Uninstalling OEM nVidia video driver in favor of Microsoft’s

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Running Windows 10-64AU. Last night I downloaded and installed the latest nVidia driver because my motto is, “If it’s not broke, tinker until you break it”. The install went fine and this morning I used my Weather Channel Metro app a few times…no problem…and then it started crashing. I tried reinstalling it, rebooting, running SFC, etc.; no success. Then I figured I’d just undo the last change I made to the machine and reinstalled the previously-installed nVidia driver. Now the app is working again. I have no idea if this is a coincidence or not but now another Metro app that just “stopped working” a few months ago is working again.

When I did my Windows 10 clean install Windows installed its own nVidia driver and it worked fine. Now I’m thinking I want to revert to that driver again and not upgrade it through nVidia’s web site. If I uninstall the current OEM version and reboot, will Windows reinstall the original driver?

Rob

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It may still be in the driver store.

Go to Device Manager – expand Display adapters – right click on the adapter and select Update Driver Software – Browse my computer – Let me pick and see if it is listed.

But to answer your question – I don’t know.

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Thanks…I did try that and selected an older driver but it wouldn’t install it. So, I just uninstalled the driver, rebooted and hoped for the best. Windows installed an older Microsoft version of the driver and my Metro apps are still working OK so I think I will let sleeping dogs lie and treat this as a teachable moment.

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my motto is, “If it’s not broke, tinker until you break it”.

I will let sleeping dogs lie and treat this as a teachable moment.

I always like to see an old dog learn a new trick 🙂

Unless you consciously want to tinker, leave drivers alone as long as everything is working–ie don’t change just because there’s a new version. The nVidia change logs are readable, so you can always scan them on-site to see if they’ve fixed anything of interest to you.

Also, general principle when updating drivers is to get the update, in order of preference, from:
Component manufacturer [eg nVidia];
OEM assembler [eg Gigabyte];
PC manufacturer [eg Dell];
Microsoft.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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In Win 10’s earlier days there was quite a bit of bother because of MS installing its own drivers for NVidia, but they eventually got it sorted – just like you 😀

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When using an OEM machine you should always first go to the computer support site for video drivers as they can be OEM modified, as can be for Nvidia and not doing so can result in a BSOD.

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When using an OEM machine you should always first go to the computer support site for video drivers as they can be OEM modified, as can be for Nvidia and not doing so can result in a BSOD.

That is generally correct for laptops/notebooks, but seldom applies for OEM desktops. W/ OEM desktops the best-and-newest drivers are usually found on the component manufacturer’s support website.

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Lugh’s advice was for a general update and felt it should be clarified, but I’ve come across where not going to the computer support site when Nvidia is being used, has resulted in a BSOD – but can’t remember now if they were just laptops.

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