Have you ever been in the position that you wished to change a driver or
install a new driver and found that it would not release the old one to allow
the new one to install? Perhaps found a device not working and wished to try
a clean driver install but been unsure or unable about getting the old driver
off the system? Here is how to go about doing just that on most newer WinME,
2000, and XP machines. ( it may also be useful on Windows 95/98 in some cases
).
First make sure you have the replacement driver(s) for the parts you are
removing them for if you plan on reinstalling them. Otherwise devices may no
longer work and depending on the device it could be a problem to download or
obtain a replacement driver(s). The next step is to power down the machine as
you would normally shut it off - ( left click start - then select shut down and
shut off ) wait about 10 seconds at least. Then restart the machine by
pushing the power on button but as soon as possible start tapping the F8 (
function 8 ) key on the keyboard. This should give you options and select Safe
Mode boot up. ( the additional items like CD rom support and all matter little
in this case ) Windows should start in SAFE MODE and may tell you so with
screen prompts and such. Once Windows has loaded, left click Start, then
settings, then control panel or Start, then Control panel depending on the
Windows Version in use. The Control Panel should have System listed - select
that by clicking on it. It should have about 5 or 6 tabs and select Hardware.
then Device Manager. In the listing there you should have all the installed
drivers on your machine. Note any which have exclaimation points in front of
them because this usually means a conflict or it is not functioning correctly.
Select the device drivers you wish to uninstall - by highlighting then right
click and select uninstall. Once you have made your selections, click ok and
close the Control Panel. Then again shut down Windows normally to a full
power down ( not a restart ).
The next step is to unplug the power cord from the computer after it has fully
shut down, then push the power on button ( with the power cord disconnected ).
This should reset the motherboard.
Then plug the power cord back in and start Windows normally. Depending on the
which version of Windows in use it should start and then either reinstall new
drivers from the back up version of Windows or allow you to install the drivers
for the hardware you have removed.
This is somewhat useful if you have problems removing old modems and so on from
Windows configurations as this will often do the trick as far as removing old
drivers and allowing a hardware reconfiguation.
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