Nvidia Rushes Out New Driver Version to Address Win10 Start Menu Issue

alphanumeric · 26 Oct 2016

I had issues with both NVidia and AMD/ATI drivers with the early preview builds. No issues lately though, at least none I'm aware of? I'm just running the Windows update supplied drivers though.

One thing I strongly disagree with, is the forced install/update of drivers via Windows update. Forcing Windows updates is one thing (I don't agree with that decision either) but why force driver updates? It just doesn't make any sense to me to do that? It's causing more issues than it solves, IMHO. Offer them for download, but give us a "I don't think so" option already.

Ztruker · 26 Oct 2016

I'm not sure it's all Nvidia's fault though, I suspect Microsoft shares some of the blame. Drivers that work well on Vista, 7 and 8 die horribly on 10 ... why?

alphanumeric · 27 Oct 2016

Ztruker said:

I'm not sure it's all Nvidia's fault though, I suspect Microsoft shares some of the blame. Drivers that work well on Vista, 7 and 8 die horribly on 10 ... why?

The regular updates to system files likely don't help, as far as drivers go. A new build likely equates to a new version of Windows as far as driver manufacturers go. Especially video drivers.
Plus, with all the free upgrades done, millions of OEM devices are now running an unsupported OS. When I say unsupported, I mean not supported on that Model by that OEM. That's what leads people to go directly to NVidia or AMD for drivers, and potentially pick the wrong one. Then blame Microsoft, or NVidia, or AMD etc, when it all goes south.

Scottyboy99 · 27 Oct 2016

alphanumeric said:

I had issues with both NVidia and AMD/ATI drivers with the early preview builds. No issues lately though, at least none I'm aware of? I'm just running the Windows update supplied drivers though.

One thing I strongly disagree with, is the forced install/update of drivers via Windows update. Forcing Windows updates is one thing (I don't agree with that decision either) but why force driver updates? It just doesn't make any sense to me to do that? It's causing more issues than it solves, IMHO. Offer them for download, but give us a "I don't think so" option already.

I strongly agree with your comments about forced driver updates. This is a terrible move. A choice should be given. My mantra is do not touch a driver if it works, no sense risking creation of problems. People like to update GPU drivers but I prefer to stay with a set until I run into a problem. MS dropping stuff down the pipe unexpectedly all the time is not something I enjoy. That being said I guess I have been fortunate. When I got the PC over a year ago they came with the 355 Nvidia driver subset installed (can't remember the full version number) and they worked just fine so I left them alone. No gaming issues at all. And Windows Update never threw any new ones down the pipe. Although when I installed the Anniversary update something must of gone on in the background because when it was all done I noted the Nvidia drivers were now 358.xxx. So it obviously updated them, at the time 358.xxx were not even the latest ones! So it's strange Windows choose to grab those ones. Anyway, I have been ticking along with these ever since August 2nd and they seem fine, and not once has Windows tried to install new ones through Windows Update. I'm not sure why Windows Update is not picking up newer drivers for the GPU but I'm sure glad it isn't so far. As I don't really fancy a new one coming through every other day given the regularity Nvidia releases them.

Zardoc · 27 Oct 2016

Newer cards with nVidia drivers have had lots of issues. Older cards like mine that have added 4K screen also have had terrible issues.

Nvidia drivers are quite stable with Win 7 & 8.1. But it's been a bad relation between MS and nVidia with Windows 10.

The worst release was last week. 357.75 affected a lot more users than usual with Windows apps.

nVidia just removed their GeForceExperience 3.1 series because of excessive issues.

Reminds me of the first XP days both nVidia and ATI had issues but MS and the card makers were throwing the ball back at each other.

alphanumeric · 27 Oct 2016

I had to ditch running Windows 10 preview builds several times because Windows update insisted on downloading and installing drivers that crashed my desktop systems. BSOD at times. On my laptop I got numerous "has stopped working" messages and DisplayLink would not work at all. Eventually as the final consumer release approached I got to actually run Windows 10 without the video driver crashing.

NVidia wise I'm on old hardware, a GT640 in my main desktop and a GT610 in my spare desktop. I run triple monitors on the 640 no problem though. I do game on that PC from time to time, but haven't recently.
Not since I got my XBOX ONE. Currently I'm just using the Windows update supplied driver. If I do start gaming on my desktop again I'll likely go have a look for the newest version my card supports.
My laptop has an AMD A10-4600M, AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7670M. I don't ever game on that other than hearts or solitaire. I just run the Windows supplied drivers.