Anyone Have An Older Computer?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

And you've installed W10?

Watch out for the newest update because it will totally screw up your display. Micorsoft has decided to sneak into your graphics and if you have an older card they no longer support, the new update will delete your driver which will turn your display into a stretched out, magnified piece of trash. It hit both my towers, one with a GeForce 3000 graphics card, and the other with a Radeon 3450. I had fire blazing out of my ears and was about ready to take two computer towers to the dump, but, thankfully I have a son that works in IT who was able to figure out how to fix it.

How did he fix it you ask, what finally worked was, he went into update history and we read through the list of the most recent ones and found the one with GRAPHICS in it, then uninstalled it. Then he went online and found the driver for the Radeon 3450 graphics for W8, because there isn't one for W10, even though the old driver worked fine before but they deleted it anyway, and downloaded the W8 driver and it worked, after a restart.

Now isn't that just SHITTY of microsoft to go into your system and FUCK UP your computer that WAS WORKING FINE? I mean, I was ready to send microsoft a BILL for SCREWING UP TWO COMPUTERS that were working JUST FINE. I think that kind of stuff is out right CRIMINAL for them to do.

You can turn OFF the automatic updates, and I did on my tower in the shop, so that computers days are numbered... THANKS microsoft. I had to order a new graphics card for my in house ASUS tower, which is only about 5 or 6 years old. Hopefully I'll be able to let that computer get updates and the new graphics card will prevent any future display resolution problems... or until microsoft decides to SCREW SOMETHING ELSE UP.

Oh, one thing my son pointed out that seemed pertinent, both those computers were designed and came with W7, so if you have one that had W7 on it and you later installed W10... watch out.

[NightTrain]

I think I would have just booted in Safe Mode and reinstalled the old Radeon driver. I'd put that driver in a folder there on your desktop in case that happens again, and it'll be a quick fix next time.

Win10 has been rock solid for me with no issues on any of my machines... but I still have an old 2003 Dell laptop that has XP that I keep just like it is for interfacing with older telecom systems - Win10 doesn't know how to play nice with the old GUIs running microwave systems.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I think I would have just booted in Safe Mode and reinstalled the old Radeon driver. I'd put that driver in a folder there on your desktop in case that happens again, and it'll be a quick fix next time.

Win10 has been rock solid for me with no issues on any of my machines... but I still have an old 2003 Dell laptop that has XP that I keep just like it is for interfacing with older telecom systems - Win10 doesn't know how to play nice with the old GUIs running microwave systems.
W10 wouldn't let us reinstall a driver, even the one for W8, until the specific update that screwed with the graphics was uninstalled, then we could. Safe Mode might have worked. Is it still on W10? I have no idea. I just shut off the automatic updates. I get so disgusted with those updates anyway. They ALWAYS screw with the settings, as if you must not know how you want your computer setup.

Yeah W10 should be fine on a computer that was designed around and came with W10 on it. Anything older that W10 was installed on, watch out. I'm just waiting to hear the national outrage about this, because I know darn well if it hit me, it hit MILLIONS of other older computers.

It would be nice to just go out and buy couple new towers but, have you seen the price of a half way built up computer lately? OMFG... we're talking a grand on up.

[NightTrain]

W10 wouldn't let us reinstall a driver, even the one for W8, until the specific update that screwed with the graphics was uninstalled, then we could. Safe Mode might have worked. Is it still on W10? I have no idea. I just shut off the automatic updates. I get so disgusted with those updates anyway. They ALWAYS screw with the settings, as if you must not know how you want your computer setup.

Yeah W10 should be fine on a computer that was designed around and came with W10 on it. Anything older that W10 was installed on, watch out. I'm just waiting to hear the national outrage about this, because I know darn well if it hit me, it hit MILLIONS of other older computers.

It would be nice to just go out and buy couple new towers but, have you seen the price of a half way built up computer lately? OMFG... we're talking a grand on up.


Yeah, Safe Mode is still there. You'll have to google what F key you need to hit (some are F2, some are F8, etc) as it's booting up to get to the selection screen... seems like every machine is different.

Another method (while in Safe Mode) I would have tried would have been to go to Control Panel and have your machine scan for the updated driver on that vid card, and if it didn't recognize by itself that it needed the Radeon driver, uninstall it to prompt the redownload. Sometimes a reboot is needed to kickstart that process.

BTW, did you attempt to change video settings with the Win10 driver? That would have been the first thing I would have tried. Sometimes they're not very self aware and need to be tweaked.

[LongTermGuy]

I have a year old HP new machine....I prefer Windows 8.1..

When I was `investigating `windows 10....it was a pain to get rid off (with all the strong arm "download now" consistent reminders...but I got rid of it...I wasnt alone with the windows 10 dislike.

[Abbey Marie]

Interesting. My display is off since my latest update, too. Must ask Russ to fix while the Eagles are playing.

J/K on that last point, Russ!

[jimnyc]

Worst case scenario - if this computer was an UPGRADE from Win7 to Win 10 - was the ability to rollback the entire machine and start again. Not a fun route, but workable.

