Thinkpads Forum

I downloaded, some time ago, the ATI Driver update from Lenovo for my T60P. It is a 91.5 MB download entitled 79d533ww.exe.

I haven't installed it because I'm still unsure about whether I should uninstall the old driver manually, as some have advised, reboot and install the new driver, or whether I should simply run the installation package and let it automatically uninstall or overwrite the old driver.

I imagine if I uninstall the old driver that on reboot the T60P will open in VGA, which would give me the willies. I would rather do things automatically, but am wondering about best procedure and pros and cons. (Nowadays, looking at the world scene it seems all the Pros are cons!)

Jokes aside, what is the best thing to do?

Thanks,

taichi

I've always done it the first way (uninstall/reboot), never a problem.

I guess I always worry that if I uninstall the driver and reboot that my display won't work. Nevertheless from my rational understanding, without a driver the system will boot into VGA mode. Is that true?

So if I do it according to your suggestion, I should go into device manager, and manually uninstall the driver? What will happen then, before I shut the computer down? Will the display immediately go into VGA? I guess my understanding of display technology is incomplete, because my fear is that once I uninstall the driver the display will simply go black, because there is no driver running it.

I acknowledge my ignorance of these technical issues.

Thanks,

taichi

taichi wrote:
So if I do it according to your suggestion, I should go into device manager, and manually uninstall the driver? What will happen then, before I shut the computer down?

No. Go into Add/Remove programs in Control Panel, and remove ATi Display Driver. Then you will get a message asking you to reboot to complete the uninstall.

Will the computer start up in VGA? If so, will it be easy to navigate to start menu, and to Mozilla Firefox where my downloads are stored?

Thanks,

taichi

Yes and yes.

Very economical reply.

Should I shut off Norton Internet Security before installing the driver, and then restart the computer after installation (assuming the installation program doesn't tell me to do so)?

Thanks,

And Happy Easter in Georgia

I'm in Vista 32, so I went to Control Panel>Programs and Features>Uninstall or Change Program and there's no ATI Driver shown!

I also opened Revo Uninstaller, and once again no ATI Driver shows up!

Puzzled,
taichi

Go to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/Display Adapters.
Rightclick on the ATI-whatever you find there, and select Properties. The menu then offers you Uninstall

Thanks, RealBlackStuff.

That's how I'd always done it in the past on my...can you believe it...A21P running Windows 2000. After a HD failure, the new disc is running XP, but it has a display like twilight, and is as slow as black-strap molasses.

Much better on the T60P.

taichi

Okay. So now I'm stuck in a lopp of sorts. I uninstalled the Driver in device manager, and the display went immediately to VGA. I restarted the T60P and as I was waiting for the opportunity to install the new driver the T60P automatically found and reinstalled the driver for the 5200. I have no idea if that's the newest version driver, but it definately did not come with the Catalyst Control Panel, one of my reasons for downloading the 93 MB program.

So I promptly uninstalled the 5200 driver, but if I need to reboot to both complete the uninstall and install the new package, the thing will automatically trigger again!

Quite a dilemma. I can't go back and see what version Driver it installed since it's now gone from the device manager window!

taichi

New chapter in this tautological, continuing saga thread.

I went into system settings to windows update and first tried to select "check with me first for driver update", rebooted and the T60P went right ahead without asking for my permission and reinstalled the driver.

I uninstalled again, repeated above steps, and selected "never check for updates", rebooted and the ghost in the machine, which cares not for my feelings, went ahead and installed the driver automatically.

How can I uninstall the driver, and reboot into a mode wherein I elect which driver package to install?

Any solutions out there?

Thanks,

taichi

I let the T60P automatically install its driver and examined the version number. The driver it installed is definitely older than the version I want to install!

The ATI driver I want to install is v8.383.1.1, and is part of the download package from Lenovo, which includes the Catalyst Control Panel.

The ATI driver that is automatically and inexorably installed on reboot is v8.362.0.

So trying to uninstall the old driver and rebooting prior to installing the new driver package doesn't work. It seems (and I did try to stop the default installation process to no avail) that I have two choices:

1. I can uninstall the old driver and ignore the screen prompt to restart the computer to complete the uninstallation, and then install the installation package from Lenovo or...

2. I can simply run the installation program with the old driver installed and let it overwrite the old driver.

If anyone has any good suggestions, please don't hold back. I am tempted to try solutio number 2 because it seems cleaner and doesn't violate Windows prompt to restart the computer after uninstallation.

Thanks

taichi

Here's how to install newer drivers:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=80819

GL.

Do all this within Safe Mode (press F8 repeatedly right after you switch on) which does not load any gfx drivers!

Just as a follow-up to my last post, I noticed that there are some download sites for what seemed to be free versions of something called driver cleaner, as well as a commercial download site where the program sells for $9.95.

If I buy a licensed version is it good for more than one computer, or do I need to buy driver cleaner for each computer? Are the free downloads for driver cleaner different programs, or just trial versions of the same program?

Thanks,

taichi

Years ago Driver Cleaner was a free program.. The full name of it was "DH Driver Cleaner Professional Edition", and the last version was 1.5 build 14 (or 15?). The newer "Driver Cleaner .NET" has more features, for more programs, but i don't think it matters regarding the removal of ATi/AMD drivers. I uninstalled the last bits of Lenovo's latest driver with version 1.5, and it apparently removed some files and registry keys that had to do with the display driver.

First of all, thanks to all for your help.

And thanks,Troels, for your information about driver cleaner.

It appears that version 1.5 was for XP, and there is no information anywhere about whether it would work on Vista. I noticed that some of the websites that provide a download of 1.5 seem malware prone.

