Updating Graphics Drivers For Laptops

This guide is designed to help you update your laptop's video card drivers.
Why update your drivers? Newer drivers can improve 3D performance, fix bugs and other graphical glitches in certain games, support new features, and use your hardware more efficiently.

This guide applies to:
-ATI Mobility Radeon
-NVidia GeForce

This guide DOES NOT apply to:
-ATI FireGL
-Nvidia Quadro

This is the general process for updating video drivers

  1. Download the new drivers, but do not install yet.
  2. Uninstall the old display drivers via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
  3. Restart.
  4. Install the new drivers.
  5. Restart.

ATI DRIVERS

Choices:

-Stock drivers from your Manufacturer
-Stock ATI Catalyst Mobility Driver Suite*
-Modified Omega Drivers
-Stock ATI Drivers (need to be installed manually)

WINDOWS XP DRIVERS
-Link to Omega Drivers Downloads
-Direct Link to download ATI Catalyst Mobility drivers for Windows XP
The install is fairly straightforward for these drivers; download the package and refer to the general instructions at the top of the page.

WINDOWS VISTA DRIVERS/INTEGRATED ATI VIDEO CARD DRIVERS

  1. Download the display driver from ATI here
  2. Double-click the installer and let the installation fail - all we needed to do was extract the files.
  3. Go into the Device Manager and expand the Display Adapters by clicking the "+" sign. Right-click on your adapter (there should only be one) and click "Update Driver Software." Install the driver of your choice and do not let Windows search for it. Click "Have Disk" and go into the folder where the drivers were extracted - the default location is C:\ATI\Support\[driver name - something like "7-1_xp_dd_40211"]2KXP_INF.
  4. Choose the "_CX" .INF file and click OK.
  5. Scroll down and find your graphics card.
  6. Finish the installation by following the wizard.

If when installing drivers you get any messages regarding testing or similar, always hit "Continue Anyway".


NVIDIA DRIVERS

Choices:
-Stock Drivers from your Manufacturer
-TweaksRUs (XtremeG) Drivers These are fairly simple as well. Read the release notes.
-LaptopVideo2Go Drivers These have a lengthier install process. Follow the directions below:

  1. Click on the driver version (ex: 91.33) to download the drivers.
  2. Once finished, double-click the .exe file and extract all drivers (default location is your desktop). A folder will appear with the name of the version of the driver (ex: 91 33). The installation process will not start yet (you don't want it to anyway).
  3. Still on the LaptopVideo2Go website, right click the .INF and hit "Save Link As…". Put it somewhere.
  4. Now, take that .INF file, and drag it into the extracted drivers folder. Overwrite when prompted.
  5. Now you will be able to install the drivers (you needed to replace the .INF file to do that).
  6. Open the extracted drivers folder.
  7. Double-click Setup.exe, follow the instructions.

If you receive any messages asking whether to Stop or Continue installation, always hit "Continue Anyway." As always, restart when you're done.


Troubleshooting: If your driver installation is corrupted:

There is a slim chance this can happen. If you cannot boot up properly, your screen is unreadable, or otherwise, then follow the steps below and it should solve the problem:

  1. Restart the computer
  2. When the computer starts, Press F8 until you get to a selection screen.
  3. Select "Safe Mode without Networking" by using the Arrow keys and hit Enter.
  4. Once you are in Safe Mode (a primitive form of Windows, only essential services are running), go to Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel.
  5. Uninstall your display drivers.
  6. Restart.
  7. Upon restart, you can either try reinstalling the same drivers or simply try another suite (preferable).
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License