# INF Error: Video Driver Not Found



## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

I am pulling my hair out here.

I want to update my video card drivers because my video card has been acting up recently and I want to see if new drivers will fix it (that usually is the first course of action, and would be what Dell or ATI would tell me to do anyways). 

I printed out the instructions from ATI's site and followed it to the T. I used Add/Remove Programs and clicked on the ATI Software Uninstall Utility. I rebooted the computer. I went into Safe Mode. I tried to install the drivers. 

Upon doing this, every time I run the setup to install the new drivers, I get this error message:

"INF Error: Video Driver Not Found."

This happens if I try to install the latest Catalyst version of 7.12. This happens if I try to install an older Catalyst version, 6.1.

*This even happens if I try to reinstall the drivers that I was running that installed fine the first time a couple years ago. *

I don't know why it's doing this. Like I said, I still get the error trying to reinstall something that installed fine in the past.

I had to do a System Restore to the restore point I made before I tried to update just to be able to get back into Windows. I guess I'm running half-installed drivers right now (whatever System Restore recovered). 

What is wrong? Why can't I install the new drivers (or even reinstall the old ones)?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

do you have a video card or an onboard video chip


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

I have a video card.

It's an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256mb AGP card.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

in the device manager uninstall the card
reboot up the computer tapping f8 and choose vga mode
when windows finishes rebooting
disable a/virus
install the drivers 
reboot the computer
d/l this driver package catylst s/w suite
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonx-xp


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

Which drivers do I install after your step of disabling A/V software? The 7.12s or something else?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

the 7.12 catalyst suite not just the driver package


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

So, in this order:

in the device manager uninstall the card
reboot up the computer tapping f8 and choose vga mode
when windows finishes rebooting
disable a/virus
install the catalyst 7.12 software suite
reboot the computer


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Yes, that's right. One other thing to add, if you don't already have the Microsoft .NET Framework installed, install it and reboot before following the steps listed above. This is needed for the Catalyst Control Center.

Download from *http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en*


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

I have NET Framework 2.0. Is there a newer version I need?

And say, per chance, that I do the steps listed here and the same thing happens. Would I be screwed since I removed the device from Device Manager? 

Would a System Restore recover the card that I removed from Device Manager?

How could I get Device Manager to add the card again if the drivers don't install?

And what about the removal through Add/Remove like ATI suggests? Do I skip that, or do I do that and then follow those instructions posted here?


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

.NET 2.0 is good enough for CCC. You can use a newer version if you want, it doesn't really make any difference to the ATI software.

Removing the card through Device Manager does the same thing as the Add/Remove Programs method recommended by ATI, so there's no danger of losing the device and not being able to get it working again. Windows uses its default VGA driver if an ATI driver is not installed or the card is not recognised, so you'll still have access to the Device Manager and the rest of your system. When you enter VGA mode, the resolution will be much lower than usual and the colors will look strange. This is only temporary and will be restored once the ATI driver is installed.


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

When I reboot after uninstalling drivers, it always prompts me about new hardware or whatever. 

Do I just click No/Cancel?

Do I need any Dell CDs on hand to do this?


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

If you've rebooted into VGA mode, cancel the New Hardware box, disable antivirus, install the new driver and Control Center, and reboot to complete.

You won't need the Dell or XP CDs, just the ATI software you downloaded (which includes the Catalyst Control Center and Catalyst driver).


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

If it doesn't work, can I use System Restore and everything will be ok (and I'll be back to where I am right now)?

Also, which one am I uninstalling in Device Manager? The first one? The second one? Both?

I have no idea why there's two, if there's not supposed to be 2.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

System Restore is never 100% guaranteed to work, but it should be ok.

Uninstall both entries. If it comes up with a box asking you to reboot after uninstalling the first, then you won't need to uninstall the secondary entry.

The worst that can happen is that you're stuck in VGA mode for a short while, but as long as you've downloaded the correct driver for your graphics card, there shouldn't be any problems.


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

Those instructions worked perfectly. Catalyst 7.12s now installed. ray:

I'll go see if the new drivers fix my gaming problems. 

One more thing. Event Viewer is reporting this:



> CRT invalid display type


ATI says it's a known issue with Catalyst 7.7+ drivers and they say it has no performance impact. Hopefully they're not lying.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

This error is a known problem for a few ATI cards, including the 9800. See *here* for details. The solution offered by ATI is to drop back to *Catalyst 7.6* using the same method as above.



> Solution:
> *This error will not cause any issues to the system or performance.* If you do not want to see the error, the workaround is to install Catalyst 7.6.
> 
> ATI Engineering has been advised of this issue and is investigating. Any updates will be published when they become available.


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## 8dalejr.fan (Nov 20, 2005)

Yeah, I just saw that notice before you posted yours. If it doesn't have any consequences and ATI knows about it, I won't mess with anything. 7.12s will stay.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Good idea. That Knowledge Base article was published 4 months ago and there's been no more recent news, so don't hold your breath for a fix.

Let us know how it goes with the games.


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