Change Graphics Driver

There is a new driver for my card Nvidia geforce 7300.

What is the best way to update the driver. Do I have to download the driver and save it somewhere and uninstall my old one?

Not at all sure what to do here. Any advice please. Thank you.

Just download it as usual then run and install it when its downloaded then restart pc all done!

No need to uninstall old one!

If you're on Debian, the sure-fire way is

sudo m-a a-i nvidia

and if it still doesn't work, follow the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-* (it sounds harder than it is, in reality most of that is going to the coffee machine while it compiles and installs).

If you're on Windows, I'm afraid there's not really any neat semi-automatic way to do this quite like there is for Debian. I bet you can find what you're looking for on nVidia's website, failing that, the website for the company who actually assembled your video card.

If you're on a Mac, nVidia or Apple should be able to tell you, I haven't heard of your particular hardware/OS combination before.

This should be true, and I've never needed to uninstall the old driver first, but elsewhere on these forums several people have reported that installing new drivers without uninstalling the old ones first has caused problems.

Yes it has cuased many problems for many people, and it is recomended to uninstall first......

however... I have never had a problem with not uninstalling, and niether has anyone else i know. So just use your own judgement.

Thanks for your replies,

So I download the forceware and click run or do I save it anywhere. I assume by clicking run it installs and replaces the existing one is that right. Or do I use the wizzard to find it.

You might want to consider whether you need to update your driver. If you aren't having any problems with your system caused by your current driver, it might be just as well to stay with the one that's working.

Here's how I change drivers on my Windows XP system:

1. Download the appropriate file. Save it to the hard drive. Remember where it is saved to.

2. Uninstall your current driver, which will require a restart of your computer.

3. When the computer restarts, Windows will prod you to let it install one of it's generic drivers. Tell it no.

4. Some folks suggest using a driver cleaner at this point. If you're not comfortable with this you could leave this step out for the time being. If you have any problems that might stem from improperly removed driver remnants, you can always start over again and include the driver remover step.

5. Run the driver installation program you saved previously.

If you do want to run a driver cleaner, there's a program called DriverCleaner.net for ten bucks at http://drivercleaner.net or one called Driver Sweeper, which is free.

If you do run a driver cleaner, you will want to be awake and alert during the process to make sure you don't tell it to remove anything other than what you want it to. You don't want to accidentally remove chipset drivers or anything other than the appropriate video drivers and related video software.

I personally would not even update the driver at all if I weren't having any problems I attributed to old drivers.

If I did choose to update, and had never used a driver cleaner program before, I'd probably try the update without running a driver cleaner and see if that works out.

Most of the time you can get away with that thought process. But you are incorrect in that flat statement about no need to uninstall the old one.

The following links are found on nVidia's website pretaining to uninstallation before installing a new driver and how often one should update drivers.

Forget the links.....they don't work. You can find the information by searching your driver manufacturers knowledge base and FAQ's. It basically says that you SHOULD uninstall the old driver first......not that you have to. But, to avoid a potential for unnecessary problems the uninstallation process first is advised. I'll take the words of the people who developed the software over some "it's easier to just install over the existing driver and I've never had a problem doing it that way" forum poster.

The knowledge base also answers the question about when you should update your drivers.......in the first sentence they quote that old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Use your own judgement on what you want to do but if it don't work and you ignored the advice of the experts then maybe you should back up and do it again the recommended way before you start shouting "it didn't work!"

I dont think I am having any problems with the driver mine is the 169.21. but i do know when sl bring out new viewers they always seem to recommend updating to the latest drivers. So in other words I am not at all sure if I am seeing everything of what I should do, I think I am.

Also if I uninstall the old driver and the new driver doesnt work too well how can I get it back, (pc retore point would work). to roll back.

If doesn't matter if Linden Lab recommends updating your dirver when they come out with a new viewer release.......if the new viewer causes you problems then you might want to look at updating your driver. If you encounter no problems then don't upldate your driver (you'll know if you have problems pretty quickly).

I checked the archived drivers for your card on nVidia's download site. 169.21 is not listed as a driver for that card. It doesn't mean it won't work.....obviously it does for you. But anytime you update a driver you should first uninstall the existing one (as I've mentioned before in this thread).....make a note of the driver version before you do that. Just jot it down on a piece of paper so you can go back and get it if the update does not work. You can find the older drivers on the download page by going below the driver search box to the "Other Soffware" (or something like that) section......the older drivers are "Archived and Beta drivers" (just click that link and you'll get a new search box.

I did a search for your card (GeForce 7300). That card uses the same drivers as my 8600 GT. From the list of drivers the search came up with I can tell the following drivers have worked for me in the past......however I did have to upgrade one of those drivers due to problems with a viewer update by LL (169.25 quit working and I updated to 175.19 to fix the problem):
169.25
175.19
178.13
I've used all three drivers on this machine. Currently I'm using 178.13. The only reason I'm using that is due a reinstallation of Vista last weekend and Windows update slipped it into one of the updates I had to do after my reinstallation. I saw it but let it go ahead and update knowing that if it didn't work I could go back to the 175.19 that I had before the OS installation. But, that driver worked fine so I left it.

Here's the link to nVidia's driver download page:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

The older drivers are found in the section below the search box.

And if you want to use the autofind for a driver, go ahead......just don't let any auto install take place.

Hope I've helped.