Drivers are mega-outdated

Eggy Baby!

Okay, I have a Windows XP SP3 at the moment, and I've noticed both my video card drivers and sound card drivers are REALLY outdated. Basically I have loads of questions about how to install more up to date drivers and how outdated drivers could affect my system.

I have an ATI Radeon 4600 series video card. The drivers are dated from 24/11/2009 and are version 8.681.0.0.

1: How the heck do I update the drivers? I find it impossible to delete every last inkling of the previous drivers and so my PC crashes whenever I install the new ones. I then have to system restore my PC.

2: Do outdated video card drivers cause crappy performance in games or on the PC?

I also have a really outdated sound card, a SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC. The drivers are dated from 20/03/2006 and are version 5.10.0.4991.

1: Again, how the heck do i update the drivers? I have no idea whether or not I have to delete the old drivers. Also, the SigmaTel site seems to have disappeared off the internet and I can't find up to date drivers!

2: Do outdated sound card drivers cause crappy performance in games or the PC?

Help would be appreciated! Thanks!

yoyo

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Okay, I have a Windows XP SP3 at the moment, and I've noticed both my video card drivers and sound card drivers are REALLY outdated. Basically I have loads of questions about how to install more up to date drivers and how outdated drivers could affect my system.

I have an ATI Radeon 4600 series video card. The drivers are dated from 24/11/2009 and are version 8.681.0.0.

1: How the heck do I update the drivers? I find it impossible to delete every last inkling of the previous drivers and so my PC crashes whenever I install the new ones. I then have to system restore my PC.

2: Do outdated video card drivers cause crappy performance in games or on the PC?

I also have a really outdated sound card, a SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC. The drivers are dated from 20/03/2006 and are version 5.10.0.4991.

1: Again, how the heck do i update the drivers? I have no idea whether or not I have to delete the old drivers. Also, the SigmaTel site seems to have disappeared off the internet and I can't find up to date drivers!

2: Do outdated sound card drivers cause crappy performance in games or the PC?

Help would be appreciated! Thanks!

You can get the newest ATI drivers here. For Sigmatel look on the manufacturers website, dell etc. Its more likely outdated videocard drivers/card itself causing performance issues in newer games, although updating the drivers should definitely help
Edit: You can use Driver Sweeper to remove old drivers permanently, reboot after then install new ones

Nick

Eggy Baby!

Okay, i did all that and got a black screen. When I tried to install the drivers in safe mode, I got a black screen too.

Then I tried to use a system restore and now my PC is stuck on the lowest resolution and colour settings and won't budge! How the flip do I fix this? Its looking like a Mac from the 1980s atm

yoyo

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Okay, i did all that and got a black screen. When I tried to install the drivers in safe mode, I got a black screen too.

Then I tried to use a system restore and now my PC is stuck on the lowest resolution and colour settings and won't budge! How the flip do I fix this? Its looking like a Mac from the 1980s atm

I would try downloading a previous ATI driver, just in case the problem lies with the new one and your configuration, the black screen bit doesn't sound right, does the monitor say anything like no connection or loss of signal? Anyways try this driver install from safe mode, see how you get on. also is this a laptop or desktop?

Nick

zenno

OP

I have an ATI Radeon 4600 series video card

As was asked...Are you using a laptop or desktop ?. without further information on this question you can not be helped.

It is a straight forward process to download/install the correct driver so all you need to answer is the question regarding... Laptop or Desktop ?. Also look again at the name of your graphics card and see if it is actually an ATI Radeon HD 4600 series? Or just ati Radeon 4600 series but check again to be sure.

Another way to get the correct driver would be to go into control panel and click on windows updates and check for new updates. when it finishes the scan for updates, on the left it will say software updates so click on that and it should have the correct graphics driver there just go ahead and install it and it should be fine.

Eggy Baby!

As was asked...Are you using a laptop or desktop ?. without further information on this question you can not be helped.

Ah sorry about that I'm using a desktop.

I would try downloading a previous ATI driver, just in case the problem lies with the new one and your configuration, the black screen bit doesn't sound right, does the monitor say anything like no connection or loss of signal? Anyways try this driver install from safe mode, see how you get on. also is this a laptop or desktop?

I fixed the problem regarding the 4-bit colour and low resolution. I simply went into windows installer and clicked update driver on my display adapter, then rebooted. The problem was fixed and I checked the drivers for my ATI Radeon 4600 series. It said that the drivers were dated to sometime in 2011 so they had been updated (although not fully). I turned my PC off, but it wouldn't boot up again (just got a black screen).

I then had to go into safe mode and use a system restore. Now I'm back at square one, with my outdated video card drivers (still 2006-era) but my PC isn't in 4 bit VGA mode anymore.

It is a straight forward process to download/install the correct driver

Correction: it should be a straight forward process. I'm doing everything correctly. I'm erasing all traces of the drivers then booting up in safe mode and installing. I've noticed that the computer however can boot up in standard windows mode even though I've just erased all the old video card drivers. Does this mean that all traces of the old drivers are not yet erased?

