How can I update my AMD Catalyst display driver?

3

Possible Duplicate:
Force driver update on a mobility radeon graphic

I've got a Dell Inspiron N5010 (almost two years old), which has a Radeon Mobility HD4650 GPU. I was able to install the Catalyst drivers upto 11.04, but after that I haven't been able to install them. The Catalyst driver page includes my GPU as a supported one.

The driver install goes fine without any problem, but I am not able to select the AMD Display Driver during a custom install. The display driver shows up as up to date during install, but if I open the Device Manager, the diver version is much older than the version on the AMD Catalyst driver update page.

I have tried uninstalling the drivers and starting a fresh install.

Some searching on the net told me that some notebook manufacturers prevent the card from recognized by new third party diver updates. If this is true, is there some way I can bypass it and force the driver install?

I am running Windows 7 x64 edition.

EDIT: I am having exactly the same problem as THIS person, as I found out after asking my question, but there's been NO answer to that question so far. I have also tried the steps he has described, including using the Mobility Modder, but to no avail.

Vinay S Shenoy

Posted 2012-07-20T16:19:55.137

Reputation: 131

Question was closed 2012-07-21T00:15:11.543

*> I have tried installing the drivers and starting a fresh install.   Do you mean “un*-installing the drivers”? – Synetech – 2012-07-20T17:09:01.990

Oops, yeah, I did. I'll update the question. Thanks! – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-20T17:12:03.117

Try using Driver Sweeper (or its replacement Driver Fusion) to completely remove the drivers before re-installing.

– Synetech – 2012-07-20T17:12:53.373

Already tried, didn't work. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-20T17:14:18.647

Did you reboot after wiping the drivers and let Windows detect the card and install the basic, default VGA driver, and then install the Catalyst suite? – Synetech – 2012-07-20T17:39:40.433

Yeah, I tried that as well.. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-21T01:28:55.267

@studiohack, I know my answer has been closed, but the reason I didn't remove my own question when I found a duplicate was because no one has answered the other person's question. Now people won't answer my question because they'll see its closed, but they won't open the other question and see that its unanswered. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-21T01:32:42.360

@VinaySShenoy one person answered 3 minutes ago...On the original question. – studiohack – 2012-07-21T02:22:56.783

Answers

0

This is a big problem with ATI/AMD cards in notebooks (especially Dells, it seems). The notebook manufacturers prefer to offer customized display drivers for a given model, but they stop offering updates after a while.

Installing the drivers straight from AMD won't work, but I've had success in the past using Mobility Modder, which modifies the generic Catalyst package so it can be installed on a laptop with Radeon Mobility, but the tool hasn't been updated since 2009 and it would appear people are having trouble installing any version of Catalyst later than 9.10. It's probably not a viable option at this point.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any other methods for updating the display drivers past what Dell offers.

Update: I came across another website offering modded AMD drivers, linked to from a post on Battle.net which implies they're compatible with Mobility cards.

clpo13

Posted 2012-07-20T16:19:55.137

Reputation: 536

Actually, the latest version Dell offers on their website is 10.10... the one that came installed on my notebook! The driver updates from AMD worked until 11.4. Then, no longer. I had found a forum which hacked the drivers, letting me install them upto 11.10. Suddenly, I'm not able to find that website anymore.

I came here hoping someone knows the website(it's a forum) and could point me to it.. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-20T16:43:26.887

@Vinay Well, I did find this link, which appears to offer Catalyst 12.2 for your card. For all I know, though, it could be the generic driver. Worth a short, I suppose.

– clpo13 – 2012-07-20T16:48:17.980

Thanks! Downloading right now.. Will give it a try and update here. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-20T16:54:24.750

The link in the comment goes to the x86 drivers, while I need the x64.. The link you added goes beyond simple modding. The earlier drivers I used to download had some edited INF files that would let it recognize my GPU. The ones you linked at DNA seem to modded much more... And seem to fry cards in certain cases. – Vinay S Shenoy – 2012-07-20T17:23:44.860

Asked: 2012-07-20T16:19:55.137

Viewed: 4 717 times

Active: 2012-07-21T01:30:48.523