How to prevent automatic driver installation

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimB
  • Start date Start date
J

JimB

I need help.

For a week now I have been trying to install new software for my ATI 8500
video card with the help of ATI support.
To do this one must install the new drivers. I have tried everything I can
think of plus what ATI recommends all with no luck in permanently removing
the old ATI driver files. After removing the drivers WinXP reinstalls the
same ones after boot up and will not be denied.
I have removed all of the reinstall driver files found in the Win32 folder
and even the calls in the registry. I have tried ATI's uninstall utility
available on their website which works but Win XP still beats you to the
punch after reboot. At the same time I also removed the ones in the
Windows\temp directory.
There must be a way to prevent WinXP from reinstalling these existing ATI
files and replace them with the new ones or at least the Windows standard
VGA files.
The reason for all of this is because I suffered my first fatal crash with
WinXP after two years of use. I was extremely happy with this operating
system.
What is also peculiar is that I cannot reinstall the original software from
the CD because whenever the ATISETUP.EXE file in the root directory or the
SETUP.EXE in the install directory of the CDROM are used the system comes to
a halt. If one looks at the CPU usage in the taskmanager it is 100%
utilized and that makes everything extremely slow. This originally
installed with no problems and I can install it on a second computer with
the same motherboard but different peripherals. I am puzzled as to these
strange issues. I might even buy a new CD from ATI if I had any guarantee
that they would work. I have not had any problems with any other software
except this and Western Digitals Data Lifeguard software.
Thanks,
Jim
 
I have an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro. I have also read the ATI instructions about
removing the old drivers before installing the new ones. I have also seen XP
try to reinstall the old drivers.

So, to circumvent XPs tenacity I just installed the new drivers and let the
installation program overwrite the old files, etc with the newer ones.
Worked just fine on this computer and my second one; it has a Radeon 9000
Pro.

Now, to upgrade ATI's HydraVision and MMC I did have to uninstall the older
version.
 
Thanks but no luck there either.

That may work with the newer versions but the 8500 version needs to have the
older versions removed before it can install correctly.

Thanks JimB
 
Hi, Jim. Your problem occurs because WXP is trying to be
"helpful".

Recently, Microsoft added an updated set of Radeon drivers
to the Windows Driver Update site. When you uninstall your
current video drivers and go to a "bare" installation -- XP will
automatically detect this situation and download the set of
drivers found on the Windows Update site and then perform
an automated install of those drivers.

To prevent the above from occurring, *disconnect* your ADSL
or Cable Modem *before* making the changes to the Video
Drivers. This will prevent Windows Update from automatically
installing the unwanted driver set before you get a chance to
install the driver version you want to use.

Note: Yes, you will have to ensure you've cleaned out all the
"mortal remains" once again -- after you've disconnected
from the Internet.

If you've done the cleanup properly, you will see the
system discover that it *can't find* a set of compatible
video drivers on the reboot after your cleanup.

You should see either one or two dialog boxes on
restart, asking you about installing new video drivers.
You want to *cancel* each of these install procedures,
at which point XP will complain that the video hardware
won't work correctly. This is the *proper* response for
a fully-deinstalled video driver set.

Once you have fully-deinstalled the old drivers and gotten
the responses mentioned above -- you have a "virgin"
video subsystem. You are now ready to install whatever
desired Catalyst driver set you wish to use.


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill
 
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