Do I have to uninstall a driver before reinstallin?

Hi, I have a friend's laptop which is having problems with the graphics card.
Device manager says - This device cannot start ( code 10). Windows XP SP2 is the system. The troubleshooter in Windows says to uninstall and then reinstall the driver but when I do this the computer has to be restarted for the uninstall to take effect. However when I try to do this the message shows that this can't be done as the card is integral for the computer to work,
which makes sense, if the driver is not working how can I access the screen.
Sooo, can I just try to re install the driver over the existing one? the current driver is the only one I can find anyhow even tho I have been searching on the net.

 

If the computer is started and you have pictures on the screen, how come Windows is suggesting that the graphics card cannot start? Interesting.

I would just try the driver install and see if it fixes it.

 

HI,
Sorry if I offended by posting in 2 different forums, as I really had 2 different type of queries I thought that was the best way to go. Firstly I wanted to know whether if the graphics card is cactus and is an onboard card should we just get another Laptop as I presume you can't just replace the card. Am I wrong?

The laptop is NEC Versa P8100 running XP service Pack 2.

I have been fidding around trying to get a software solution but so far no luck.
Hopefully with your expertise you can find one.

Thanks

 

No worries about the forum thing, loads of people do it.

You are correct in that most laptop graphics cards cannot be replaced, however there is still hope for you yet.

Have you tried reinstalling the driver as it is now?

 

Hi,
I have upgraded to SP3, installed IE8 (it was still on IE6), CCleaned it, defragged it,washed and polished it(badly needed) installed the driver(same as the old one), changed from AVG to Avira, installed MalwareBytes, crooned to it and decided to hell with it, going to buy a new much faster unit!

When we have done that I will get a bit more adventurous and open up, the little beast and see how much dust and gunk is in there, that might be something to do with the problem.


thanks for your time and interest, much appreciated.