Windows Installer: make it stop

P

Pammyam

I downloaded a new video driver from the Dell site. I proceeded to install
and was told the previous driver would be removed and installation of the
new would proceed upon restart. Fine with me. Then I got a message that
the driver was not "logo" approved or signed or something and I shouldn't
proceed, so I said don't do it. So. We restarted and everything on the
screen was huge. So, I did a system restore and everything looked fine,
but everytime I rebooted, something "prepares to install" over and again.

I tried again and said yes to installation, but it was definitely not the
correct driver--the resolution was incredibly low and unchangeable, so I did
another system restore (which takes forever with this particular issue) and
once again, Windows installer is preparing to install, preparing to install,
over and again and then stops. How can I make the Windows Installer stop?

Thanks.
Pam
 
P

Pammyam

Thanks. I tried it, but it wasn't in the list of programs when I ran the
utility.
 
N

Nepatsfan

If you can boot into Windows you might want to try the following:

Start -> Run. In the Open box type devmgmt.msc and hit OK. Once
Device Manager opens look for any entries that have yellow
exclamation points or red X's next to them.
If that's the case you might want to reinstall the original
driver. You may have these on CDs that Dell provided or you can
look on their web site in the download area and check for
"previous version"

If everything looks OK in Device manager then you can try the
following:
Expand Display Adapter. Right click on your video card and select
Properties. On the driver page select "Roll back driver".

If you have a copy of the video driver that was originally
installed on your PC you might want to uninstall the display
adapter in device manager, reboot the computer and have Windows
reinstall the video card. Start in Device Manager and when you
right click on your video adapter, select Uninstall.

Nepatsfan
 
P

Pammyam

The Magical Mystery Cure

Kelly, I had tried everything at your site at least twice and even did a
system restore to a date prior to updating DirectX, which was about two
weeks ago. I still got "Windows is preparing to install" message blinking
on and off about six times when I rebooted, with it sounding like it was
trying to access the cd drive.
I tried installation of the driver again and then cancelling it just for
kicks.
Nothing worked. I decided to uninstall DirectX as outlined at your
site but waited intending to ask you how risky it is before proceeding.

In the meantime, since the installer was trying to access
the cd drive, I thought it might help if I gave it something to access. I
wanted to change my installations of WordPerfect and MS Office, so I decided
to try uninstalling both and reinstalling. I got error messages when I
tried to uninstall both through Add/Remove Programs. Hmmm. So, since I had
the Windows Installer Cleanup utility, I thought I'd give it run and removed
the info for both programs, reinstalled them over the current installations
and uninstalled. I rebooted and guess what: the problem was gone.

This might make sense to somebody, but surely not to me. I won't look the
gift horse in the mouth.
 

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