Updating nVidia drivers to 258.96

[Enjay]

Just thought I'd share my experiences in case anyone has been having or anticipates similar problems.

Point 1
I downloaded the driver update from nVidia and ran the exe as normal. Things seemed to go as expected but when the install routine finished, a message popped up saying that no changes had been made to my system, with no further explanation. Sure enough, no changes had been made and the old driver was still in place.

I did a bit of searching and found that this has been an ongoing problem with nVidia drivers for quite a number of versions. However, usually it is associated with "unusual" language settings and not UK English which is what my computer uses.

The problem is caused by the PhysX component not installing properly but because the install is set to run quietly, you never get to see the error.

Anyway, a number of solutions were suggested and this one worked:

Navigate to where the install programme unpacked the driver (in my case C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\258.96\WinVista_Win7_64\English ).

Run the PhysX install program by double clicking PhysX_9.10.0224_SystemSoftware.msi.

Once that has been done, move the PhsX msi file out of the driver directory and then double click setup.exe in the driver directory. That should install the drivers.


Point 2
If that works for you, then fine. However, I just had a feeling that things weren't running quite as well as they should. It's hard to explain but things just felt a bit "glitchy" and awkward at times. Everything seemed to be working but I just "had a bad feeling" about it. I don't know if it was the driver, the install method, the fact that I had never uninstalled the drivers when updating in the past or perhaps because I had a couple of extensions from the nVidia website also loaded (and have had for a few months) but something just felt a little uncomfortable.

Anyway, I decided to strip the driver out of my system entirely and start afresh. To do this, I followed some instructions I found on a graphics forum.

I downloaded and installed Driver sweeper.

I used the Windows control panel to uninstall all nVidia related stuff.

I restarted my computer and ran it in safe mode (hitting F8 during the computer startup so that I could get the option screen).

Once the computer had started in safe mode, I ran driver sweeper and used it to remove all left-over traces of previous nvidia drivers (there were quite a few).

I restarted in normal mode and reinstalled 258.96 by double clicking the downloaded driver exe. This time the install went smoothly (no PhysX problem) and when my computer restarted, everything was working as it should be and my "bad feeling" had gone. My machine seems to be running better than it had before the driver update.



So, this post is just to mention the potential PhysX problem to people and also to mention that, if you aren't in the habit of stripping out the old driver fully before installing a new one, it might be worth doing it because I have noticed some definite benefits from doing so.

[NeuralStunner]

So, this post is just to mention the potential PhysX problem to people and also to mention that, if you aren't in the habit of stripping out the old driver fully before installing a new one, it might be worth doing it because I have noticed some definite benefits from doing so.

It's definitely worth doing. Anyone reputable (I.E. nVidia staff) will tell you to always do this.

I ain't planning upgrading again though. Nothing I have won't work with my current drivers, so "if it ain't broke..."

[playerlin]

When you want install a new display driver, removing the old driver is a f***ing good idea. :p

Because I was encountered some stupid display driver problems and they fucked my system up.
I never uninstalled the old version, just "updated" my driver until that shit happens, .

Those shitty problems cause I was not able ran Legacy anymore in my old Win98SE system, even I removed all old driver shit and installed new version, but it still doesn't work.
(I have dual boot with Win2000 in that machine, I switched to Win2000, and it runs fine.)

Not only Legacy, JFDuke3D port has shit happens too, it stuck on "gray screen" and eat 100% CPU time when I launch it. No crash, no error/warning messages, nothing at all. *sigh*
(But sometimes it works, and I have no idea.)

After that shit happens, now every time I want install a newer driver (whatever I'm using nVidia card or ATi card), I always removed all old drivers.
And I never encountered those shit happens.

[Enjay]

Although I haven't always done it, I have previously uninstalled drivers via the control panel. This, however, was the first time that I used driver sweeper and I can recommend it.

[Major Cooke]

Sorry to bump, but... Were you getting this awkward feeling with GZdoom alone or other programs in general? Personally, it's never happened to me (possibly due to me not noticing updates until I reformat), although I'm trying to remember if it did happen on my old laptop at all...

I do remember once updating without uninstalling, but I never got the problems you did... Not sure if it was because I had just received this laptop at the time or if it had better luck.

[Enjay]

It was in general. GZdoom was OK. I just felt that something wasn't quite right with the way graphics were behaving across the system.

[NeuralStunner]

Having tried these drivers recently, I can say I wasn't impressed. I was getting random program crashes, including the Flash plugin dying. After reverting to 196.21 (the driver I was using for my last card), these issues disappeared.

[Enjay]

They've certainly been absolutely fine for me ever since I did the full clean out and re-install. I haven't really compared performance versus the previous drivers but I have certainly had no problems.

[NeuralStunner]

Well, I installed it on a brand-new Windows setup. I have no idea why it wanted to act up, unless it was a coincidence and something else I did around then solved it.