nvidia crap on computer

Hi. I wasnt sure if this is the right forum for this problem, but anyways. I used to have a nvidia graphics card and then I switched to ATI. In the switch I uninstalled the drivers with some kind of driver cleaner, then ran cc cleaner then switched to the 5870 and all was well. I think during the switch I tried to uninstall nvidia physx because i thought it had to do with my graphics card. Then, later, I tried to use some benchmark maybe 3dmark vantage or something, and it said i needed to have physx installed. I looked it up and yes, its some cpu thing, not gpu. Then I tried to install physx from any source I could including nvidia site. When I tried to install it, it would say "The currently installed version of the drivers is newer than what you are trying to install, aborting the installation." At this time, in the uninstall page of the control panel nvidia physx was still there as well as, for some reason, my old nvidia graphics driver 260.3! I pretty much tried every existent uninstall program I found to remove this nvidia crap, but when I try to remove it it is still there! Well, I pretty much couldnt find a solution and forgot about it.
Now is where the real problem comes in! I tried to play bulletstorm but during the installation at some point it said i needed physx, like 3dmark did. Then I tried to install physx again, encountering the same issue. Then I tried to uninstall the nvidia crap that is still on my computer, and it still didnt go away! When I search my computer for nvidia or physx nothing comes up, but it still exists in uninstall programs. So that is my problem, and I have only found one solution on the internet, which is a clean reinstall of windows. I have never done that before so if that is really the only thing to do, then I need to be told how. An other tip about my problem is that when I try to find "nvidia" or "physx" in regedit, stuff does come up. I didnt delete that stuff because of course some of it could be motherboard stuff lol.
thanks and please respond with any help.

 

Had the same thing happen, except on a desktop. Trying to waste time to "fix" the issue through regedits and other ways is a waste. I just re-installed Windows, and re-installed my drivers and bam... everything was good again.

When you re-install Windows all you'd have to do is pop in the disk and start the installation... really simple. When installing, specify to install on the partitions that are already there instead of completely re-formatting. That way you can just transfer all your saved games back to the new folders.

When re-installing Windows that way, all your old stuff gets saved on the root of C:\ in a folder named WINDOWS.old.

 

thanks that sounds both completely solving, and reasonably simple. I should probably do that by about now anyways...

 

Sorry to bring this thread up again, but I think I basicly was going to reinstall windows, but I couldnt find the disk alienware gave me. I found the disk now but I realized that windows is trying to backup my computer before it will let me reinstall, but it wont let me back up on a usb flash drive and it wont let me back up on C: and I can't make any more primary partitions on the HDD to put a backup because for some reason I have 3 already: OS, recovery, and unnamed 40mb one. I have unwritten cds in the house but I really would rather just sit at my bed for ever. If there is no other solution, I can go get a cd to back up...

 

Shut down your computer, then boot from the Windows 7 Install Disk. When it gets to the part where you pick where you want to install it, if you select the primary disk it automatically puts everything on that partition into a folder called WINDOWS.old.

Other than that, I guess since it maybe an Alienware install disk it might not be a regular disk, and the installation could put it back at an OEM state, in effect erasing all your stuff...

What you could do is open a run prompt (WinKey+R) and type "diskmgmt.msc" to open the Disk Management interface. Now find your primary partition and right click on it and select "Shrink Volume". If you have a bit of free space you can shrink your primary volume and make a new small backup volume.