Prevent Automatic driver update on Windows XP

Question

I have a Lenovo Z61m machine running Windows XP. On this machine i have a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet netcard.

For the last 2-3 months, windows have been automatically updating my drivers to a non-working driver, that cannot establish lan access.

The driver that does not work:

• version 10.35.0.0 from 09-05-2007

The driver that does work:

• version 9.25.0.0 from 09-03-2006

This problem occurs daily when i reboot my pc for work.

I have to reboot windows into safe mode to remove the netcard completely, reinstall it, then upgrade drivers and then choose the earlier drivers.

Even this total reinstallation of drivers is sometimes not enough, sometimes i have to repeat the process multiple times. Worst case was 3 times of the same process to make it work.

Things i have tried to solve the problem:

• Add a registry key to make Windows Update not update drivers
• Delete the 10.35.0.0. inf file from my windows folder and subfolders

I simply have no more ideas what i can do to either troubleshoot or solve this problem

Any and all ideas are most welcome

Update

I have tried the new 12.2.2.0 drivers for Windows XP and the problem was back this morning.

I have reverted to the 9.25.0.0 drivers to get back online.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Go to Broadcom's drivers page - I've checked and most of their drivers are version 12 and above.

Update it to the latest version - that way, Windows Update (which probably has older drivers) will not update the drivers.

Either the above solution, or disable automatic updating totally, and then doing a manual update through IE where you can choose to de-select the driver. I definitely recommend the first solution.

Answer 2

Go into Windows XP's Control Panel, open the Automatic Updates applet, make sure that either "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them" or "Notify me but don't automatically download or install them" are selected.

Next time that you get the yellow shield in the system tray showing that updates are ready, open it, make sure that you tick all updates except the driver update, when you click the "Download" or "Install Updates" button you should get a box pop up saying:

Hide Updates

Updates that aren't selected will not be downloaded.
[] Don't notify me about these updates again

If you tick that box, then that should stop Windows trying to download or install the problem update/driver again.

Answer 3

You might fiddle with windows hardware profiles and see if they could be a part of solution.