Video Card Upgrade Install Guide
How To Remove The Video Card Driver
It's much simpler to remove the video card driver under Windows XP than under Windows 98. Click on Start, then click on Control Panel. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. Scroll through the list of programs installed on the computer and click on the current video card drivers. Highlighting an entry on this window brings up a Change/Remove button for the entry like the example shown below. If an NVIDIA video card is being removed then the entry would be named something like "NVIDIA Display Driver".
Remove the video card driver and restart the computer.When the computer boots back to the desktop, the colors and the display probably look very different than they did before. That's because the computer is now using the standard VGA adapter, which is very basic. Let GoBack settle down.
For replacing an NVIDIA based video card like I did, read the Driver Cleaner ReadMe file and follow the steps. There are not many steps and the step are not difficult, but there's no point in repeating them here. On the other hand, I found the text shown below from the Driver Cleaner help file quite helpful, so I've mentioned it here to make sure you see it. Execute Driver Cleaner to remove any remaining remnants of the NVIDIA video card drivers. The steps for Driver Cleaner require that the computer be restarted in "Safe Mode". See my How to Start a Windows XP-Based Computer in Safe Mode page if you're not sure how to do that.
For replacing an ATI based video card, execute CATALYST Uninstaller (cat-uninstaller.exe). Follow the prompts and restart the computer when prompted.
With the appropriate driver cleaner utitlity complete, now is a fine to use the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) to change startup such that the computer no longer restarts in Safe Mode.
If you're upgrading from an integrated graphics chipset, meaning a chipset built-into the motherboard, so that there is currently no video card in your computer then it's worth noting that some motherboards require a simple BIOS change in order for the installed video card to be recognized. Consult the documentation that came with your motherboard or computer for more information.
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© 2001-2015, Rob Williams, all rights reserved.
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