Upgrading I5100 from 7500 - 9000, ATI Radeon Mobility drivers?

Question

Hello, I just had a few questions here, which someone could hopefully answer. I have a Radeon Mobility 7500 right now in my Inspiron 5100 (with Windows XP SP2), and I just got a Radeon Mobility 9000, and wanted to know where and how I should go about getting and installing drivers for it. Do I even need to do this, as I already HAVE a Radeon video card installed? Where would I update it, as I've checked the www.ati.com website and that actually didn't seem to be much help (under notebook/laptop graphics cards, it just had a catalyst compatability tester, no drivers). I already have BIOS A28 on my system, so that should be all set and good, and I know how to install it, but a question about updating the driver...should I just put the new video card in, turn the system on as regular, and it'll automatically detect the new hardware or how will that work? I believe I would need to uninstall the 7500 video settings after that, before I install the new driver (assuming I need to that is) how would I do that? Where would I go and what would I do? If I uninstall the driver I have /before/ installing the new, would I still have video capabilities or what? That's what's confusing me. Also, if I do actually need to download and install the new Radeon Mobility 9000 drivers, even though I've got a Radeon Mobility 7500 installed, where exactly would I get those files and what would the process be? Also, once I install the new 9000 drivers, would I even be able to use my 7500 if anything happened?  How would I back those 7500 files up in case something did? Sorry about all the questions, I just want to be absolutely sure I get this right.   Thank you very much, any and all information is greatly appreciated.

ejn63 · Answer

You should completely uninstall all the 7500 drivers BEFORE you swap the card. The 9000 drivers are available from support.dell.com (look under the downloads for the Inspiron 5150).

talin · Answer

Hmm, alright. Even though it's for the Inspiron 5150, would that driver still be completely compatible with my Inspiron 5100?

Also, if I were to completely uninstall the 7500 drivers - how would I go about doing that? Would I somehow be able to get those drivers back again if the 9000 didn't work right for some reason? Would I even be able to run my computer alright - does it sort of 'fall back' onto a generic video driver so that I can still see everything on my laptop monitor? Or if I were to install the 9000 drivers, and the 9000 card didn't work, could I simply put the 7500 back in and have those drivers be sort of backwards-compatible, or would I actually need to find and reinstall the 7500 drivers?

Thank you very much for your response, too, it helped get me another step closer. :smileyhappy: :smileywink:

Update: I just checked the downloads section too at support.dell.com, for the Inspiron 5150, under 'drivers and downloads' and it actually says that 'There are no available downloads for the product above'... ?.? How would I go about getting that driver, for the 5150 even, if that is indeed compatable with my Inspiron 5100? Thanks again everyone! :smileyhappy:

Message Edited by talin on 12-04-2005 08:46 PM

ejn63 · Answer

The drivers are different for the two cards. The 5150 drives will work with the 9000 card (the same can't always be said for the card itself - the 32M card is fine with the 5100, but the 64M 9000 card usually has problems, won't run at all, or fails soon after installation in a 5100).

talin · Answer

Yeah, which is why I'm now extreeemely grateful that I'm getting the 32MB version of the Radeon Mobility 9000. Is there something wrong with the site here perhaps? I'm not even getting any available downloads for my own system under 'drivers and downloads', for the I5100...

Thanks again!

talin · Answer

Alright, I got the downloads to work, and I now have the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 for Windows XP v.7.91.2-30729a-10083C, A02 (still listed as being for the 5150 but it should still work fine with the 5100, correct?)
Still just a few more questions on how to uninstall the 7500 drivers and /then/ install the 9000, above. (I assume I'll still have a visual screen without a video driver installed at all, since I uninstall the 7500 before I install the 9000, yes?) I'm thinking I'll just download the 7500 drivers from the site here just to be safe too, in case after I uninstall them there's a problem with the new card.

Thanks again for any and all input, everyone! :smileyvery-happy:

ejn63 · Answer

The uninstall should be under add/remove. You will still have a display afterward, but it'll be stock VGA.

menace621 · Answer

I have a Radeon Mobility 7500 right now in my Inspiron 5100 too what i want to know is where do u get a Radeon Mobility 9000 from i have looked all over and cant seem to find so please reply i really need to upgrade it

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Upgrading I5100 from 7500 -> 9000, ATI Radeon Mobility drivers?

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