Updating nVidia Drivers

[nepenthe42]

I downloaded the newest drivers for my nVidia GeForce4 MX 420 (PCI). Like all driver updates, the setup program says to uninstall the previous drivers before installing the new ones. When I uninstall the drivers, I get a prompt to reboot. After rebooting, all the drivers are automatically reinstalled. I don't get an option to not reinstall the old drivers, or for Windows to not detect new hardware. Everything is reinstalled before my start up programs finish loading.

I tried to uninstall the old drivers and then install the new ones without rebooting, but I get the message that the old drivers are still installed. I'd rather not overwrite the old drivers with pieces of new ones.

What am I overlooking here? Do I have to go through the Windows System folders and delete every appearance of the old drivers, including the safety "lastgood" driver folder, or would that interfere with the automatic uninstallation process.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[johnodq]

This problem is quite common, you should uninstall the drivers then run something like REGCLEANER and remove all references from the registry then reboot.

You don't state which version of windows you are using but if it's XP then it will install it as a Geforce 3, you should then be able to install the newer driver.

Note: Sometimes the older drivers work better than the newer ones (depending on your hardware).

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Johnodq
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[pursy]

the newest drivers and detonaterdestroyers, regcleaners can be found on

http://www.guru3d.com

 

[pmonett]

Actually, I just run the install over the previous ones. It is nVidia on top of nVidia after all.
No problems for me.

 

[explode]

well xp installs only the native nvidia drivers as mentioned.. instead of fearing the uninstallation after restarting, go to device manager once again, choose the display adapter and got to drivers tab to update driver. Specify the location correctly and the native drivers will be overwritten by the latest update. It should not create an issue as mentioned.. uninstallation and restarting is a must for the hardware to be reconfigured. rather than following the new hardware found - install software wizard when it restarts, close this window and go to device manager to update.. Just make sure you download the latest driver from nvidia.com