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How to disable Vista from installing video card drivers?

What is a good registry cleaner? Aside from Crap Cleaner of course.
 
I don't know, I don't use any.
 
Flogger23m said:
What is a good registry cleaner? Aside from Crap Cleaner of course.
Click to expand...

I've used CCleaner myself, rarely though. I used to use TuneUp Utilitys ages ago, that I was really fond of, I've not used it recently though so I don't know how well it has improved, though it's not free.

That in mind I had a look about, found one called Registry Clean Expert, you can download it from there and I personally tried it on my partners PC. Seems a good little program, you can use it fully for a 15 day evaluation period, after that you would need to purchase it, personally I don't think you'd need it longer than a day or two at most.

After installing and running the program, it recommends backing up your registry, that I did and would highly recommend you do so too. It doesn't take long at all to back up the registry, I backed the file up in Documents under the folder name "Registry Backup", the file I named "REG-BKUP-30-05-2011". After it's done with backing up your registry you're free to roam the program then, but all you need to do is go to Defrag Registry in the left panel, then follow the instructions on the right panel on what to do, you will need to click on the Analyze Registry first, then once it's completed analyzing your registry you can then click on the Compact/Defrag Registry.

Once it had finished for me it shaved a little bit off from the registry :)

You can also delve further into the program with Scan & Clean, though it's similar to CCleaner, I've not actually used it yet, if you choose to use it, just go through the findings thoroughly to make sure you're not getting rid of something you might actually need like shared libraries. :)

I would recommend following theJesus' advice too in the driver incremental updating, also, something I've not asked which I should have before now (chances are you've already done it, but just for my sake really!) we all know you're running Windows Vista x64, but are you running any Service Packs? If you aren't I'd get yourself updated to Service Pack 2 as soon as possible, otherwise if you have it then we will just take it from there :)

--Lee
 
What exactly would that do that Crap Cleaner doesn't? I guess it goes a bit more in depth?

I will try the incremental update approach today. What was a stable 190*** version?
 
Anything that says WHQL would be considered stable.
 
Tried the:

197.45_desktop_win7_winvista_64bit_english_whql

Installation went fine until the Nvidia control panel tried to install. Then it failed. 182.50 was restored.

I don't care about the control panel. Now that I have Nvidia Inspector I can set the AA Using that. Is there anyway to disable the nvidia control panel from installing?
 
Flogger23m said:
I don't care about the control panel. Now that I have Nvidia Inspector I can set the AA Using that. Is there anyway to disable the nvidia control panel from installing?
Click to expand...

no
 
Hmm 197.45 might still be too big of a jump from 182.50
Maybe try 190.38?

Hell, if you're patient enough you could try going through all the releases, 185.85, 186.18, etc. :laugh:
 
theJesus said:
Hmm 197.45 might still be too big of a jump from 182.50
Maybe try 190.38?

Hell, if you're patient enough you could try going through all the releases, 185.85, 186.18, etc. :laugh:
Click to expand...



Seems like the easiest thing to try at this point. I'll try the next driver...
 
I used to have this problem with my notebook, altho nvidia site says it is compatible etc.
Try install one or 2 earlier version, it works.
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com has some oem 270 version that may work, some used a different installer or some kind.
Worth a try. (notebook or not.)
 
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Finally some progress. I installed the:

185.85_desktop_winvista_64bit_english_whql

Which installed fine, aside from the Nvidia control panel. This failed to install. I doubt I will be missing much as I use Nvidia Inspector to set the AA/AF.

Shall I try updating to the next driver set now? I am wondering if the lack of Nvidia control panel will cause any issues.
 
Yeah, I would just keep going through them all, even though it should take a while. I wouldn't worry about the control panel for now.
 
Up to 190.38 now. Still no Nvidia control panel, but at least the drivers are updating.
 
Well, that's good that at the drivers are doing OK. I'm betting that by the time you get to the current drivers, the control panel will be working.
 
These seem to be as far as the drivers can go:

191.07_desktop_win7_winvista_64bit_english_whql

No control panel, but it works. 195.62 was the next on the list, however this time because the control panel could not install it failed completely and reverted to 191.07. Just like the later drivers.

So the issue is with the Nvidia control panel. It seems as though the newer Nvidia drivers require the Nvidia control panel to be installed to work. My next issue is figuring out how to make it work.
 
That's a suspicion I had in the back of my mind, but was hoping it wouldn't happen. It explains why 197.45 failed as well.

At the moment, I'm not sure exactly what could be preventing the control panel from installing. What steps have you been taking to install each set of drivers?
 
Just running the .exe and installing over the other ones.

Played BFBC2 for over an hour with no issues except for when minimizing. When I do that the desktop gets set to 800x600 resolution. Very annoying to reset my icons.
 
Hmmm, you could try uninstalling from the windows control panel, then reboot into safemode and run driver-sweeper, then reboot normally and try installing 195.62.

If that doesn't work, it seems like you should be able to easily go back to 191.07 at least.

My suspicion right now is that there is some part of an old driver or a registry key or something that's gotten left behind somehow and that's what has been causing the problem from the start. Problem is figuring out what it is and getting rid of it . . .Maybe try running ccleaner or w/e too before you install.
 
I'm glad there's been some progression for you mate, although I bet you're still at your wits end in frustration... As we can see you've managed to get it to 191.70, doesn't look much but it's a damn sight better than the previous ones!

I'm just wondering, I've done some more reading and what I found was that another person solved their problem by uninstalling their drivers and doing an actual Windows Update for the graphics drivers, have you actually tried this or not yet?

If not, would you mind trying it out to let us know how it goes? Here's a link to the thread I read.

--Lee
 
I can try doing that, but I don't really know how to make Vista update to the version I want.

I guess it defaults to the newest driver available from Nvidia under Windows update?
 
Yeah, I don't think you get a choice, it just does it.
 
Flogger23m said:
I can try doing that, but I don't really know how to make Vista update to the version I want.

I guess it defaults to the newest driver available from Nvidia under Windows update?
Click to expand...

All you do is go to Windows Update and choose the "Check for Updates" link to the left, then click on the "x optional update available" (where x is the number of updates available for you :)) -- I say click on the optional one because that is generally where the graphics driver tends to be, from what I've found anyway.

Make sure the graphics driver is selected and proceed with Windows Update, it's not necessarily the latest driver released, but generally the latest WHQL driver released :)

theJesus said:
Yeah, I don't think you get a choice, it just does it.
Click to expand...

You don't get the choice on driver version but you get the choice on whether or not to update it, personally I'd put a graphics driver update as an important one, not optional... Personally that's just me though :)

--Lee
 
Been a few days. I figured I was just going to stick with these drivers, however, Nvidia Inspector no longer works. It requires a driver of 256 to run. :mad:

So now I can no longer set AA in many games as they do not have such an option in the menu. Does anyone know of an Nvidia Inspector like program that will work on the 192 drivers?
 
Flogger23m said:
Been a few days. I figured I was just going to stick with these drivers, however, Nvidia Inspector no longer works. It requires a driver of 256 to run. :mad:

So now I can no longer set AA in many games as they do not have such an option in the menu. Does anyone know of an Nvidia Inspector like program that will work on the 192 drivers?
Click to expand...

Check out nHancer. Really slick program. It doesn't support any drivers over 197.xx.

Hopefully the creator is still working on writing a new version because I really did make good use of the program when I was running 182.50 drivers.
 
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