Old Dell 9400/E1705 Workhorse ATI x1400 Driver for Windows 10

Yes - I am an (old) nVidia man myself generally going back years - problem is with the 9400s all the "normal" nVidia cards overheat and die young - so ATI is the only long term option. I tend to avoid integrated graphics (unless I am buying cheap low spec for very limited use) because if they go bad (and they do) then the machine is heading to the skip. Anyway; my little problem is solved and it was a good learning exercise. My view generally with computers (especially running MS OSs) is that it doesn't matter whether its any good; its beating it that counts - and this time I beat it!

Thanks for the initial CCC steer by the way.

Just for information I found a CCC 8.12 which I think must be the last of the XP only 8.series; it has driver v8.561 but as far as I can see it is not exactly the same driver as the MS Cat one with the same version number stated to be for Windows 7 (and probably Vista). Another ATI/AMD (numbering) madness to add to all the others!

Well the years roll by and my Dell Inspiron 9400(s) thunder on. Had reason to change from Windows 10 Pro 32 bit to 64 bit and was surprised to find that the screen will now come out of standby with no problems. Also surprised to find that CCC installs and runs fine using the same procedure as for 32 bit. Quite amazing really; Windows 10 Pro 64 bit 20H2 and every single thing works perfectly using either Windows generic drivers or by some minor mucking about with the OEM Vista or 7 drivers. The way things are going these (15 year old) machines may outlive me - worrying thought.

Generally speaking, if a driver works in some Windows 10 version, it will also work with any newer version. Windows Update might replace the driver, so you must have a backup and reinstall it as necessary. Once installed, it should work as expected. Always keep a backup of your drivers, especially for old hardware.

Posting on this thread seems to be the way I measure time these days - another year and all my 9400s are running fine (XP Pro 32 bit; Windows 10 Pro 64 bit). With MS announcing a timescale of 4 years for Windows 10 end of life and given the fact that, on several levels, I am an optimist; I thought I would give Windows 11 a try on one of these machines. (Possibly I should put something on the "new Windows 11 site" - although there can't too many people who would be interested)? Obviously the Inspiron 9400 complies with none of MS's requirements for Windows 11 Pro but simply by replacing the Install.WIM in a Windows 10 Pro ISO file with the Install WIM from a Windows 11 Pro ISO file gives you a hybrid ISO which installs Windows 11 just fine! It runs with no problems and it is currently updating automatically with no problems, (although I expect MS will jump on that at some point and force me to do it manually if it is possible to do it at all).

It is a worrying thought that these machines may have a useful lifetime which exceeds mine - when I stop doing an annual post on this thread you can draw your own conclusions........

For help about installing Windows 11 on unsupported computers, see my posts in Windows 11 Forum