Another time I tried to install the drivers in safe mode and a box popped up telling me "Failed to load detection drivers" and the installation was aborted. Also, when I attempted to install the new drivers on regular mode, a box popped up telling me that "Setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" but the installation went on as normal and finished. I checked the log and it seemed as though everything had installed correctly.

It can't get any simpler than: delete old drivers, reboot in safe mode and install new drivers. But I've been doing these things (even attempting to install in regular mode) religiously for the past few weeks with no result. I always end up back at square one.

Another way to get the correct driver would be to go into control panel and click on windows updates and check for new updates. when it finishes the scan for updates, on the left it will say software updates so click on that and it should have the correct graphics driver there just go ahead and install it and it should be fine.

As I said, I attempted to do this to remedy the 4-bit problem and indeed it did install the drivers (although they were admittedly outdated, but less so than before) but my PC blackscreened whenever I tried to boot it up.

Does the monitor say anything like no connection or loss of signal?

The windows logo and loading screens show as normal. But then the standby light turns amber but the computer is still on, and I can't do anything but turn my PC off and on. I hear the tower whirring as it usually does during startup, but there is no picture. There is no error message, just a black screen.

yoyo

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Ah sorry about that I'm using a desktop.


I fixed the problem regarding the 4-bit colour and low resolution. I simply went into windows installer and clicked update driver on my display adapter, then rebooted. The problem was fixed and I checked the drivers for my ATI Radeon 4600 series. It said that the drivers were dated to sometime in 2011 so they had been updated (although not fully). I turned my PC off, but it wouldn't boot up again (just got a black screen).

I then had to go into safe mode and use a system restore. Now I'm back at square one, with my outdated video card drivers (still 2006-era) but my PC isn't in 4 bit VGA mode anymore.



Correction: it should be a straight forward process. I'm doing everything correctly. I'm erasing all traces of the drivers then booting up in safe mode and installing. I've noticed that the computer however can boot up in standard windows mode even though I've just erased all the old video card drivers. Does this mean that all traces of the old drivers are not yet erased?

Another time I tried to install the drivers in safe mode and a box popped up telling me "Failed to load detection drivers" and the installation was aborted. Also, when I attempted to install the new drivers on regular mode, a box popped up telling me that "Setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" but the installation went on as normal and finished. I checked the log and it seemed as though everything had installed correctly.

It can't get any simpler than: delete old drivers, reboot in safe mode and install new drivers. But I've been doing these things (even attempting to install in regular mode) religiously for the past few weeks with no result. I always end up back at square one.



As I said, I attempted to do this to remedy the 4-bit problem and indeed it did install the drivers (although they were admittedly outdated, but less so than before) but my PC blackscreened whenever I tried to boot it up.



The windows logo and loading screens show as normal. But then the standby light turns amber but the computer is still on, and I can't do anything but turn my PC off and on. I hear the tower whirring as it usually does during startup, but there is no picture. There is no error message, just a black screen.

Did the ATI installs go ok until reboot when you cannot access windows? Or did any stage fail? I would be pointing the blame at the video card here, do you have another you could try?
Edit: If the computer has onboard video also make sure its disabled in the bios

Nick

Eggy Baby!

Did the ATI installs go ok until reboot when you cannot access windows? Or did any stage fail? I would be pointing the blame at the video card here, do you have another you could try?
Edit: If the computer has onboard video also make sure its disabled in the bios

They seem to have gone okay the first time when I installed the drivers in standard mode. The installation only failed when I tried again and attempted to install them in safe mode.

Could the VGA interfere with the driver updates?

Also, I have no other video card.

zenno

Umm.. I see... don't bother installing the driver in safe-mode always install it in normal mode. strange one because if you are using the correct driver then it should just work. Also the standard vga driver needs to be installed anyway as it will allow the new driver to detect your graphics card. if i find something i'll post back.

Open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer. When in event viewer click critical errors and look in there and see what info it gives you on the problem, and click hardware as well after that to see if there are any errors there as well. If you already looked in there for errors then ok. At the time you tried to install the driver event viewer should give you the errors in red and double click on the error and read what it says, if there is something other than the driver conflicting it should tell you what the problem is or give you an error code.

Also if you can text here the name/make of your desktop computer and model number it should be easier to track down any problems that would cause this problem.

You can try this program to remove all parts of the ATI graphics drivers here...called... Driver Cleaner Pro v1.5 http://www.afterdawn.com/software/security/system_cleanup/driver_cleaner_pro.cfm Be careful as to what you pick in the drop-down list when you open this program. All you have to do is install the above program and when done open it and you will see a box that says 'Cleaning Selection' hit the arrow under this and scroll down and Only pick ATI nothing else just ATI then check the box under this that says select multiple cleaning filters, then click remove, after a few seconds click the details button just under and it will tell you what was removed, restart computer and try to install the ATI radeon graphics driver again. It might work but worth a shot anyway.

Eggy Baby!

After all this time, I've fixed it :P

Skerries

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

After all this time, I've fixed it :P

oh I hate when people do that!