1

The ancient PC we use at work has a flickering screen and I have figured out that the issue is that the driver is faulty for some reason. When I boot into safe mode with networking the flickering screen issue goes away because Windows is using the Generic Display Driver. I would like to make this the permanent driver for the PC.

I have found a lot of solutions online but they are only for Windows 8/10 or only work in the Pro version. I am using Windows 7 Home. There was a solution on this forum that suggested changing values in the group policy editor but those values don't exist in the Home edition. I have changed the setting in the control panel to stop updating drivers automatically but when I uninstall the display driver it still gets installed automatically.

Philip Partyka
  • 11
  • 1
  • can you disable the display adapter in device manager. – David Kent Sep 30 '19 at 09:35
  • @hazmah dar thanks. this worked! i had been uninstalling the driver but it kept getting reinstalled. I didn't think to disable the display adapter. after disabling the display device windows started using the generic display driver and didn't try to reinstall the disabled driver. – Philip Partyka Oct 14 '19 at 19:48

1 Answers1

0

Use Device Manager, right-click the display device and select Uninstall. If given such an option, tick the "Delete the driver software for this device" check-box and click OK.

The device and its driver will be removed from Windows, resulting in a blank screen.

Without display, you will need to use the power button to shut down the computer. On reboot, Windows will install its own driver.

harrymc
  • 455,459
  • 31
  • 526
  • 924
  • When I uninstall the driver from safe mode and then restart the pc it reinstalls the ati radeon driver automatically. – Philip Partyka Oct 01 '19 at 22:11
  • You should delete that driver from Windows. If you don't get this option, see [this answer](https://superuser.com/a/968749/8672) of mine for blocking driver update for a device (written for Windows 10 but will probably still work for Windows 7). – harrymc Oct 02 '19 at 05:15
  • I can delete the driver for the device. When I do that, the device disappears from the list in device manager. After rebooting the same driver is reinstalled. I have tried the solution in your link already before this post but the values listed dont exist. Might be a Windows 7 issue or a Home edition (Non Pro) issue – Philip Partyka Oct 03 '19 at 15:01
  • Home doesn't have the Group Policy Editor. It can be downloaded from [here](https://www.deviantart.com/drudger/art/Add-GPEDIT-msc-215792914) (small download icon). See instructions in [article1](https://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-group-policy-editor-gpedit-msc-in-windows-7-home-premium-home-basic-and-starter-editions/) and [article2](https://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-group-policy-editor-gpedit-msc-in-windows-7-home-premium-home-basic-and-starter-editions/). – harrymc Oct 03 '19 at 15:41
  • I have already tried the policy method before I posted here. The problem with the policy solution is that when I navigate to [Local Computer Policy>Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>System] there is no Device Installation folder. I suspect this is because this folder is only in Windows 10 like in the article you posted or this folder isn't available in the Home edition. – Philip Partyka Oct 08 '19 at 08:48
  • See the tools in [this article](https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/367109-display-driver-uninstaller-how-use.html) for deleting the display driver (but ensure you can reinstall it, just in case). – harrymc Oct 08 '19 at 10:19
  • thanks for helping so much. Using ddu was the first thing I tried. I booted into safe mode, ran ddu, it removed the graphics driver (device wasn't listed in device manager anymore), but when i rebooted the same driver was reinstalled. – Philip Partyka Oct 10 '19 at 07:23
  • In that case, you are already using the "generic" driver of Windows. In most cases these "generic" drivers are donated by the manufacturer, so are usually behind the version found on the manufacturer's website. – harrymc Oct 10 '19 at 07:36
  • my issue was resolved after disabling the display adapter that had the bad driver. Windows boots with the generic display driver and no longer tries to reinstall the disabled driver. – Philip Partyka Oct 14 '19 at 19:50