AMD Driver Installation

I failed to install Catalyst Driver with wasting a lot of hours on my Alienware m17x. But surprisingly I have my high performance graphics card running without CC.

After I ran driver fusion and removed all tracers of my AMD driver I went to device manager and still saw it with an exclamation point. I uninstalled that entry from device manager and then saw my computer saying that it is installing something. After I restarted my computer, surprisingly, my AMD driver was running rather than VGA mode. But I have no CC installed. I cannot calibrate colors, I cannot switch to a power-saving GPU anymore.

How can I install the latest AMD driver with CC so that everything ran as it did before?

 

Hi HiJackThis,

You did not give us any specifics in your post, but if your laptop is using AMD Enduro (graphics switching), installing drivers can be complex. The most important piece of the pie is having the correct driver installed for the Intel HD graphics, as otherwise you can get all sorts of strange results. Most drivers you download from the Internet do not have all the correct pieces, so your best option is to get the latest drivers directly from Dell, and install them. Once those are up and working, install the newer ones on top of the Dell drivers, do not do a clean or uninstall first. This will make sure that any important pieces not included in the downloaded driver are still there. I have the M17xR4 in my signature, and do not upgrade to the latest drivers immediately for this reason. I usually wait a couple weeks after the release and then install. This normally makes for smooth sailing. The Catalyst installer does a pretty decent job of in-place upgrades these days. It does not seem to be the same for downgrades, the few times I tried to do an in-place downgrade, I had issues. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

My current driver is non-CCC. I have no CCC installed. But I cannot switch graphics.

Can I run driver fusion and delete AMD tracers?
Can I go to device manage, right click on Intel and AMD to uninstall them both?
Is this a safe thing to do?

What I want to do is start from scratch. Delete all drivers regarding AMD and do it all over again.

 

Try this way.

 

I already tried that way and it did not work.

 

I am doing it again, all over.

Currently I am running in VGA mode. But Device manager lists my AMD and Intel with an exclamation mark. How do I make them be integrated? Do I simple delete the entry from device manager and reboot?

 

Hi HiJackThis,

Go to the support.dell.com webpage, and download both the Intel and AMD driver package associated with your service tag. Then install the Intel driver first, followed by the AMD driver. You also need to make sure to install the Alienware Onscreen Display application as well. This tool installs the driver needed to enable you to switch between discrete only, and Enduro mode. Once you have that working, you can upgrade the drivers in-place to newer versions. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

Yeah that means you are in integrated mode, just make sure you get an ATI uninstalled utility from ATI, run that once, install the latest igp drivers from intel's website, and then install the latest whql CCC from ATI (I can't remember what version that is)

If you are still having grief I would say download the igp drivers from your laptops vendor site and install intel's igp drivers over them

 

I cannot even properly delete the two entries in Device manage to both say "Integrated". Instead it is Intel and AMG, with exclamation points. I uninstall everything including driver fusion and they still are there. If I uninstall all entries in device manager the computer automatically installs drivers upon restart and they are now back in place (but outdated).

It says (in device manager) "Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged." But I deleted everything and I ran CCleaner. What is the problem here?

 

Hi HiJackThis,

Don't run a driver cleaner, don't delete the entries from the device manager (you can uninstall the driver from there though), and install the drivers from Dell first. If you use the stock drivers from the Intel and/or AMD site, you will likely put your system in an unstable state as they do not contain all of the necessary parts. If you want to use the stock drivers, you can disable Enduro and use discrete only, and then it will behave as you expect. I went through this when Windows 8 first came out. Good luck.

Rich S.

 

If I do not delete the drivers through drivercleaner and I do not remove the entries from device manager, how can I then install new drivers if my old ones are in place?

 

Hi HiJackThis,

The installers for the drivers will install the drivers over the top of what you already have going. It is not necessary to remove them first. Doing the removal for non-Enduro systems is Ok, as they don't need the special AMD signed component that is not distributed in the stock drivers from the AMD Website. This driver is only included with the downloads from the OEM. Just make sure to install the Intel driver first, and then the AMD driver. Followed by the OSD driver to enable full functionality. Quite of few folks just disable the integrated graphics and just the 7970M by itself, and that works just fine with stock drivers, uninstallers, driver cleaners etc, as you no longer need the special Enudro signed component. Good luck!

Rich S.