What happens if you roll back the card drivers? Restoring an old working driver: rollback to a previous version

Video card is one of the essential components any computer, because it is she who is responsible for displaying the image on the screen. But this device will not work stably and at full capacity if the system does not have an up-to-date driver. Moreover, in rare cases, it is a software update that causes all sorts of problems - errors, failures and simply incorrect functioning of the graphics adapter. The only solution in this case is to roll back the driver, and in this article we will tell you how to do this for a green product.

Usually everything works like this - the developer releases a driver update, which should improve the performance of the video adapter, eliminate the shortcomings of previous versions, eliminate possible errors. However, sometimes this well-established scheme fails - for example, artifacts appear on the screen, games crash, video slows down, and graphics-intensive programs stop coping with the tasks assigned to them. If problems in displaying visual content appeared after updating the driver, it should be rolled back to the previous (stable) version. How to do this, read below.

Note: The instructions for rolling back a video card driver are universal; they apply not only to NVIDIA products, but also to competitive AMD, as well as integrated adapters from Intel. Moreover, in exactly the same way you can roll back the driver of any hardware component of a computer or laptop.

Method 1: "Device Manager"

"Device Manager" is a standard component of the operating system, the name of which speaks for itself. All devices installed on the computer and connected to it are displayed here, general information about them. Among the capabilities of this section of the OS are updating, installing and rolling back the driver we need.

This is how easy it is to roll back the driver NVIDIA video cards. Now you can use your PC as reliably as before the update. Most likely, the problem that arose with this version will be fixed by the developer with the next update, so do not forget to install it in a timely manner.

Method 2: “Add or Remove Programs”

As mentioned above, the ability to roll back a graphics adapter driver is not always available in its properties. Fortunately, besides "Device Manager", there is another section of the system that will help us in solving the problem. Below we will talk about "Installing and removing programs"(not to be confused with "Programs and Features"), available on Windows 10.

Note: For more earlier versions This method will not work for the operating system.

This method, compared to the previous one, is good in that it requires a little less action from the user. True, both options have the same drawback - in some cases, the much-needed rollback option is simply not available.

Good afternoon, dear readers of the blog site. Today I want to tell you how to roll back device drivers and when it may be necessary. From my personal experience, I’ll tell you how I had to roll back my video card drivers after an incorrect software update. To begin with, I will say that recovery previous version drivers allows you to return the settings and installations of your computer components. A driver is a firmware that allows the equipment to work correctly as part of a computer, so to speak, to integrate into the system.

Everyone also has internal programs external devices such as printers, speaker system or network equipment(you can read information about this in one of my articles).

Updating drivers and possible problems associated with this process

One day I came across a very interesting one on the Internet that allows you to scan your computer or laptop for outdated internal software. The program is really useful, convenient and, most importantly, free. By running it on your computer, you can see a report on all devices on your PC. The program interface will display information about which firmware needs to be updated, and which devices have the latest software installed.

As a result, I downloaded and launched this program. The whole process took little time, and it turned out that almost all devices required updating. After scanning and updating, the system automatically started the reboot process for all changes to take effect. However, to my surprise, during loading I did not see standard screen operating system, instead the screen was just a black background with a mouse cursor. Based on personal experience I realized that the firmware installed on the video card causes a hardware conflict and, accordingly, the impossibility of displaying the correct image. It was decided to either roll back the driver update , or install a new version.

This situation with the video card and internal software usually happens when the Bios of your computer, or rather motherboard does not support updated software. A solution to this problem is possible Bios update, but it is better to entrust this process to specialists, since without the necessary knowledge everything can only get worse.

U inexperienced users The question may arise: how can we roll back the drivers if we don’t see any graphic image. In this case, it comes to our aid , allowing you to run operating system with minimal settings and low VGA graphics resolution. I described how to enter safe mode in a separate article, the link to which is given above.

So, after starting the system in safe mode you need to find a place where the rollback is performed updated drivers, but first it’s worth checking how the rest of the software installed. To do this, right-click on the My Computer shortcut and select Properties

And in the window that opens on the left side, select the section Device Manager.

After this a window will open Device Manager c, which will list the devices installed on your computer. If some firmware was not installed correctly, then there will be a exclamation mark in a yellow triangle. Such a situation can arise not only after but also during regular work. What this may be connected with depends on what actions were performed previously.

Returning to how to restore drivers for a video card, in the device manager, select the video adapters tab and on the element we need, right-click and select the item in the menu that opens Properties, after which another window of the properties of this or that iron should open. Next, select the tab Driver and press the button Roll back.

