Unable to update Toshiba Laptop Graphics Driver

McCrazy · 11 Jul 2012

I have been having trouble playing games on Steam and found out that my graphics driver is out of date.

Laptop: Toshiba Satellite, Model: A665D-S5172
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series
Driver Version: 8.723.2.0

The latest driver version is 8.951.0.

The problem is that I cannot update the driver through other sources/websites due to Toshiba locking the driver updating through their site only. I checked their site and found that they have not provided an update for the latest ATI driver. I also found out that Toshiba no longer provides support for my laptop model.

I downloaded the latest driver from another source/site and tried to manually update it myself by telling it to look in the containing folder instead of online. When I do this the ATI Catalyst Control program pops up and takes over. It looks online for the latest driver and tells me I already have it. When I tried to deactivate ATI Catalyst it decided to delete the currently installed driver and I couldn't get ATI Catalyst to work afterwards to reinstall the driver from the Toshiba site. I was forced to go back to a previous known good startup point (I forget the exact terminology at the moment) to have things back the way it was before I messed with ATI Catalyst.

My question:
Is there a way to force update the driver without ATI Catalyst Control popping up and taking over?

Attached is a DxDiag text file.

solarmystic · 11 Jul 2012

Hello and welcome to the forums. McCrazy!

The answer is yes!

We'll do this the old fashioned way and bypass ATI's CCC and lock it down, using the good ol' reliable, uninstall, clean and reinstall method.

Before you do anything further, ensure that you have the following programs installed and at your disposal:-

1) Driver Sweeper 3.2.0 - This program will clean out all the remaining traces of AMD drivers on your system. Download and install this software before we begin.

Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper

2) Download these 12.6 legacy drivers direct from AMD/ATI, no detection required, compatible with your mobility card also:-

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/legacy/1..._64_dd_ccc.exe

3) A system restore point handy just in case.

The Procedure:-

1) First, we're gonna take care of that pesky ATI Catalyst Control Center.

Head to your Task Manager (Press Ctrl-Shift-Escape) and terminate the CCC.exe and MOM.exe processes if you can find them. (Make sure to select Show Processes from all users at them bottom of the Task Manager first so that you can see all processes)

2) Next step, to get rid of all the existing AMD graphics software on your system in preparation for the new drivers.

Head to your Programs and Features entry in the Control Panel, find the AMD Catalyst Install Manager entry and right click on it, select Change and then select the option to remove all the AMD software on your system, and while you're at it, get rid of the Catalyst Install Manager when given the option to do so.

Your desktop may flicker a few times, it's normal.

If it worked properly, your desktop's resolution should look like a screen out of the 90s.

Once that's done, you will asked to reboot. DO NOT REBOOT YET.

Instead, head to your Device manager (Start menu|type in Device Manager|Enter) and check for the entry under the Display Adapters option..

If you see an entry called "Standard VGA Adapter" you're on the right path, and we can proceed.

If Windows 7, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided to rollback your drivers to another version we're gonna have to manually install the Standard VGA Adapter entry.

Do this by double clicking on the entry of your graphics card and in the box that opens select the driver tab, then, update driver, browse my computer for driver software, Let me pick...,and tick show compatible hardware in the next box, and install the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter option.

After this you'll be asked to reboot. Reboot but into safe mode, and we can proceed with the next step...

3) Using Driver Sweeper

After booting into safe mode, launch Driver Sweeper, tick the AMD - Display checkbox, and select Analyse.. once Analysis is complete, make sure all the results are ticked, then select the clean option..

If asked to reboot, reboot, but this time into normal mode.

4) Finally we can install the new complete driver package from AMD.

Launch the installer you downloaded straight from AMD/ATI and follow the instructions to proceed; if you wish you can select Customize Installation to pick and choose the components you want.

And that's it!

Hope that helped!

stormy13 · 11 Jul 2012

hate tyo say it but even after doing all of that, it still won't install the latest from AMD. reason being is due to licensing issues between AMD and Toshiba (same goes with Sony and Panasonic laptops, and doesn't matter whether it is AMD or Nvidia), where Toshiba doesn't allow the install/use of the driver from AMD. They do this by using DevID and ProID that are not present in the installers INF, and that is why you will always get the "no compatible hardware found" message.

They can be made to install, but you have to add the DevID and ProID from the video card to the install INF to get them to install. You used to be able to use this tool,

Mobility Modder - ATI Version, Install the Latest Drivers on your ATI laptop

to do it for you, but have no idea if or how well it will work with the latest drivers.