Changing from Ati to Nvidea....Please help!

[chief barker]

HI,

I have just purchased the new 7800gtx Nvidea graphics card.

My question is....How do i completely uninstall the ATI drivers and other related files. I have read on another forum that some ATI files still remain as they are protected.

I would ideally like to have a fairly flawless change from ATI to Nvidea.

I understand that i have to remove the driver from add & remove programs (i usually run the cat-uninstaller from ati).

Has anyone had any experiences from switching gfx card maufacturers?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated.

Asus P5GDC Deluxe
X800xt pci express (now7800gtx)
P4 560 @ 3.4
2gb pc3200 crucial tech ram.
160gb maxtor hdd
460w psu

 

[olefarte]

Do the uniinstall and then run Driver Cleaner in safe mode. That should clean out all your old driver files and cabs. Be sure and read and follow intstructions.

 

[chief barker]

Thanks for the swift reply.........

Do you think i will need to re-install all my games to take advantage of the new card?.

Also how will it affect my directx (9c).

 

[Sharkfood]

Nice card and I hope you have fun with it!

When you install Driver Cleaner Pro, be sure to run it's "Live Update" in the start menu group since it'll need to download some additional stuff not in the initial install. Boot safe mode, administrator, pick all the ATI things (plus multiple filter checkbox) then shutdown/swap hardware.

As far as games- most you can simply delete the config file and the game will regenerate a new one, but you'll lose any key bindings or custom mouse settings, etc.etc. Just redo these and you're golden. HL2, Doom3, UT games, etc.etc. For the most part, if you had a higher end ATI, it wont make too much of a difference- for those you cant clear the configs, try hitting their option menus and making some adjustments. When in doubt, a re-install of a game is pretty quick and easy.

Good luck and enjoy the new card!

 

[chief barker]

Thanks for your reply....

When i boot into safe mode (from msconfig BOOT. INI) i have 2 accounts to choose from 1 :admin and 2 :my user name. But in my user accounts i am the system admin?. and the one and only account on my p.c.

If i click on admin, the program for driver cleaner does not appear on the desktop, or in 'all programs'. But it appears in my user name.

Also in the driver cleaner options there are several options for ceaning ATI!
Which ones do i select? ( i have CCC installed and it is a vivo card) X800xt.

Also can you tell me what the CAB cleaner is please, is it safe to use?

Many thanks for your help.

Sorry for sounding like an ***** but i am new to this kind of thing.

 

[Sharkfood]

No worries mate.

As administrator, you'll need to hunt down the executable in Program Files\Driver Cleaner Pro and run it manually as it doesn't add a group to the administrator's menu (as you noticed).

I wouldn't run the CAB cleaner.. just select multiple filters and all the ATI ones. Anything you don't have wont cause any problems. It just wont find the files/regkeys to purge and keep on truckin' on it's way.

I'd also recommend one extra step. Download the preferred Forceware drivers from NVIDIA's website to your desktop FIRST, then yank the network card/broadband before booting in safe mode... do the driver cleaner pro, shutdown, swap the cards, install the NVIDIA drivers off your desktop, reboot, THEN re-attach the network cable.

This will prevent XP from trying to fetch NVIDIA drivers obsolete/different from Microsoft. It's the cleanest way to go.

 

[chief barker]

Thank you very much for your help....

I now have the new card running and everything is running great.

Once again thank you for your detailed and informative replies.

Now i have to explain to my wife why i needed a new graphics card :blackeye: