Graphics Best way to remove GPU drivers.

Hi guys,

I’ve got a friend going from an Nvidia card to an ATI one. In the past I’ve had difficulties with transitioning between the two. I went the other way and the new Nvidia card was throwing up huge black shapes in BC2. I solved the issue by using drivercleaner, but using that removed some vital files needed for Windows update and in the end I had to do a total reinstall to solve the problem.

Outside of any of the above methods, what is the best way to remove Nvidia drivers from a system before installing a new card?

Parge

 

i've always just uninstalled from device manager...then a quick registry fix run and reboot, then install the new ones...windows update to make sure nothing additional is needed...never had issues doing it that way...i think sometimes it gets over thought and what not. we can really over-complicate things...

let me know what you end up doing and how it goes...

 

Thanks for the help.

What exactly do you mean by this bit?

 

Sometimes drivers leave behind latent registry entries, which can cause all kinds of fascinating and aggravating installation woes. Get rid of them all and you won't have a problem. You can do it manually or use a utility like Driver Sweeper.

 

yeah, i use ccleaner i think...

 

driver sweep and cc cleaner.

 

I remove drivers in control panel.

Then I run Driver Sweeper.

Then I run the registry cleaner of CC Cleaner.

Then install the new drivers.

 

Tbh regarding Ati, i just go to add/remove programs (or whatever its called in Win 7) and remove the Ati catalyst thingy. thats really it,

used to use drive sweeper back in the old XP days

 

Just a quick question as it was brought up (and I'm looking to properly clear my ATi drivers; long story - 5770, Rage, new drivers, card restarting my PC as it's too hot in some games, 92C after 20 mins of Hard Reset demo!), basically, where can I get Drive Sweeper as it's been discontinued on Guru3D?

I've been reading that Powerplay has been doing some funny things to ATi cards lately, and I want to do a thorough clean of the drivers.

 

Don't run ccleaner or driver sweeper if you have an ssd...

 

Do it the right way. First uninstall from programs and features.
Elevated cmd prompt:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc
select view, show hidden devices.
It will show any obsolete devices greyed out. Select them and uninstall, choose delete files. It will remove all associated driver files in driver database. Once this is done reboot, then run ccleaner for any registry entries.

I've NEVER seen anyone say ccleaner is bad for ssd, what reasons would it be? I've been using ccleaner on ssd since 2009 with 0 apparent ill effects. It's free space 0ing is not meant for ssd, but it's other options are useful and safe as far as I know.

 

This is news to me. Could you expand on that, please?

 

I just uninstall from the control panel, and then boot to safe mode and use Driver Sweeper. Then reboot and install drivers. Never had a problem.