Suggestions for removing nVidia drivers?

[Carol Haynes]

I installed a new ATI card in someones computer and ever since they have had regular BSODs related to graphics drivers.

Before wiping and installing from scratch has anyone any ideas on how to clean out all the graphics drivers and start from clean?

So far I used nVidia's uninstall routines to remove the drivers priori to removing the card, I have also use DriverCleaner.Net and Drive Sweeper to flush out nVidia remnants.

The motherboard has an Intel based chipset so there are no nForce drivers or other nVidia software installed but still the BSODs are coming daily.

Tried removing and installing various versions of Catalyst drivers - including the latest version but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Any other suggestions short of a full reinstall of Windows would be appreciated.

I also have the problem that the only way to install Windows on this machine is from an HP installation image - is this going to reinstall the nVidia stuff because it expects a card to be in there or is it more intelligent than that?

[Renegade]

I had a BSOD video problem that I tracked down to drivers. It came down to having a second monitor plugged in. At the time I checked, the issue was several years old and still not fixed. (x64 systems only) The only solution was to not plug in a second monitor.

If the issue is anything like that...

Not sure if that helps or not.

[worstje]

Are you sure the issue relates to nVidia drivers? There's plenty more reasons a BSOD can happen.

[Ath]

Do you have the most recent Intel INF (filter)driver set installed? That could help on the stability, and the possibility to get the Catalyst drivers installed properly.

As a side-track:
What you describe here is my main experience with ATI/AMD video cards and Catalyst drivers. I just can't get them to work properly in my PC's (and I have tried several different mainboards as I tend to build/upgrade all my systems from scratch with components bought separately). The only way to get all these systems (and their drivers) working properly for me was to remove the ATI/AMD card and put in a nVidia card with the most recent drivers (usually the WHQL certified release)
The only ATI/AMD graphics chips that work properly for me are the one's built into the laptops we have over here.

Back on track:
The HP OS-(re)install is probably going to dump the original nVidia driver onto the system, it's usually an image kind of install without much intelligence built into it.

[Carol Haynes]

The situation is that he had two monitors plugged into an nVidia GT200 card but needed 3 monitors. The system only has one PCIe socket.

The only cards that support 3 monitors are AMD/ATI cards.

The nVidia normal uninstaller didn't complete properly but left the system in a somewhat mixed state - which is why I used both DriverCleaner and Driver Sweeper to remove remnants. Nothing nVidia seems to be left on the system and the Catalyst drivers seemed to install without error. The three monitors work fine.

I am using one myself with 3 monitors and suggested the card to him.

I have installed this on a few systems and it works fine including a system where I removed old nVidia drivers when the card died.

Sorry I can't remember the STOP code number on this system but it is definitely graphics card related.

I updated to the latest Intel drivers from HP website (maybe I should try downloading newer ones from Intel).

FWIW - I have used both ATI and nVidia cards over the years and have had mixed results with drivers for both systems. Currently my experinece is that ATI seems to have the edge on stability - it is just this one system that is behaving screwy.

He isn't playing games or anything stressfull - just using normal office software.

[cmpm]

The nVidia normal uninstaller didn't complete properly but left the system in a somewhat mixed state

That could be it.

Boot into safe mode and watch for nvidia drivers/and related in the list loading.
Could be a standard issue windows nvidia driver still there.

Back on track:
The HP OS-(re)install is probably going to dump the original nVidia driver onto the system, it's usually an image kind of install without much intelligence built into it.

Pointed out by Ath.

Another thought may be to reload an nvidia card then uninstall it properly if possible.

You have done this most likely, but I'll post it anyway.
http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_3.html
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=16154

[Carol Haynes]

Thanks for the suggestions - I will have another bash tomorrow but it looks like a clean install is on the cards!

Any idea how to use an MS Windows 7 disk to install a clean setup and restore the OEM license?

[cmpm]

A clean setup on a Windows 7 oem.

The MS Windows 7 disk will treat the old Windows 7 like Windows XP and save as windows.old, which can later be deleted. Using the destructive or clean method or whatever it's called and not save any programs, not an upgrade.
Just use the oem activation number and you should be fine, if it even asks for it.

The setup disk will recognize the current Windows 7 as an old windows os and destroy it into windows.old.

[app103]

Make sure you take an inventory of all the current hardware and obtain a copy of all the drivers you will need.

Use this utility from Nirsoft to retrieve the OEM Product ID & key before you wipe out the current installation.

And if you are worried about reactivating it, you might want to follow this or use the Win7 version of the utility here to backup and restore the activation data.

[Carol Haynes]

Thanks guys - yes I had just found ABR !!!

I think what I am going to try is to reinstall the GT220 card and then do a normal HP restore install and then uninstall any nVidia drivers immediately before reinserting the ATI card and start again.

I am pretty sure if I can get the nVidia drivers to uninstall cleanly there shouldn't be a problem as I have done that on other computers.

If it still goes pear shaped I will do a clean install from a Windows RTM DVD and just download the required drivers from HP.

Cheers - I'll let you know how it goes!

[Shades]

Revo uninstaller (either portable or the installer) also works very well for removing drivers.

The portable version is my preferred method of uninstalling any piece of software, to be honest.

[Carol Haynes]

Friend wasn't too keen on a complete reinstall - so I have had another bash at removing nVidia dregs (even after Driver Cleaner and Driver Sweeper there were still files and registry entries, and a failing service hanging around), I also removed all the ATI software, updated mobo, sound, network and storage drivers and then reinstalled a different ATI driver (a couple of versions back).

We still got another STOP 0x3b afterwards but we noticed it only seemed to relate to when the computer was not in use and conicided with entering sleep mode so I have disable Sleep power settings - fingers crossed.