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HELP! AMD Catalyst update broke my PC - How best to reinstall Windows 7?

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dr_andus:
Thank you very much for all the suggestions!


* If you can boot into Safe Mode see if you can remove the AMD Catalyst drivers and your AV program, (to stop it interfering in any other operation - the AV will cease to function after an In Place Upgrade anyway.)  This might allow the system to boot normally and you'd only need to reinstall any necessary drivers and your AV.-4wd (September 06, 2015, 11:26 PM)
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and as a rule I just install the video drivers instead of the entire catalyst suite
-Target (September 06, 2015, 11:59 PM)
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Please bear with me, as I know next to nothing concerning OS installations and drivers. A couple of things I don't understand...

1) If I uninstall the AMD driver (if I can even find it where it is, as most of the Windows utilities and system tools are not functioning), how will I be able to use my computer? The last time the driver failed during installation (though afterwards I somehow managed to install it, at the cost of wrecking my system), there was only a hugely pixelated display on a single monitor (normally I use 3 monitors), so it was barely useable that way.

2) I did try to look for the AMD driver without the Catalyst Center installation, but I couldn't find it anywhere. It was my impression that it was not possible to install the driver without Catalyst?

Thanks again.

4wd:
1) If I uninstall the AMD driver (if I can even find it where it is, as most of the Windows utilities and system tools are not functioning), how will I be able to use my computer?-dr_andus (September 07, 2015, 04:12 AM)
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If you completely uninstall the AMD video driver, (and Catalyst, etc), Windows 7 will use a default video driver, (or an earlier compatible version of an AMD driver), that it has in its driver cache.  You might lose all the fancy things associated with manufacturer drivers but you'll normally end up with a minimum of 1024x768 resolution.

If you think about it, how do you get a display when you install Windows for the first time?

That's the driver Windows will fall back to using.

2) I did try to look for the AMD driver without the Catalyst Center installation, but I couldn't find it anywhere. It was my impression that it was not possible to install the driver without Catalyst?
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Download the ~220+MB Catalyst suite, when you install it choose Custom.  You'll need to select the Catalyst Install Manager but you should be able to only select the AMD Display Driver.

HELP! AMD Catalyst update broke my PC - How best to reinstall Windows 7? HELP! AMD Catalyst update broke my PC - How best to reinstall Windows 7?

If you also have audio coming through the HDMI cable to the speakers in your monitor, (if it has any), then you'll need to install the HDMI Audio Driver also.

* Ignore what I've got selected since I'm running the installer on my system which already has the latest update.

dr_andus:
4wd, thank you very much for that, will give it a try.

BTW, I have another PC where I also have had trouble updating the AMD drivers, and the only way the installation was willing to go ahead was when I caved in eventually and selected "AMD Gaming Evolved App"--which I didn't want to do and for which I have no use whatsoever. I might be becoming paranoid but it felt like an underhanded way to force me to install the Evolved App, which did not endear AMD to me any further...

MilesAhead:
The mention of uninstalling drivers reminded me of an old support trick that often works in Windows.  Boot into safe mode if possible.  Open Device Manager(right click on Computer then click Proerties and you should see either a tab or link for it depending on the Windows version) then expand the section for the video card.  Find the video card and right click it then click uninstall or delete(whichever it says.. it may vary with the version.. not sure.)  Confirm you want to delete the driver.  Reboot to normal mode.  Windows should detect the hardwre and reinstall the driver.  About half the time it works much better than before this was done.

It only takes a few minutes so it is worth a shot.

4wd:
BTW, I have another PC where I also have had trouble updating the AMD drivers, and the only way the installation was willing to go ahead was when I caved in eventually and selected "AMD Gaming Evolved App"--which I didn't want to do and for which I have no use whatsoever.-dr_andus (September 07, 2015, 05:42 AM)
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Can't say I've ever had that problem, actually I can't say I've ever had a problem with ATI/AMD drivers at all.

If you want to get rid of the Gaming Evolved thing, look for Raptr in Control Panel->Programs and Features and uninstall it, (had to do it yesterday on my parents machine).

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