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Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

HairyMcbiker
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Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

#9999 Video driver updates not installing.

Having spent several hours today trying to get a NEW video card recognised and the driver installed in win10 just reminded me of how much I was glad to leave this behind me.

 

Mint 18 install card, power up, run driver manager, download and install latest driver, reboot. Set up dual displays. All done. Total time 5 minutes.

vs

a) M$ power up, to VGA screen, uninstall old driver reboot (1)

b) Download & try to install new driver, fails with error - no hint just error. reboot (2)

c) Google issue. Get display driver uninstaller, run it - wants safe mode. reboot (3)

d) loop to b reboot (4-10) (Now you could say try windows update, done that, same error!)

e) remove everything and try again, installs from original cd but old version (year old). reboot (11)

f) loop to b

g) eventually it says failed - try rebooting (!)

h) it did install just failed to tell me it had, as I found when I did a properties.

Finally get to the point where the machine could be setup properly (dual display). Took about 3 hours.
error

 

But it was worth the hassle. Can now play Lost Planet 3, at full HD.

Good news is that I don't need to upgrade the psu again, see earlier posts about psu or graphics card. New card is GTX750Ti with a large fan that wasn't making that much noise running LP3.

25 REPLIES 25
ReedRichards
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

Is that really Microsoft or the manufacturer of your video card?  Chances are that the Windows drivers were recently tweaked to try and extract every ounce of performance whilst the Linux drivers were more conservative and have been in use for longer.    

VileReynard
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

Linux generally lets you use one of several different OEM drivers - from an ancient super-stable to the latest bleeding edge one.

Normally, it just works (with some loss of function) with the built-in default driver.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

ReedRichards
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

I had an nVidia graphics card.  If I used any of the many available nVidia drivers (for Windows) it would crash out whenever i wanted to play a video clip (then recover and play normally at the second attempt).  If i used the Microsoft version of the nVidia drivers it was perfectly stable.  Unsurprisingly I lay the blame for this at the door of nVidia rather than Microsoft.  Remember, nVidia is the company that brought you graphics chips that ran so hot that the solder holding them in place would soften and so the chips eventually detached.   

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

Sorry but M$ is the brand on the box.
The driver is WHQL which is supposed to mean it works.

And as I said I did try to install the M$ supplied one, with the same result.

Please note I am not a computer newbie. I did third line desktop support (hardware and software, while supporting the servers full time) for Edinburgh Council Education dept for TEN years so I do know my way round an install.

The driver on Linux has a glitche I have noticed today. On startup I see the LH monitor, then it switches to the desktop and the RH monitor with the LH blank. An X restart fixes it, so will have to look at modifying the xorg.conf).
But as VR said I had the choice of 3 different drivers, the opensource one, or 2 manufacturer ones, one stable and one edge.
ReedRichards
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

@HairyMcbiker , I did not for one minute intend to imply that you don't know exactly what you are doing.  I just don't see why Microsoft cops all the blame for the problems you encountered whilst nVidia gets off scot-free.

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

The way the driver has to be installed is 100% M$ based.
It would be the same if it was an AMD card or Fred's Video supplies.

ReedRichards
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

But surely the Display Driver Uninstaller is an nVidia product?  And it's necessary because a normal driver uninstall doesn't necessarily remove all the files and a normal install doesn't necessarily overwrite all the files with fresh copies.  You could argue that this is Microsoft being so lax that nVidia can get away with being sloppy but surely that's the best you can say in nVidia's favour.  nVidia springs to mind as being particularly bad but so does HP for their printer drivers although perhaps HP have improved lately.     

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

The DDU is independent from what I saw, it will remove any display driver.
rongtw
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

DDU is nothing to do with MS or any video card manufacturer , and is one of best driver uninstaller around i use it every time .

Did you get it from Guru 3D ?? http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

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ReedRichards
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways


@rongtw wrote:

DDU is nothing to do with MS or any video card manufacturer , and is one of best driver uninstaller around i use it every time .

Did you get it from Guru 3D ?? http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html


But presumably, as the full name indicates, it only works for Display drivers?  When I had trouble with my nVidia graphics card a few years ago I remember using an uninstaller that was from nVidia.  But either that was something different or my memory is false. 

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

Yes that was where I got it. From a link elsewhere.
Yes it only works for display drivers. But AMD ones are just the same. They can have sticky bits that don't get uninstalled. Bit like AV programs I seem to remember you had to run a special cleaner to remove some of McAffee from the pc's.

VileReynard
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

An uninstall program that leaves bits remaining is surely totally useless.

At best, you could call it a partial uninstall program.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

Unfortunately that's why there is a market for 3rd party uninstallers. (On m$ based systems, not sure about mac ones)
You get in to the situation where "it is in use don't touch" and it just leaves it behind. Some add a script to run on boot to uninstall it but at best it is iffy whether it will be uninstalled or not.
Much prefer the Linux way of doing things.
chenks76
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Re: Why I hate M$, let me count the ways

people still say M$ ? Roll_eyes