Installing GPU driver from Windows Update under 7?

[cr08]

To try and make a very long story extremely short, I have been trying to nail down this particular issue and have had no luck. Old laptop, a Dell Inspiron E1505 with an ATI X1400, that has ran perfectly fine with 7 and equally so with 8 save for a few minor nagging issues. Namely a recurring issue with the video card drivers:

Under the dell provided drivers (only have up to Vista available and 32 bit only) or drivers provided by Windows Update, full screen non-native resolution applications like games will fill the screen. But if I choose any other driver such as a Mobility Modded directly sourced ATI/AMD driver, the screen is 'postage-stamped' (basically pixel mapped 1:1 with the extra space blacked out) even though the Bios option for screen expansion is enabled.

Windows 7 provided drivers off Windows Update for the GPU which worked fine in this case. Unfortunately they aren't provided in 8. I have went out to the WU catalog and grabbed that same driver and tried in 8 and it always fails. If memory serves it mentions something about missing files somewhere. I will have to try again and get the exact message.

I would like to stay with 8 as there are some features I really enjoy and as far as performance and reliability go on this particular laptop, it runs just as well if not better than Vista or 7 did. Dual core C2D T7200, 2GB ram, 128MB dedicated ATI X1400, upgraded to 60GB SSD with a 500GB platter in the optical bay, 1680x1050 LCD. But this particular bug keeps coming back to bite me in the butt. I have found a hefty workaround which is to install 7 and get all the drivers installed then do an upgrade to 8. But if I happen to be toying around with drivers again, the issue will remain and require going that same route over again to fix it.

 

[fireberd]

If you update the driver and it causes problems, just use the Rollback driver option (in Device Manager) to roll back to the previous driver. That should prevent having to reinstall.

Some of the problems could be the motherboard chipset drivers. One of the prime things the chipset drivers do is properly identify all the devices on or attached to the motherboard. I used to do a lot of support on the Dell users forums and the chipset drivers were almost always key to a successful install. The Vista motherboard chipset drivers should still be valid for Win7/Win8. Unfortunately, since Dell does not support anything above Vista 32 bit (this is a relatively "old" technology PC) you are basically on your own. One thing that I've seen mentioned several times (and I had to do it with a new AMD Radeon HD7770 video card) is to completely uninstall the old video drivers before installing new ones. Uninstall the drivers, run Driver Detective (Driver Fusion) to root out any leftover ATI/AMD files, restart the PC and then do a comlete new install.

 

[dirtyvu]

if it's not taking up the fullscreen, you have to check your Catalyst settings and play with them. for example, on one system I played with, you had to turn OFF "enable GPU scaling" in order for it to be fullscreen (sounds counterintuitive, right?). on another system, you had to turn ON "enable GPU scaling" and select "scale image to full panel size".

which version of the driver are you using with Mobility Modder?

 

[cr08]

If you update the driver and it causes problems, just use the Rollback driver option (in Device Manager) to roll back to the previous driver. That should prevent having to reinstall.

Some of the problems could be the motherboard chipset drivers. One of the prime things the chipset drivers do is properly identify all the devices on or attached to the motherboard. I used to do a lot of support on the Dell users forums and the chipset drivers were almost always key to a successful install. The Vista motherboard chipset drivers should still be valid for Win7/Win8. Unfortunately, since Dell does not support anything above Vista 32 bit (this is a relatively "old" technology PC) you are basically on your own. One thing that I've seen mentioned several times (and I had to do it with a new AMD Radeon HD7770 video card) is to completely uninstall the old video drivers before installing new ones. Uninstall the drivers, run Driver Detective (Driver Fusion) to root out any leftover ATI/AMD files, restart the PC and then do a comlete new install.

Yeah. I've ran through this numerous times before and it is a PITA at best. The full driver removal thing would work but sadly would also remove the working WU drivers in the process. Doing a rollback makes sense but last time I did that the scaling stuck so I am not sure if something is left over in that case or not.

There is a specific registry entry related to the scaling function but something along the line keeps it locked/reverts it to the '1:1' mode. In this case I am not sure even if forcing the 7 WU driver to install will help and cure that issue but it is worth a shot in either case.

if it's not taking up the fullscreen, you have to check your Catalyst settings and play with them. for example, on one system I played with, you had to turn OFF "enable GPU scaling" in order for it to be fullscreen (sounds counterintuitive, right?). on another system, you had to turn ON "enable GPU scaling" and select "scale image to full panel size".

which version of the driver are you using with Mobility Modder?

That is one of the first things I tried, but as noted above there is something along the line keeping it locked to that 1:1 mode. I found ONE way to do a temporary workaround long ago but it only sticks for one 'run' and reverts back so I have to re-set it every single time I run a full screen app.