How to prevent win 10 to reinstall bad graphic driver?

[JJOUS]

I have a problem with a graphic driver. This PC is in windows 10 x64 (recently updated to version 1809 - but that didn't solve the problem).

What happens: the screen background shows a sort of sparkling, mainly close to the vertical sides of the open windows, like little white dashes fleetingly blinking. It's not nice, but not very serious... But, when I open a navigator, it causes the PC to crash and show a BSOD or, worst, to freeze totally beyond all attempt to revive it.

When I uninstall the driver, everything woks correctly... until the next reboot. At this time, Windows realizes it has no graphic driver and installs the generic one. Everything still works... But, a few minutes later, windows loads and installs an Intel driver and things go bad again!

I think I could install manually another better driver, but I've been unable to find on Intel's site which one would fit my needs. I have to admit I never understood the naming of Intel's processors and thusly being incapable to decide which is mine 🙂

I joined all the required information - and probably more. There are two versions of the results of the Intel System Support Utility, named WorkingConfig.txt and NOTWorkingConfig.txt, representing the case with respectively the MS driver and the Intel driver.

I'd be very grateful if someone could provide some help, and I thank all the people who read this message!

[AlHill]

You may want to try this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window

It is not very friendly, and will take you a bit of time to understand and block the update, if it works at all.

Doc

[JJOUS]

Thanks Al for your answer.

I already tried to rollback the driver, but I couldn't find a correct one (too many layers of wrong drivers in the heap?).

The other option is much more interesting but, alas, the update blocking tool doesn't offers to block the graphic driver update, because it has *already* been updated! It happens nearly as soon as I switch my PC on...

I think what I need should be to find the correct driver, install it and then "lock" it against windows schemes (I can do this with gpedit, knowing the hardware ID ot the driver). But, as I said, I'm a bit lost on Intel's site and I was unable to find the right one. Could you help me in that holy quest?

Thank you.

[AlHill]

There is no driver for Windows 10, except for what Microsoft installs.

The real issue here is that your Sandy Bridge processor is simply not supported on Windows 10.

Doc

[JJOUS]

Ouch! What can I do, then? I don't really mean having outstanding graphics performances, I just want a "standard" display, with a "standard" driver that causes no trouble and doesn't freeze my PC.

Could I find a "downgraded" driver?

Thanks.

[AlHill]

Well, if your machine is a desktop, you might find a compatible nvidia or amd graphics card. The key here is compatible. Most all will claim to be backwards compatible. This means that new cards are PCIe 3.0 based while your board is likely PCie 2.0 based. Some will work, most not.

However, the bigger problem is your processor. As I said, it is not supported, and who know what Microsoft will do. Right now, W10 runs. But, for how long?

Were it me, I would start looking at a new or newer machine that is fully supported with the processor and graphics.

Doc

[JJOUS]

Thank you for this helpful advice... I'll begin to save for a new motherboard.

Could you be kind enough to let me know what processor I should choose to benefit of a long lifetime (and a reasonable price) ? I don't need very high performance - I ain't a gamer, just a developer 🙂

Thanks for your help!

[AlHill]

That is a difficult question, as there are so many 7th, 8th, and 9th gen processors from which to choose.

And, if you are building your own system, the processor choices are dictated by the motherboard you select. Little to none of your existing system will be salvageable. And, the big question is what you want to use for graphics - the Intel processor graphics, or using an add-on graphics card.

If you are looking to purchase an already configured system, there are a number of manufacturers from which to choose, and systems might be easier to choose.

So, I did not give you a direct answer. To me, it be comes a choice of a motherboard, or a pre-configured system.

Doc

[JJOUS]

You're right: I should have been more precise. I'm looking for a motherboard, with integrated graphics and a medium performance processor : the one I currently have does fulfil my needs, and I don't feel the need for more power. In fact, except this driver problem, I'm pretty happy with what I have...

How could I know what generation is the processor on a new motherboard? I don't even know what generation is my processor! I never understood the way Intel names its processors, and I'm lost in the jungle of i3, i5, i7, 7,8, 9 generation and places names...

Thanks for your help!

[AlHill]

You have a 2nd gen processor. The i3, I5, i7 and such are specific to each generation regarding the number of cores and threads.

For example, an i7-4xxx is a 4th gen i7 processor, while an i7-8xxx is an 8th gen i7 processor.

Current generations, as supported by windows 10, are 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Note that ONLY windows 10 is supported on 7th gen and later.

A motherboard typically has a list of supported processors. When you find a motherboard that meets your needs and price, look at the supported processors for that board.

Of course, you could probably do better with a pre-configured system, which will typically come with Windows 10 (thus saving you the problem of getting a W10 license). I mention Dell only because they are widely available, not because I am partial to them (which I am not).

Doc

[JJOUS]

Ah, this is quite clear, thank you! At last, an understandable numbering rule!

But, then, why does my processor is identified as "Processor Name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G840 @ 2.80GHz" and not as i2-2xxx ?

Another example : if I buy an Asus MB, like this one :

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-H81M-P-PLUS-Desktop-Motherboard/dp/B010ZOF3XO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1539537918&sr=8-5&keywords=ASUS+Intel+H81 Amazon.com: Asus H81M-P PLUS Desktop Motherboard - Intel H81 Chipset - Socket H3 LGA-1150 - Micro ATX: Electronics

how can I guess which processors will fir on it? The documentation gives a big bunch of references, but nothing looking like ix-yzzz 😞

Sure, buying a Dell system would be much more comfortable. But much more expansive, too... And not so easy, either :

What could be the generation of the processor in this one, by example?

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i3650-5609SLV-Desktop-Pentium/dp/B01JH9B5P8/ref=sr_1_13?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1539538906&sr=1-13&keywords=dell&refinements=p_n_operating_system_browse-bin:17702486011 Amazon.com: Dell Inspiron i3650-5609SLV Desktop (Intel Pentium G4400 , 4GB RAM, 1 TB HDD): Computers & Accessories

I'm afraid I'll still have to spend a long time with my fuzzy display... It didn't crashed for these last five days!

[AlHill]

1. Not everything follows the basic explanation I provided. But, here is your Sandy Bridge 2nd gen processor.

https://ark.intel.com/products/53490/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G840-3M-Cache-2-80-GHz- Intel® Pentium® Processor G840 (3M Cache, 2.80 GHz) Product Specifications

The asus support site provides a list of supported processors.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/H81MP_PLUS/HelpDesk_CPU/ https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/H81MP_PLUS/HelpDesk_CPU/

For the dell, the processor is a 6th gen processor.

https://ark.intel.com/products/88179/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G4400-3M-Cache-3-30-GHz- Intel® Pentium® Processor G4400 (3M Cache, 3.30 GHz) Product Specifications

Doc

[n_scott_pearson]

While Intel used a numbering scheme that made the Core processor line easily identifiable as to generation and class (i3, i5, etc.). the Pentium and Celeron lines remain terribly obfuscated. Especially for these older processors, all you can do is go to https://ark.intel.com/ Intel® Product Specifications ( https://ark.intel.com) and have it tell you the generation and chipset it matches up with.

...S

[JJOUS]

@Scott

Thanks a lot for this link, it'll help me very much!

[JJOUS]

@Doc

Well, it looks simple... when you know where to search!

Thanks for the answers, anyway.

So this Dell would be a not so bad choice to have a PC able to last a few years before MS decides to drop the 6th gen processors in its OS? And I could reuse my DDR3 RAM...