Dell 8300 and ATI Driver updates for SP2

[Larry]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Someone recommended to update device drivers in preparation for SP2 in light
of SP2 installing DirectX 9.0C

I have a Dell 8300 with an ATI 128MB DDR Radeon 9800 graphics card as part
of the original purchase in 9/2003. The card is the slower one and not the
PRO version both of which Dell sold then. My driver version is 6.14.1.6297
dated 2/20/93 (original). I also have DirectX 9.0a installed. My OS is WinXP
Home.

The home page of the ATI site has a link to download the latest Catalyst
XP4.8 drivers. The driver version is 6.14.10.6467.

From reading thee instructions I simply download the 26MB Catalyst file,
de-install both the ATI driver and control panel from the Windows Control
Panel and then double click on the downloaded Catalyst .exe file following
the instructions shown. When done I re-boot the machine.

Is there anything else I need to know? If I re-boot and it fails how do I
get back to the old drivers. Sorry for the "anal-retentiveness" but I am
rather fearful of updating video device drivers without a quick and easy way
of recovering.

Any and all comments and advice would be most appreciated!!

Larry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Larry" <me@myhome.xyz> wrote in message
news:Mm9Xc.103246$Lj.38348@fed1read03...
> Someone recommended to update device drivers in preparation for SP2 in
> light
> of SP2 installing DirectX 9.0C
>
> I have a Dell 8300 with an ATI 128MB DDR Radeon 9800 graphics card as part
> of the original purchase in 9/2003. The card is the slower one and not the
> PRO version both of which Dell sold then. My driver version is 6.14.1.6297
> dated 2/20/93 (original). I also have DirectX 9.0a installed. My OS is
> WinXP
> Home.
>
> The home page of the ATI site has a link to download the latest Catalyst
> XP4.8 drivers. The driver version is 6.14.10.6467.
>
> From reading thee instructions I simply download the 26MB Catalyst file,
> de-install both the ATI driver and control panel from the Windows Control
> Panel and then double click on the downloaded Catalyst .exe file following
> the instructions shown. When done I re-boot the machine.
>
> Is there anything else I need to know? If I re-boot and it fails how do I
> get back to the old drivers. Sorry for the "anal-retentiveness" but I am
> rather fearful of updating video device drivers without a quick and easy
> way
> of recovering.
>
> Any and all comments and advice would be most appreciated!!
>
> Larry
>
>
>


I would download and hold the newest catalyst drivers until *after* I
installed SP2. Then, should there be any problem, you won't be put in the
position of guessing which install is causing the problem.

Or set a system restore point, install the new video driver, verify function
and then install SP2.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"S.Lewis" wrote:
> I would download and hold the newest catalyst drivers until
> *after* I installed SP2. Then, should there be any problem,
> you won't be put in the position of guessing which install is
> causing the problem.
>
> Or set a system restore point, install the new video driver,
> verify function and then install SP2.


That's real good advice for making changes to *any*
complex system - change one thing at a time. The first
time I heard it, it was from professional auto racers. Then
I started hearing it from airplane homebuilders. Then
from software developers. It should be taught to all
kids in grade school.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Larry" <me@myhome.xyz> wrote in message
news:Mm9Xc.103246$Lj.38348@fed1read03...
> Someone recommended to update device drivers in preparation for SP2 in
> light
> of SP2 installing DirectX 9.0C
>
> I have a Dell 8300 with an ATI 128MB DDR Radeon 9800 graphics card as
> part
> of the original purchase in 9/2003. The card is the slower one and not
> the
> PRO version both of which Dell sold then. My driver version is
> 6.14.1.6297
> dated 2/20/93 (original). I also have DirectX 9.0a installed. My OS is
> WinXP
> Home.
>
> The home page of the ATI site has a link to download the latest
> Catalyst
> XP4.8 drivers. The driver version is 6.14.10.6467.
>
> From reading thee instructions I simply download the 26MB Catalyst
> file,
> de-install both the ATI driver and control panel from the Windows
> Control
> Panel and then double click on the downloaded Catalyst .exe file
> following
> the instructions shown. When done I re-boot the machine.
>
> Is there anything else I need to know? If I re-boot and it fails how
> do I
> get back to the old drivers. Sorry for the "anal-retentiveness" but I
> am
> rather fearful of updating video device drivers without a quick and
> easy way
> of recovering.
>
> Any and all comments and advice would be most appreciated!!
>
> Larry
>
>
>

Updating the driver to make certain that it functions is good practice.
SP2 seems to be breaking about 15% of installations based on some
comments on the MS newsgroups by MVPs. Some other general things that
might help are to run sfc /scannow to make sure that everything in the
XP SP1 file set passes the file protection standards, thoroughly remove
temp files (disk cleanup), check for SP2 updates for anti-virus
(Symantic/Norton has an update already) and firewall (you *will* end up
disabling the SP2 security center!), defrag. When installing SP2 also
select the option, if it is presented, to restore the previous
installation. If SP2 fails, do *not* run a system restore before trying
a simple removal from Add/Remove programs. You might consider cleaning
out restore points and set one new SP1 restore point yourself. Disable
everything running except anti-virus and firewall before installing, but
do leave these running since SP2 will honor their presence if you want
to use them in place of the SP2 firewall.

If there are *any* hardware or power supply problems, resolve those in
SP1 before attempting SP2. I would also use the large download of SP2
if on broadband and install it under *your* control.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/winxpsp2.mspx
or http://tinyurl.com/26uwc

Q