older driver. This will allow you to maintain any current NVIDIA Control Panel settings or profiles.
Click to expand...
 
The only time I ever clean out old driver files is if I'm switching from nVidia to AMD or vice versa. Otherwise I simply just install the new ones right over the old ones.
 
D/L Driver Sweeper below and install it.

Driver Sweeper Download Link

1) Uninstall your GPU drivers and Physx
2) Restart Computer
3) Enter Safe Mode..Tap F8 during Post
4) Once in Safe Mode> Open Phyxion.net > Driver Sweeper > Select Nvidia Driver/ Nvidia Physx also (not nForceChipset)> Start Cleaning
5) Restart Computer
6) Navigate to the Location of your Drivers and Install them.
Click to expand...
 
GreenGoose said:
Absolutely not necessary. This hasn't been necessary in a few years, especially with Windows 7. Just install the nVidia driver over the old one as nVidia recommends. You will not have any problems.
Click to expand...

It's not as effective. It basically just overwrites things like any profiles that you may have created.
 
Anth0789 said:
It's not as effective. It basically just overwrites things like any profiles that you may have created.
Click to expand...
There's a checkbox in the installer to clean out profiles. Just don't click it.

Even if conflicts do still occur, they're rare enough that it's not worth going through this as a matter of routine. It's something to keep in mind when things go wrong, but usually you're wasting your time.
 
SXO said:
The only time I ever clean out old driver files is if I'm switching from nVidia to AMD or vice versa. Otherwise I simply just install the new ones right over the old ones.
Click to expand...

This. I run all ATI cards and this is how I perform updates. The only time I've ever had a problem was when I ran the Steam auto update when it first came out.BSOD on reboot,rolled back and redownloaded from ATI's website and no problems since.
 
LuminaryJanitor said:
There's a checkbox in the installer to clean out profiles. Just don't click it.

Even if conflicts do still occur, they're rare enough that it's not worth going through this as a matter of routine. It's something to keep in mind when things go wrong, but usually you're wasting your time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the only time I ever use driver sweeper, was when I was trying my hand at modding AMD mobility GPU drivers (in particular, for the Vaio SC - which has a hybrid Intel/AMD GPU setup, and seriously messy drivers to boot!), and managed to somehow screw it up badly, resulting in the AMD GPU not working until I used driversweeper and device manager to rid of all Intel and AMD GPU drivers.

Otherwise, I have not seen any use for this, especially on my desktop (GTX580). nVidia and AMD GPU driver installers have come a long way since when Windows XP and it's messy HAL was king. Well, that and GPU drivers are now in the user space, not the kernal space :p
 
dirksquarejaw said:
This. I run all ATI cards and this is how I perform updates. The only time I've ever had a problem was when I ran the Steam auto update when it first came out.BSOD on reboot,rolled back and redownloaded from ATI's website and no problems since.
Click to expand...

I had that issue too. I just never use the steam system. In Win7 at least, downloading the drivers from the AMD site has always worked here.
 
SXO said:
The only time I ever clean out old driver files is if I'm switching from nVidia to AMD or vice versa. Otherwise I simply just install the new ones right over the old ones.
Click to expand...

This.

I just went from a Radeon 5670 to a GTX 460. Uninstalled AMD drivers, booted into safe mode, ran DriverSweeper (old version.. 2.1), rebooted again, and then installed latest nVidia drivers.

Whenever I've simply upgraded drivers to a new version though (AMD > AMD, NV > NV), I've never done anything other than install the new version.
 
Anth0789 said:
D/L Driver Sweeper below and install it.

Driver Sweeper Download Link
Click to expand...

I still update my gpu drivers this way. I tried installing my drivers using the install over the top method that is recommended and choose the clean install option, but I was constantly encountering weird problems in more than half of my games. As soon as I did it the old fashioned way (uninstall drivers, run Driver Sweeper in Safe mode, then booted up and installed the new drivers) I have not had a single problem since going back to the old way.
 
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