ATI 5200 FireGL driver

[taichi]

Some on this forum have suggested going right to AMD for GPU drivers, whereas others prefer to use Lenovo's driver.
My Thinkvantage app pointed me to: 79d533ww.exe

Right now I'm running 8.362.0.0, which is old.

Wondering what to do...tempted to use the 79d533ww.exe from Lenovo.

[ajkula66]

I have it (Lenovo's "newest" driver) on my T60p with V5250 running W7...so far so good.

It is pretty darn old, though...but it works.

[taichi]

Is that 8.383.1.1000 you're running, George?

Did you install it over the old driver (which allows you to rollback) or did you uninstall the old driver first?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

I've done none of the above, since my fresh install of W7 included just the generic driver. Once the OS was in, I just loaded the Vista driver, rebooted and that was it.

[taichi]

In a sense, it seems as if it was an overwrite, since you didn't uninstall the generic driver.

So you do have 8.383.1.1000, now?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

Yes, that is the driver I have installed.

[taichi]

Yes, that is the driver I have installed.

Well, I ran the installer package, 79d533ww.exe, and after running for a suspiciously short time, I still have 8.362.0.0
rather than v8.383.1.1!

!!!

[ajkula66]

Did you run the setup file from the Win subfolder (under Drivers)?

[taichi]

Did you run the setup file from the Win subfolder (under Drivers)?

I didn't do that. I (in ignorance) simply ran 79d533ww.exe from where it downloaded...which was a folder I'd created called desktop downloads.

When I double clicked it, it triggered UAC for permission, which I gave. The installer asked for my acceptance of terms, and then ran lightning quick...the first sign that it was not the full enchilada.

I'm still assuming that 79d533ww.exe when properly run installs v8.383.1.1.

Thanks for your help, George.

[91011]

I'm still assuming that 79d533ww.exe when properly run installs v8.383.1.1.

When you ran 79d533ww.exe the setup files, as George said, were only extracted to C:\Drivers\
You then have to run the actual setup from there.

[taichi]

The only driver in the ATI folder looks like generic Vista 32 driver.

So I must look elsewhere in Drivers to find the installer.

Can I just run the installer over the old driver? I seem to recall that the Catalyst app (part of the setup package?) won't run fully unless I do a clean install.

Update/Edit

Can't find it under C:\Drivers!

[ajkula66]

C>Drivers>Win>Video

[taichi]

C>Drivers>Win>Video

Under the video folder (into which I had wandered before) there are a number of other folders:
Bin
Bin 64 (I would imagine not applicable to me since I'm running Vista 32 Ultimate)
Config
Images
Packages

Browsing through those there are numerous apps which relate to ATI and AMD. Would you happen to know which of the above folders is pertinent, and any identifying file information for the correct installer?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

Bin>Installation Application Mgr, I believe...

[taichi]

Bin>Installation Application Mgr, I believe...

I appear to be getting closer to EL Dorado.

When I double clicked on it, the Catalyst program gave me three choices:
Install
Update
Uninstall.

As I mentioned, I'm running 8.362.0.0, which is older than what I'm hoping this installler will load...8.383.1.1.

Should I install or update? The program is a bit larger than 4MB.

Thanks

[ajkula66]

...I'd go with "Install

[taichi]

...I'd go with "Install

What's interesting and confusing is that the total install package from Lenovo is over 90 MB, yet when I go to the AppManager file mentioned above it is only a little over 4MB...obviously only the driver, and not the Catalyst Control Panel.

Also ATI/AMD's own page suggests to uninstall previous ATI drivers before installing a new one.

In the ATI folder in my T60P it is listed as Legacy Vista 32 driver, whereas under Device Manager it is called ATI 8.362.0.0.

Frankly, my least favorite part of computer use is driver and bios updating...which is also the area of which I have the least knowledge.

[taichi]

To recapitulate, my goal is to update my 5200 FireGL driver. When I downloaded Lenovo's Catalyst package, a 90 MB plus application, it extracted into a file called Application Manager under:
C>Drivers>Win>VideoBin>Installation Application Mgr. That specific file is only about 4 MB in size.

When I double-click on that the Catalyst program opens and asks if I want to install, update, or uninstall ATI drivers.

When I called AMD today they told me that, yes indeed, all previous ATI drivers and files should be uninstalled. He also mentioned that when I installed the Lenovo package it should've automatically opened without my having to search for it, which clearly didn't occur.

The one thing that always sends chills up my spine, besides doing bios updates, is doing a driver update. The idea of being without a display driver, or with a botched up one makes me nervous. So I am proceeding very cautiously.

Apparently there is no longer a driver sweeper program that can be downloaded, as Guru3D no longer offers it... and that program and CC cleaner have some critics who claim that they can aggressively remove the wrong drivers along with the right ones.

The AMD technician suggested I uninstall the driver, and re-download or reopen the Lenovo package once I'm in the VGA desktop. My dedicated Uninstaller (Revo Uninstaller) only shows Catalyst Install Manager... no other ATI programs. Vista's program uninstaller shows the same.

Apparently clicking on the Catalyst Install Program will allow me to uninstall the driver. But it is also suggested in many places that I uninstall the Catalyst Install Program as well. It feels a little bit like the chicken and the egg situation.

Additionally, the AMD technician suggested I remove all traces of ATI files, which means a descent into the dark corridors of the registry. Ordinarily Revo Uninstaller gets rid of all these things in its more aggressive mode, but I'm unsure as to what will happen if I click on the Catalyst Install Program in Revo Uninstaller or in Vista's uninstaller.

I find the whole thing confusing. Has anybody else been faced with the same scenario?

Thanks

[ajkula66]

What you're going through sounds pretty complicated, but then again I'm not running Vista.

I'd uninstall everything - including the panel and whatever comes with it - and then install the whole new package fresh.

Once again, I didn't have to do any of that, but I just threw in the new driver (and the rest of ATi stuff) over the old generic one...which sounds similar to what the AMD folks want you to do.

Good luck.

[taichi]

What you're going through sounds pretty complicated, but then again I'm not running Vista.

I'd uninstall everything - including the panel and whatever comes with it - and then install the whole new package fresh.

Once again, I didn't have to do any of that, but I just threw in the new driver (and the rest of ATi stuff) over the old generic one...which sounds similar to what the AMD folks want you to do.

Good luck.

Thanks for stepping up to the plate, George.

So you think if I uninstall the Catalyst Install Program it will automatically delete the driver? What about leftover registry entries?

What OS are you running, George?

Thanks again.

[ajkula66]

On T60p I have W7.

Worst case scenario, you'll always be able to re-install the old driver, although I don't believe it will be necessary.

[Neil]

Don't know if this will help at all...it is pretty old...but, I have used this procedure many times in the past to completely remove an ATI driver.
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33606840

[tomkrishan]

under w7 32bit i`ve installed the catalyst package for vista with the driver version 8.383.1.1
which works fine. for uninstalling i used the ati uninstaller. everythink worked fine.

[taichi]

under w7 32bit i`ve installed the catalyst package for vista with the driver version 8.383.1.1
which works fine. for uninstalling i used the ati uninstaller. everything worked fine.

In Vista 32 all I have in my installed programs list is ATI Catalyst Install Manager. Does that match your setup in Win 7? Did you uninstall that, and by doing so, uninstall the driver?

Thanks to the previous poster as well. I've never used registry cleaner in Vista.