Next to this button it says “If the device does not work after updating the driver, a rollback restores the previous driver,” respectively, the system itself suggests a solution to the problems s.

After the completed operations, a little time should pass when the process ends and the system displays a message indicating the successful completion of the operation. Next, you should restart your computer for the changes to take effect, but before that, I advise you to once again pay attention to possible conflicts between your devices and your computer. If no hardware discrepancies are identified, then feel free to reboot the computer and observe the correction of our problem, in fact, as was the case in my case with the video card.

The process described above is applicable in any case and to any hardware, be it sound or. Finally, I want to say that before updating the firmware, make sure it is compatible with the version of your hardware and preferably read more information about this on the official website. The fact is that a well-chosen assembly can significantly increase the performance of the device and eliminate possible critical errors.

I really hope that the information on how to roll back drivers was useful and understandable for you, but as often happens, there may be certain questions left that you could not find answers to on the pages of my blog. To solve any problems that arise, leave a question in the comments, where we will try to give the necessary advice.

Software developers for specific equipment are constantly improving it so that the component parts can work as efficiently as possible, as a result of which either update packages or completely new products appear that should replace the old ones. However, such an effect may not always be achieved, as a result of which it leads to the opposite result and applications may crash on the computer, unplanned reboots occur, etc. Let's figure it out how to roll back the driver for a video card to a version in which the equipment worked stably and without failures.

In the situation with the graphics adapter, if the version of the new special software is unstable in operation and there are certain bugs in it, then in this case games will constantly crash, an error will be displayed on the screen that the video driver has stopped responding, the screen resolution will be reset and other troubles. That is why actions aimed at returning the previous version of the driver are relevant.

Remember that to correct the current situation it is not at all necessary to use the system restore function, although this step can indeed solve this problem. All you need to do is re-install older versions and everything will be restored. In this case, it is absolutely not necessary to search and download earlier packages from installation files on official and other resources, this issue can be resolved directly using the built-in tools of the operating system.

Procedure for rolling back a video card driver to a previous version

So to get back to using old version video driver, you need:

At this point, the driver rollback process is considered completed, after which the system should work stably and without failures.

It is worth noting that for other devices everything is done by analogy, if necessary. To do this, you just need to find the required component part in the list presented in the Device Manager window and repeat the above steps.

It is also worth remembering that the video card is physical device, which may break and the software will not be the cause here bad work computer. This problem cannot be solved at home and the user will have to disconnect this component and contact service center so that they repair it or purchase a new one graphics adapter.

Surely you have repeatedly come across references to the so-called “drivers”. Some people received an armful of disks with them when they bought their computer, while others are distracted by constant notifications about the need to update them in a properly working system. Regardless of the reason for encountering this term, it is necessary to understand its significance and purpose.

In simple words, a driver is software that configures and optimizes the hardware components of a PC and its peripherals. Depending on the purpose there are different sound drivers, video cards, mouse driver and many others. With their help, maximum performance of the device and its smooth functioning are achieved.

But sometimes it turns out that drivers designed to improve the performance of the driver lead to the opposite result. Regardless of the reasons for this, we will figure out how to eliminate the consequences of such precedents.

What does "roll back" mean?

As you might have guessed, to maximize the optimization of the device, the company that supports it constantly releases new versions of drivers. For example, going out for amd video cards / nvidia driver allows you to run more complex applications and the technologies they use without significant resource expenditures.

However, installing such “patches” is not always beneficial. This happens due to a “crooked” piece of code in the program itself, sometimes due to incompatibility of hardware and software parts. The operation of a working device may be disrupted even due to incorrect installation. Most of these cases end in either minor malfunctions or complete failure of the device.

Problems with driver operation can also begin after using some special program, For example, . The utility will find new drivers for the equipment, you will completely trust it, update them, and, as a result, the video card or mouse will begin to work incorrectly.

But this is not a reason to sound the alarm and run straight to the nearest repair department. You can try to cope with the problem yourself, especially since the method described below is absolutely free and does not require high level knowledge. We are talking about the ability to “roll back the driver” to its stable version. In other words, we seem to rewind time back to the moment when everything was in order.

Returning the old driver

Developers from Microsoft made sure that the average user who is faced with a driver performance problem does not cause panic attacks and headaches. Moreover, the built-in device management service does not require network access in order to roll back unstable driver. You don't have to rush to download and install special launchers, since this procedure can be performed from Device Manager.

