Can't uninstall or install video drivers

"Larry Cook" wrote in message
om...
I have been having a problem with Warcraft III and my 9600 Pro. I
attempted to unistall all of the ATI software so that I could
reinstall it. I unistalled everything but the Video Driver. When I
tried to unistall the Video Driver I got an "initialization error"
and it would not proceed. The Catalyst Software would not allow me to
install over it and said that I should install a VGA driver. Any help
in getting past this so that I can reinstall would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Larry

Larry, it's the standard Windows VGA driver you need to have running.
Normally, you should uninstall all of your ATi software/drivers, and
uninstall your display driver last. Then, when you reboot, you should have
the standard Windows driver running (looks horrible!). If you've tried to
change the display driver manually, then the display driver uninstall will
not work.

What you need to do is to start the Update Driver Wizard for the display
adapter from Display Properties or from Device Manager. Then you need to
click Show all hardware, select (Standard display types) and change to the
Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA). Don't worry that it's described as a
PCI adapter; that's the one you want.

HTH patrickp

and said that I should install a VGA driver.

I had a similar problem once. Had to go to Safe Mode (F8 at boot) and delete
old drivers manually. I will re-post text of my problem. I wonder if you
have "old" video drivers being run at startup.

Here is my old post:

It took many hours but I finally got the new 3286 WinXP 8500 drivers
installed. I kept getting error message "Install VGA Drivers First" and
sometimes a file could not be copied. I did something like this:

1. Start XP in Safe Mode by holding F8 key at boot start.
2. Disable "Radeon 8500" driver in Device Manager. Do not re-start.
3. From Add/Remove programs, uninstall ATI Video Drivers. Do not
re-start.
4. Open C:\Windows\System32 and delete ATI*.*. There is a Ati???.dll
that
is causing problem as cannot be deleted normally.
5. Try "Setup" for 3286 drivers but will still fail.
6. At Device Manager, select Radeon 8500 and select "Update Driver".
7. Select "Install from list or specific location".
8. Select "Don't search, I will select driver to install"
9. Pick Radeon 8500/Radeon 8500LE (Not Radeon 8500).
10. Celebrate!!

Let me know if this works for you.

-Kent

"Gary Jones" wrote in message
...

"patrickp" - take five to email me wrote in
message ...
"Larry Cook" wrote in message
om...
I have been having a problem with Warcraft III and my 9600 Pro. I
attempted to unistall all of the ATI software so that I could
reinstall it. I unistalled everything but the Video Driver. When I
tried to unistall the Video Driver I got an "initialization error"
and it would not proceed. The Catalyst Software would not allow me to
install over it and said that I should install a VGA driver. Any help
in getting past this so that I can reinstall would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Larry

Larry, it's the standard Windows VGA driver you need to have running.
Normally, you should uninstall all of your ATi software/drivers, and
uninstall your display driver last. Then, when you reboot, you should
have
the standard Windows driver running (looks horrible!). If you've tried
to
change the display driver manually, then the display driver uninstall
will
not work.

What you need to do is to start the Update Driver Wizard for the display
adapter from Display Properties or from Device Manager. Then you need
to
click Show all hardware, select (Standard display types) and change to
the
Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA). Don't worry that it's described as
a
PCI adapter; that's the one you want.

HTH patrickp


Hi

I've got exactly the same problem. Attempting to uninstall the video
driver
just gives an error box with the message "Cannot Initialise" and that's
it.

What I did to sort out a re-instillation was to proceed with the normal
clean up routine & removed all references to anything ATI on the hard
drive
& in the registry in safe mode.

Then I re-booted & got the standard VGA driver - I then followed
Patrickp's
advice, above, and installed the Standard PCI Adapter (VGA).

I then proceeded with the re-installation of the new drivers. Good news -
it
worked, bad news - the video driver still won't uninstall!

Anyway I hope this helps

Gaz


Gaz, you can remove that reference to ATI Display Driver in Add/Remove
Programs with RegCleaner/jv16 Power Tools. Unfortunately it's not freeware
any more, but I'm sure you can find an older freeware copy by googling.

patrickp

"Kent_dieGo" wrote in message news:1SvZa.74459$zy.17370@fed1read06...
and said that I should install a VGA driver.

I had a similar problem once. Had to go to Safe Mode (F8 at boot) and delete
old drivers manually. I will re-post text of my problem. I wonder if you
have "old" video drivers being run at startup.

Here is my old post:

It took many hours but I finally got the new 3286 WinXP 8500 drivers
installed. I kept getting error message "Install VGA Drivers First" and
sometimes a file could not be copied. I did something like this:

1. Start XP in Safe Mode by holding F8 key at boot start.
2. Disable "Radeon 8500" driver in Device Manager. Do not re-start.
3. From Add/Remove programs, uninstall ATI Video Drivers. Do not
re-start.
4. Open C:\Windows\System32 and delete ATI*.*. There is a Ati???.dll
that
is causing problem as cannot be deleted normally.
5. Try "Setup" for 3286 drivers but will still fail.
6. At Device Manager, select Radeon 8500 and select "Update Driver".
7. Select "Install from list or specific location".
8. Select "Don't search, I will select driver to install"
9. Pick Radeon 8500/Radeon 8500LE (Not Radeon 8500).
10. Celebrate!!

Let me know if this works for you.

-Kent


Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I apparently have solved the problem. I ran into an article somewhere
about a similar problem and the solution was to find the ".inf" file
for the video card and rename it so that Windows would think that it
was no longer there. The article said that such files were in
C:\Windows\INF and would be named oem1 or oem2, etc. On my system
which is running W98SE, the file was in C:\Windows\inf\other and was
named "ATI Tech. - EnhancedC9_08440.inf". I renamed that file and
rebooted. It appeared to take me into a VGA mode and I was then able
to install the ATI software from the CD. AT that point I had two
references in Add/Remove Programs to an ATI Driver, the old one that
wouldn't uninstall and the new one. After a reboot or two or more
(actually I don't know when it went away) the "bad" reference in the
Add/Remove Programs dialog disappeared.

I'm still having a problem with the Warcraft III game but that will be
the subject of another thread.

Thanks again...

Larry