Do you know if a Driver Cleaner license is good for more than one computer? I bought a very interesting laptop which I've not opened for more than a year because of the stress and rigors of my legal case. But I will open it soon, and would like to install DC on that machine in a week or two as well as on my T60P.

taichi

You're right.. it appears the publisher asked the various software download sites to remove ver. 1.5...
If all else fails, here's an alternative (not sure how well it works) http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Dr ... d1655.html

According to, this you can use a single license on multiple computers: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/driver-cl ... e-pcs.html
Hope that it still applies three years after the question was asked

Hope you're doing well with your legal case... no matter what such things are never pleasent

Thanks for the very kind words as well as the help, Troels.

I'm going to give Driver Sweeper a shot after I get a good night's sleep.

taichi

I realize now that I should have posted my abortive attempt to install the Lenovo Catalyst package on this thread rather than the driver sweeper thread.

In a nutshell, after using driver sweeper to clean out the leftovers of ATI files after uninstalling the old driver, I rebooted a second time into safe mode to prevent Vista from reinstalling the old driver.

I clicked the download file on Mozilla for the Lenovo package and it simply extracted files, not installing the package.

I then figured out to look in the Drivers Folder and found the setup for Catalyst. When I double clicked on it and started installation, it asked me to agree to terms...then I picked express install. Problem is, when it ran it generated an error message saying device (or device driver) not detected. I ran it again, right clicking to run as administrator. same result.

Now the installer program is just hanging there. Even hitting cancel does nothing. I'd have to shut it down in task manager.

I'm beginning to think I should just have run the Lenovo Catalyst package on the normal desktop without installing the old driver, and just let the package overwrite the old driver.

Help!!

taichi

The driver folder has to be modded first.

I thought, according to previous posts, that only ATI packages needed to be modded, not the Lenovo ATi Catalyst package. That's the reason I tried the Lenovo package, even though it's got an older driver than ATI's most recent.

But if Lenovo's variant needs modding, how do I do that?

Thanks,

taichi

taichi wrote:I thought, according to previous posts, that only ATI packages needed to be modded, not the Lenovo ATi Catalyst package. That's the reason I tried the Lenovo package, even though it's got an older driver than ATI's most recent.

But if Lenovo's variant needs modding, how do I do that?

Thanks,

taichi

If the Vista driver is like the 7 driver, it's unmodded from Lenovo.

Why are you using them anyway. I posted a modded driver pack in the other thread, use that. Ati's legacy drivers are for Vista (and by extension 7 also). You use Mobility Modder to modify driver packs.

Dear vinuneuro:

Forgive me if I'm a bit slow about this whole driver issue. Drivers, and modding them, are weak links in my knowledge of computers.

I bought this T60P used from an architectural student who wiped the drive clean, and when he reinstalled Vista 32 ultimate he did not bother to install a proper driver package, so Vista simply installed its own default driver. I did not get any Lenovo disks or manuals... just a T60P in excellent condition.

So what you're saying, if I understand correctly, is that the Vista driver is not recognized by the ATI Catalyst package. My whole purpose in upgrading is not just to get a better driver, but to get the Catalyst Control Panel.

So if you would be so kind as to assume that I know nothing about modding drivers, could you walk me through, step by step, what I need to do at this point? Even if some of the steps seem obvious to you and to others, you're talking to a virtual child in this area, which is why I was hesitant to upgrade my GPU driver in the first place.

If I understand correctly, you have created a modded Catalyst driver package?

In any event, just running the Lenovo Catalyst Package, and allowing it to override what I have, would be a futile exercise?

Thanks,

taichi
a babe in the woods driver-wise

-First remove all traces of whatever you've been trying to install. I use Driver Cleaner, no experience with Driver Sweeper.

-Restart. You don't have to go into safe mode. Doesn't matter if Vista/7 reinstall's the generic driver. The install manager will replace it with the Ati driver.

-Originally I thought I uploaded the modified driver pack, but the file sharing site I use won't easily allow subfolders to be uploaded. So you're going to download the driver pack from Ati and modify it.

-Download the Catalyst 10.2 pack for Vista/7 from here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/w ... ng=English

-Extract the files, but don't go through the installation.

-Download Mobility Modder from here: http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php

-Open Mobility Modder and browse to the folder which you extracted the files (C:\Ati\Support). Click Modify and let it do it's thing.

-Go to the folder, and run setup.exe. Install.

I'm downloading the catalyst 10.2 program, although I did not see my card (the ATI 5200) listed on that page you linked me to.

I already used driver sweeper to clean out all ATI files (remember the previous owner never installed the catalyst package, only an older version of the ATI driver) before my abortive attempt to install the Lenovo package. When I restarted, Vista reinstalled the default ATI 5200 driver. So can't I just run the modded 10.2 without re-uninstalling the default driver?

So modded, 10.2 will run on my T60P?

Thanks,

Taichi

I notice in the instructions for mobility modder this caveat:

4: Run the downloaded driver, let it extract into c:/ATI/SUPPORT - but cancel the installation once the driver is extracted.

If one of my reasons for downloading a new driver package is to get the Catalyst Control Panel, wouldn't the above instruction prevent that? Or put differently, if I choose to let the entire installation run, will I achieve my goal?

Also I noticed that the new mobility modder is a beta program, updated for Vista/7. Have you used this new beta, or have you used the modder that was designed for XP? If you have used the new beta is it perfectly stable?

Thanks

Taichi

This will be my last post regarding this.

The order is Extract->Modify->Install. If you skip the middle step, it's not going to work.

If you really need more help, pm me your aim, msn, etc id and I'll walk you through it.

GL.

Hi vinuneuro,

This is not a question on the process of getting the drivers installed!!

You mentioned that the newer ati drivers are more efficient/perform better than the older lenovo drivers. Do you also expect that the Windows Experience Index for Graphics and Gaming Graphics would show improved number?

Thanks, Steve