Please note that return old driver You can only do so if you did not delete it before installing the new one. If you first removed the old driver, then installed a new one and noticed that it does not work properly, then, by and large, you have nowhere to “roll back”. The system just won't find it previous driver for the selected equipment.

On Windows XP

The most frequently asked question on the network regarding our topic is the request for how to roll back a video card driver. It is quite possible that you have encountered this problem too. This is easy to explain, since the problem in this case immediately catches the eye of even the average user (from unauthorized glare and flickering of the screen to the lack of its full functionality).

That is why, in a step-by-step analysis of the necessary actions, we will roll back the video adapter drivers. So, here are the following steps that will allow you to restore a stable driver:

1. Go to the Control Panel. This can be done through the Start menu.

1. In the list of available services, select “System”.

1. In the window that appears, select the “Hardware” tab, and then click on "Device Manager…".

1. You will be presented with a list of all available devices on the computer. Since our choice fell on the video card driver, select the directory from the list "Video adapters" and apply RMB to the name of your component. In the drop-down list, select “Properties”.

1. In the properties that open, select the “Driver” tab. Among available options The Rollback button should be displayed. Click on it with LMB and start the rollback process.

On Windows 7

As before, in our example we will look at the possibility of rolling back video drivers, but already on the 7th Windows system. The path to the video adapter properties we need here is absolutely identical to that in Windows XP. Nevertheless, this is how it looks visually:

1. Launch the Start menu by clicking on it with LMB. Choose "Control Panel".

1. In the new window, change the display to “Small icons”. In the updated list, select "Device Manager".

1. It doesn’t matter whether you have a discrete or integrated video card, in any case it will be displayed in the directory "Video adapters". Double-click on it with the left mouse button, and then apply the right mouse button to the name of our video card. In the context menu, select “Properties”.

1. Go to the “Driver” tab and under it we find the “Roll Back” function. Click it and wait for the driver recovery process to complete.

On Windows 10

In the extreme system from Microsoft, at the time of writing, the function itself remained unchanged, but many users noticed the loss "Control Panels" in the Start menu. Let's leave similar solution on the conscience of the developers, and we ourselves will use another path to the cherished "Device Manager".

Get access to setting up your existing devices, including video adapter, sound card etc., there are two ways:

• By clicking on the search menu (magnifying glass icon on the taskbar), we display a window and write in the empty input column "Device Manager". Click on the displayed result.

Unfortunately, even with automatic update system components required for correct operation graphics adapters, many problems can arise when updating them. One of the most acceptable solutions Restoring previous versions of drivers is considered. How to roll back the driver for an NVIDIA, Radeon video card or built-in chipset will now be discussed. This is done very simply using several methods.

How to roll back video card drivers on Windows 7 or another system in the simplest way?

In the simplest case, we can assume that the user knows exactly when the failure occurred and the graphics adapter stopped responding or exhibited incorrect functionality. How to roll back the drivers for the video card in this case? There's nothing easier than running System Restore. This can be done from the corresponding section of the “Control Panel” (in the simplest version, called by the control command from the “Run” console).

If the user knows exactly the time or date the problem occurred, you can simply start the process, after which, as you know, user files will not be affected, but the state of the drivers will be restored to the previous one.

No less in a simple way booting the system using the last working configuration is also considered. In this case, at startup you just need to press the F8 key (for versions no older than Windows 7, this works, but in a higher OS you initially need to rebuild the startup system).

How to roll back drivers for a video card using Device Manager?

There is another, no less interesting solution. The problem of how to roll back drivers on a video card can be solved by using the Task Manager. It is called from the same “Control Panel”, but for quick access You can also use the devmgmt.msc command in the Run menu. Here you need to find your device (graphics adapter) and use context menu, in which the property line is selected.

There is a special rollback button on the driver tab. If it is active, just press it, after which the restoration will occur previous version, if some update was installed on top of it. If the button is not active, then everything is fine with the driver, and the problem needs to be looked for elsewhere.

Restoring a previous version using accompanying utilities

But that's not all. The fact is that the problem of how to roll back drivers to a video card can be solved with the help of some accompanying management programs that come pre-installed with NVIDIA and Radeon adapters. These are utilities like PhysX and Catalyst (official releases).

If nothing helps at all, you can simply try to remove the device from the system, reboot, after which Windows will automatically install the most suitable driver from its own list. However, it is not a fact that then the device will work correctly. It’s better to use the original driver disk that comes with purchase and install from there.