I recently got an ATI Radeon 9550/X1050 Series video card. I noticed my computer was getting more and more errors each time I upgraded the driver when there was an update. So I decided to go back to the update when things were fin. So I went to the ATI site and downloaded the older update and installed it. The errors coming up stopped. Now my computer restarts every time it goes into sleep mode. I simply thought it must be the fact it's an older computer and simply can't handle ATI driver updates. Since after all I got the pc in 2001.

But now when I think about it maybe overwriting the latest update with an older update might have caused a problem. Maybe each time I update the driver I should uninstall the previous driver update instead of letting a newer installation overwrite it.

So whey not just remove completely the ATI Driver updates, go to the ATI site and grab the earlier update. That would remove the overwriting. Is this a good idea or will it make me not be able to view my monitor?

I ask this because way back I use to have an old 486 and I changed the resolution to something I didn't know the computer couldn't handle. And well the screen then displayed with green static. You could barely make out the menus and mouse. I somehow saw through the static and changed the resolution back. I'm not sure how I recognized things, but I did. That was a nightmare practically and I do not want to make the mistake of doing it again to this computer. It's still unbelievable that the 486's drive only held up to 6MB. Wow.

Can you use System Restore to go back to a point in time when it worked fine?

I generally recommend against upgrading drivers simply because new drivers are available. My general rule of thumb is to upgrade only if one or more of the following apply:

The new driver addresses a problem you are having with your exact version of hardware (most drivers are for many different models and versions)
The new driver addresses a security concern that may affect you
The old driver is corrupt

If it ain't broke...

Upgrading graphics drivers has historically caused problems and can often be as difficult, and nearly as dangerous as BIOS upgrade problems. With graphics cards (and sound cards too), I always prefer to totally uninstall the old driver first. But often the card makers site will have specific upgrade instructions, so you should check there first.

If no instructions, I would completely uninstall the old driver, making sure they were not listed in Device Manager. Then reboot. Windows will see new hardware and load drivers for your card, if it knows it, or generic VGA drivers all cards are supposed to run on, or prompt you to install the new drivers you have saved somewhere.

Driver Cleaner Professional is the best automated driver removal tool I have used. What I have done too is install a card from "the other" graphics maker. If you have ATI, install a nVidia. If nVidia, install an ATI. That at least will get you going, then you can start over again.

That's the thing. After the independent tech installed the ATI card it had some 2006 drivers. I noticed one of my games (Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords) displayed things all bent. Kinda like looking into a fish bowl. That bent look. I then went to Obsiden's forum. That's the author of the game who is partnered with Lucas Arts. I was told on the forums there to go to the ATI site and update to the November 21st 2007 update. I simply installed the update. Things then came unbent. And I updated until the January updates. That's when I re downloaded teh November 21 2007 update and that's when from then on I had to turn off sleep mode because it would restart every time it would come out of it. I wish I could do system restore, but it only keeps restore points for a month at a time.

So your saying if I uninstall the ATI Display Drivers it won't make me unable to see windows?

This post has been edited by toruser: Apr 17 2008, 04:02 PM

I am saying that you need to purge the system of any remnants of the old to ensure nothing is conflicting with the new install.

And what I want to know is, will I still be able to view windows on my monitor after I remove the ATI display drivers and all?

If you remove all the 3rd party graphics drivers, Windows will use the default VGA drivers, which all Windows ready graphics cards (including on-board grapphics cards), should support though Plug n Play.

So I can't promise you it will work, especially since you are having problems - but it should work fine.

On second thought since your unsure I'll probably get my indepent tech who installed the card to bgin with to do this. Thanks anyway.

This post has been edited by toruser: Apr 18 2008, 12:39 PM

Good idea.

Note it is not that I am unsure of the process, I know it works. It is that there is NO way any one can be sure it will work because your machine has problems to begin with.

I'll get the independent tech to do the job, I still would like to learn a few things though.

When I started to remove the ATI Display driver from the Add/Remove program list it said which driver do you wish to remove ATI Radeon 9550 or ATI Radeon 9550 Secondary. Do I do both? Why is there a secondary? Also should I remove all three of the items from the Add/Remove program list by pressing change/remove button for ATI Uninstall Utility? Or just remove them all individually? Or do I right click on desktop>click Settings tab>Advanced button>Adapter tab>properties button>Driver tab? In this tab there are the options update driver, roll back, and uninstall. They all require you to put in the driver's installation disk. So which of the three uninstall methods should I do?

Through the driver tab, uninstall each program individually, or through ATI Uninstall Utility?

Besides the ATI Display Driver, the two other ATI items are ATI Parental Control & Encoder, and ATI Uninstall Utility. What's the ATI Parental Control & Encoder for?

Also I thought I'd pass this along to others. I found something called Omega drivers for those who have older cards and would rather have drivers for them that focus more on performance and stability rather than graphics: http://www.omegadrivers.net/

This post has been edited by toruser: Apr 21 2008, 02:05 PM

Hi Toruser

I perfer that digerati help with most of your problems since he has much more experence than I do.

What I can tell you is a little bit about the ATI and whats showing up in the add/remove

The ATI card has two connections, one is for the standard connection, and there is a DVI connector also(secondary)
The nice thing about the card is it lets folks run dual monitors. (looking at that setup now)


This is the part I would rather Digerati confirms, But IMO it's best to use the uninstall from ATI. It should remove all the componets at one time.

And of course afterwards use the Driver Cleaner Professional. So DVI stands for Digital Video Interface? So if the one means standard definition and the secondary means digital how do I know if the digital(DVI) will work on my monitor? Yeah and I guess he'll have to answer this if you can't, but in the driver tab I spoke of should I update from there from here on out or simply go to the ATI site and get the updates there? Which is better to do in otherwords?

This post has been edited by toruser: Apr 21 2008, 02:37 PM

Your monitor documentation should say if it's DVI compatible or not.

Most newer monitor are, the connections are different, if you look at the back of the PC and locate the video card, you should see the normal 25 pin VGA connection, and then you should see next to it the DVI connetor.

The monitors I have came with 2 video connectors, 1 for the std 25 pin connection, and one for the DVI connection. Even if you don't have the DVI cable, if the monitor is DVI capable there is an adaptor that allow the VGA to connect to the DVI.

oh and yes DVI= Digital Video Interface

As mentioned in my first post here, Check out Uninstalling ATI Drivers Properly - a nice tutorial using the DriverCleaner tool I mentioned above.

As for the D-Sub and DVI connector, I agree with tonka's assessment, and that is why you see two 9950s.

Thanks guys. Well I guess I'm learning.

The more you learn about computers and IT, the more you will realize there is yet to learn! It never ends - but then that's job security if you can carve yourself out a little niche or two to become proficient in!