Windows 8 reset Win 8.1

1. 
   
   Windows update, after a reset, installed the MS video driver instead of my ATI Mobility Radeon so there was trouble with clarity and there was no sleep in the shutdown.
   
2. Dell N5010 R15 site only had drivers for Win 7 as did ATI Radeon Mobility as my Dell came with 7 and I upgraded to Win 8.1.
   
   
3. I could not install any driver as there were remnants of old drivers in device manager.
   
   
4. I wonder if you could make a driver for Win 7 compatible with Win 8.1?
   

1. How do you remove the remnants and install a driver made for win7 in Win 8.1?
   
   
   

If nothing else, how do you remove old driver remnants before you install a new driver?

Thank you

Peterr said:

Windows update, after a reset, installed the MS video driver instead of my ATI Mobility Radeon so there was trouble with clarity and there was no sleep in the shutdown.

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Video settings have nothing to do with sleep mode... that is your power settings and I assume you also downloaded the MS power drivers.

Peterr said:

• I wonder if you could make a driver for Win 7 compatible with Win 8.1?

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No, Windows 7 drivers are not compatible with 8.1... going down this path will end in BSOD at some point.

It appeared that the video driver was inadequate to handle a more sophisticated chore than just shut down and restart and the screen was of the incorrect resolution regardless of what one did with the control panel >power.
When the appropriate driver was installed - after recovering an image - it functioned as it should.
I did everything under the sun in power options to change settings to no avail.
I found a file which Dell said is for Win 7. A friend sent the same file. It failed to install so I tried to remove remnants to make room for it. The friend is a program writer and he sent me the win 7 file so I thought it might be ok.
Incidentally, I cannot use the Dell site as I upgraded from 7 to 8 to 8.1.
The above is only my opinion as I am here to learn not teach. I did not want you to be unaware of what happened.

Is it possible that I split the huge number of downloads and installed the wrong group first thereby installing the wriong drivers?

So, could you please tell me what I could have done with power that I did not?
Could you also tell me how to download the MS power drivers?

If I run into this again I will know what to do.
Thank you

Peterr said:

I cannot use the Dell site as I upgraded from 7 to 8 to 8.1.
The above is only my opinion as I am here to learn not teach. I did not want you to be unaware of what happened.

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Correct... this system does not have any Windows 8.1 drivers and only supports 7 or vista.

Peterr said:

Could you also tell me how to download the MS power drivers?

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If Microsoft has any power drivers for your board they will be offered as optional updates.

Peterr said:

If I run into this again I will know what to do.

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IMO its time you look for a new computer... you can stay with 7 or have a basic 8 without the chipset drivers... bottom line is don't try to put w7 drivers into a w8 system.

I am in my mid 70's + ill so a new pc would have to be a necessity.
Thank you for the advice regarding drivers.
Both the laptop and desktop are almost identical. I have images of 7,8 and 8.1 for both.

Do you think updating to Win 10 around Aug., if all looks good, would be a good idea from a hardware/software point of view?
I can always image back to 8.1 if I don't like it. I really like 8.1 as it does everything quite well.
I installed 10 it in a VM a while ago and to me it looks like a combo of 7 and 8.
Perhaps it has newer and better security and maybe Spartan, if that's the name, would be better than IE.
Although I would lose WMC, MS provides for the dvd feature I lose with WMC being omitted.
I am not informed about chipset but have a vague idea it is like a base to the operating system as years ago it was the first to be installed when reinstalling.
So, I gather my pc has old chipset which cannot be updated with 8.1.
I wonder if I imaged to 7, updated the chipset then imaged back to 8.1 if the chipset would be updated. or is that not true as it is part of the Operating system and a fruitless ordeal?
I forgot to reply that all my updates are current.

I was wondering what you thought about this site? Would this update the chipset for the 8.1 I am on.?
I am going to follow the axiom "not to fix it if it is not broken" as I realize irreparable harm an be done. For the sake of learning, I wondered if this would possibly update the motherboard or just the OS, if it succeeded. I do not plan on performing this and if you wish not to reply, I am ok with that.

Link Removed

Chip-set 1:01
Todays motherboards come with lots of extra bits already installed on them; network wifi/ cab, sound, mem-card readers and bluetooth to give some examples... these funchions need a driver and this comes from the maker of the board (NOT Microsoft). The chipset drivers always install first because they allow your cpu to "talk" to the other board parts and again these drivers come from the maker of the board.

rules;
1. only a driver that comes from the motherboard maker (for that os) is safe to install and most people get their drivers from the board makers website... most of these driver finders just store a copy of this driver for simple searching.
2. only a chipset driver installed after the windows/ Linux/ Mac os has any value as installing one then installing another os over the top would normaly format the system... there are work arounds but thats the basic rules.

Peterr said:

"not to fix it if it is not broken"

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solid advice.

I used to have Bluetooth with Win 7 but lost it as the advisor said I would when upgrading to 8.1.
Just a bit of incidental driver information. The driver is software but there is a direct link between the manufacturer and the appropriate driver.

Thank you for taking the time to explain as you did. It all goes in my learning folder for the next person.
I feel happy to have 8.1 do it all except BT and I have updated images. I may stay right here as you point out the machine is old and Win 10 with UEFI etc. might be better served with a newer pc.

I may have to disagree with ussnorway concerning Video Drivers and sleep. Some time ago I believe I discovered a capable video driver was needed for a sleep option to be available.

When I remove a device and want to remove all drivers, I do it in Device Manager. After you select Uninstall, it has a check box to remove all drivers, which I check. The system should come back and load the Microsoft basic drivers, and if you have other drivers available you should be able to load them.

You made need to turn off Hardware updates in Advanced Properties, or just be offline...hard to say.

Thank you Saltgrass

I was reading that years ago driver sweepers were required but now you can just uninstall in device manager after downloading the driver from the manufacturer then install the new driver. After downloading the manufacturer's driver it might be wise to work off line to install the new one.