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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