Can You Upgrade RADEON Cards Without Re-installing Drivers?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Will
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Will

In one computer I have a RADEON 9800 Pro 128 that I want to upgrade to
RADEON 9800 Pro 256. Can I simply swap the new card in place without
re-installing the drivers, or does the driver install look for specific
RADEON variations and record those in some form, thus potentially requiring
a new install when an upgraded RADEON is installed?

I realize that one driver installation program will service all RADEON
flavors, but this is not the same thing as saying that the *installed*
driver can adjust itself to all RADEON versions at run-time.
 
In my experience, no. In fact, I've had HUGE problems changing from one
ATI card to another (both "Built-by ATI" cards), the computer wouldn't
even boot to a desktop except in safe mode.
 
Will said:
In one computer I have a RADEON 9800 Pro 128 that I want to upgrade to
RADEON 9800 Pro 256. Can I simply swap the new card in place without
re-installing the drivers, or does the driver install look for specific
RADEON variations and record those in some form, thus potentially
requiring a new install when an upgraded RADEON is installed?

I realize that one driver installation program will service all RADEON
flavors, but this is not the same thing as saying that the *installed*
driver can adjust itself to all RADEON versions at run-time.
Click to expand...

The installed driver is not adjusting dynamically - uninstall the old driver
first, then plug in the new card and boot. If u are lucky it will work but
usually Windows starts coughing after some time.




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In one computer I have a RADEON 9800 Pro 128 that I want to upgrade to
RADEON 9800 Pro 256. Can I simply swap the new card in place without
re-installing the drivers,
Click to expand...
I have changed several different Radeon cards and it has always been plug
and play. New hardware found, new driver installed. Automatic.

-Kent
 
Will said:
In one computer I have a RADEON 9800 Pro 128 that I want to upgrade to
RADEON 9800 Pro 256. Can I simply swap the new card in place without
re-installing the drivers, or does the driver install look for specific
RADEON variations and record those in some form, thus potentially requiring
a new install when an upgraded RADEON is installed?

I realize that one driver installation program will service all RADEON
flavors, but this is not the same thing as saying that the *installed*
driver can adjust itself to all RADEON versions at run-time.
Click to expand...

Its safe and easy just to uninstall and re-install in my opinion
I went from a Sapphire 9550SE to an Abit 9600XT and I just uninstalled
the 4.10 drivers I had, shut down, removed the card, put the new one in,
booted up, cancelled Window's attempt to install drivers and then
installed the Cat 5.1s - no pain at all.

Its best to make a bit of extra effort just to be safe as far as I can see.
 
On this particular machine I have a corrupt driver state that cannot be
uninstalled. The ATI uninstaller insists that no card is installed.
Because of the amount of accumulated software on the machine I want to defer
re-installing Windows as long as possible.

I have tried third party uninstallers for ATI but some trace is clearly
still there because re-installing ATI drivers fresh after those de-installs
results in an unusable driver state. I have to go to a backup at that
point.

I wanted to know if there is a safe way to just swap the card in place and
have the known working drivers continue to work, albeit with a version of
the card that supports more memory.

--
Will


ofn01 said:
Its safe and easy just to uninstall and re-install in my opinion
I went from a Sapphire 9550SE to an Abit 9600XT and I just uninstalled
the 4.10 drivers I had, shut down, removed the card, put the new one in,
booted up, cancelled Window's attempt to install drivers and then
installed the Cat 5.1s - no pain at all.

Its best to make a bit of extra effort just to be safe as far as I can
Click to expand...
see.
 
Will said:
On this particular machine I have a corrupt driver state that cannot
be uninstalled. The ATI uninstaller insists that no card is
installed. Because of the amount of accumulated software on the
machine I want to defer re-installing Windows as long as possible.

I have tried third party uninstallers for ATI but some trace is
clearly still there because re-installing ATI drivers fresh after
those de-installs results in an unusable driver state. I have to go
to a backup at that point.

I wanted to know if there is a safe way to just swap the card in
place and have the known working drivers continue to work, albeit
with a version of the card that supports more memory.
Click to expand...

Have you tried safe mode?

J.
 
In my experience, no. In fact, I've had HUGE problems changing from one
ATI card to another (both "Built-by ATI" cards), the computer wouldn't
even boot to a desktop except in safe mode.
Click to expand...

But in this instance, he can do it and will work just fine since it is njust
going from a 128MB card to a 256 mb card of the same core.
 
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