What the ... Video Catastrophe and Off-Screen dilemma

Windows update insisted I needed to update my NVIDIA video drivers.
So I did.

Now there is NO sound !

The HDMI input from my computer to my monitor for sound no longer exists !

Sound it Real... whatever it is called. There was no update for that.

I fiddled for a day or two and gave up and fortunately could undo the
install.

Sound is now back ! But the video driver update is undone.

What do do ?

The only problem I see with the current but older driver is that if I
plug in another monitor and drag stuff over to the @2 screen the app
remembers that and if I disconnect the #2 monitor that app starts off
screen and I cannot get it back to #1 monitor unless I manage to
uninstall and reinstall. I got an app that will bring anything off
screen to on screen but it still remembers the off screen and puts it on
the non-connected #2 screen area.

I doubt that new drier will fix this ????

Yes I went into the screen settings and changed stuff but no setting
would undo the #2 screen fetish.

In message , FreeMan
writes:
Windows update insisted I needed to update my NVIDIA video drivers.

"Insisted", did it (-:!
[]
The only problem I see with the current but older driver is that if I
plug in another monitor and drag stuff over to the @2 screen the app
remembers that and if I disconnect the #2 monitor that app starts off
screen and I cannot get it back to #1 monitor unless I manage to
uninstall and reinstall. I got an app that will bring anything off
screen to on screen but it still remembers the off screen and puts it
on the non-connected #2 screen area.

I doubt that new drier will fix this ????

Yes I went into the screen settings and changed stuff but no setting
would undo the #2 screen fetish.

Not a solution to the problem of the upgrade and drivers, but to get
your invisible windows back: *if* you know where your now-not-present
screen was relative to the one you still have:
o switch to one of the off-screen prog.s (alt-tab, tab bar, or similar);
o type Alt-space;
o type M;
o hold down the right-arrow key if the invisible screen was on the left,
or the left-arrow key if the invisible screen was on the right, until
part of the missing window appears. If you then can't see the top of it,
then press down-arrow until you can.
o press enter.

Sorry if you knew this, but I know many don't. Also experiment with
Alt-space then S. Try them both out with a window that _is_ on screen
first, to see what they do and how; the main thing is to learn _not_ to
use the mouse while you're playing with them!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The great tragedy of science, the slaying of a beautiful theory by an ugly
fact. - Thomas Henry Huxley

FreeMan wrote:

Windows update insisted I needed to update my NVIDIA video drivers.

False (and you know it). Windows Update never forces you to get
hardware updates. YOU chose to install the hardware (driver) update and
that's what you did: you saw it offered and couldn't resist installing
it. So what was not working with your current setup that you thought a
new driver would fix? Microsoft provides no details aka release notes
on what a new driver version will fix. For that, you have to visit the
hardware maker's web site, see if THEY offer an updated driver, and
check what it fixes (if they tell you; else, check the forums or contact
them for details).

Or do you really mean that you configured the WU client to perform
automatic downloads and apply updates without your intervention because
you chose to let Microsoft change the state of your computer whenever
they feel like it? No one should leave the WU client configured for
automatic updating. Either set to Never (and choose when you want to
check for updates but after saving an image backup) or have it prompt
you about available update but YOU choose which ones to install.

Note: Despite how the WU client is configured, Microsoft has been found
to push updates, especially those for updating the WU client itself.
Users that have the WU client set to Never or prompt have sometimes
found themselves waiting during a shutdown for an update to apply for
which they were never notified or which not allowed by the user, and
more updating on the next startup of Windows. The only sure way to
thwart Microsoft from changing the state of your computer is to disable
both the Windows Update service and the Background Intelligent Transfer
Service (BITS) service. Disable them and then reenable them later when
you decide it's time to check and choose which updates to get.

Now there is NO sound !

So try a System Restore after the *un*forced driver update. System
Restore doesn't always work (for me, it's a coin toss). That's why you
should be doing regularly scheduled backups and also perform a backup
before committing major surgery to your computer's state.

Never get driver updates via Windows Update. Only use the notification
of a new driver to go to the manufacturer's own web site to see if THEY
offer a driver update applicable to the hardware you actually have.
Drivers at Windows Update are often "family" drivers, so WU might
incorrectly detect your hardware as within that family or use the driver
for a different model in that family than what you have.

I fiddled for a day or two and gave up and fortunately could undo the
install.

Sound is now back ! But the video driver update is undone.

So right-click on it in the WU list and choose to Hide it -- if seeing
it perturbs you so much that it become irrestible to you. You can
ignore any update offered by the WU client in Windows 7 (a level of
granularity in control not afforded in Windows 10). You could elect to
hide it in the list (until a new version of the same update appears
later - hiding is by version of an update, not for all versions of an
update).

FreeMan wrote:
Windows update insisted I needed to update my NVIDIA video drivers.
So I did.

Check whether an auto-updater was already present in the
NVidia package. Make sure it's turned off. AMD seems to
have one too, because it bugs the hell out of me
on the Windows 10 Insider.

If you're an avid 3D game player, then you'll want
every video driver update that comes out. Because
some of the drivers have stuff added or fixed to make
the latest game work.

If, on the other hand, your video card is nothing more
than a frame buffer for you, to a large extent the driver
updates would be more trouble than they're worth.

For example, on the NVidia package, there might be eight
sub-installers. One of which will bomb on the way in, and
leave the status of the driver as "incomplete", causing the
package to install again and again. It's an example of
"too much of a good thing", as not all those crusty packages
are really necessary. Some are "promotional" in nature,
and really don't belong in there. If you can figure out
which sub-item is failing, you can try ticking the boxes
manually and controlling what gets installed.

Paul