Secondary and much easier if you are a techie - which would be to obliterate all your video drivers and roll back to just basic drivers on a Win10/7 setup. Which I guess is basically what your son did when he rolled back the updates from the history!

Personally, I ONLY allow for updates on my computer that are of emergency/security updates.

For my video, I like to start with what was working during the upgrade. No need to fix what isn't broken! And then perhaps go up driver release by driver release - MANUALLY. And if you happen to install one that sucks and does this - go to safe mode and uninstall it, and then stay with the previous working version, until GEForce comes out with a working version for Win10.

Either way, I don't allow for Windows to take over the computer, only allow for security updates. :)

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Yeah, Safe Mode is still there. You'll have to google what F key you need to hit (some are F2, some are F8, etc) as it's booting up to get to the selection screen... seems like every machine is different.

Another method (while in Safe Mode) I would have tried would have been to go to Control Panel and have your machine scan for the updated driver on that vid card, and if it didn't recognize by itself that it needed the Radeon driver, uninstall it to prompt the redownload. Sometimes a reboot is needed to kickstart that process.

BTW, did you attempt to change video settings with the Win10 driver? That would have been the first thing I would have tried. Sometimes they're not very self aware and need to be tweaked.
I did try and scan for the driver, but the thing is, there isn't one. I googled it and found on a windows forum that W10 no longer supports that graphics card, and the latest update does uninstall the driver so you're computer is using the generic W10 video, and that's what screws up your display. You can shrink your screen by percentage with the generic driver, but it's still stretched out left to right, all your icons will be oval, not round.

This was purely a case of Microsoft taking something that was working, and since they don't support it anymore, they DELETED it even though it was working, and I think that's about as shitty as you can get. That's forced obsolescence, so those not smart enough to know how to fix it are forced to go out and buy a new machine.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Worst case scenario - if this computer was an UPGRADE from Win7 to Win 10 - was the ability to rollback the entire machine and start again. Not a fun route, but workable.

Secondary and much easier if you are a techie - which would be to obliterate all your video drivers and roll back to just basic drivers on a Win10/7 setup. Which I guess is basically what your son did when he rolled back the updates from the history!

Personally, I ONLY allow for updates on my computer that are of emergency/security updates.

For my video, I like to start with what was working during the upgrade. No need to fix what isn't broken! And then perhaps go up driver release by driver release - MANUALLY. And if you happen to install one that sucks and does this - go to safe mode and uninstall it, and then stay with the previous working version, until GEForce comes out with a working version for Win10.

Either way, I don't allow for Windows to take over the computer, only allow for security updates. :)
I tried to reset my machine to an earlier date, but that didn't work either. Evidently it didn't have mirror of the driver, or Microsoft just doesn't want you to be able to do that either. They don't support your Vcard anymore, so by God they don't want it on your computer, period.

Yeah the son just went through the last updates and found the one that effected "GRAPHICS," which it clearly states, and uninstalled it, then he found the driver for the Radeon 3450 for W8, there isn't one for W10, which is why you can't "update driver" from the control panel, but the W8 driver worked. The update also won't let you download a driver either, you have to uninstall that update to be able to download a new driver.

After doing a little more checking on this problem, it appears that deleting drivers for things it no longer supports is a favorite trick of Microsoft in W10, it's been going on since they came out with it. Ya know, they can't just LEAVE IT ALONE, no, they have to DICK with it, they have to delete it... why? Well I don't think it's just to piss people off, I know darn well it's forced obsolescence. They do it for MONEY. They want to force you to buy a new computer... if they can.

[NightTrain]

I feel your frustration, man, I really do.

But you have to step back and take a look at things :

1) Microsoft doesn't build computers. They're not trying to break older computers to sell you one.

2) Win10 is a free OS. They're not gaining profit from normal Joes like you and me using it.

3) There's tens of thousands of defunct manufacturers that still have equipment all over the world, from whole computers to every conceivable mix of obsolete individual components. Supporting all of them is impossible.


You're in the same boat as I am with my old 2003 XP laptop that I keep around for unusual occasions - it's the equivalent of a '49 Hudson. You can't find parts for one, and there damn sure isn't any kind of support for it.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

To use a saying I really don't like, but it's appropriate, "at the end of the day," Microsoft is taking something that WORKS, and making it so that it DOESN'T work, and they are doing it INTENTIONALLY. They don't have to go in and strip old drivers that ARE working just because they don't support them. They're doing that for a reason. Like they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," so they're breaking it, and it costs money to fix it. I guess since W10 is a free OS, that would be all the more reason to use round about ways of making up that profit loss... just periodically screw up people's computers so that they have to buy a new one, a new one of course with their OS system on it.

The whole thing stinks. It's not doing everything they can for people so that they can keep their older machines running. It is very much slowly but surely forcing people to keep buying new computers.

That's just my take on it. Greed drives just about everything nowadays. Those share holders keep demanding profits go up.