Is there anyway to update my graphics drivers? i can't find any available

[taz4short]

Hi,

No generic, just the name of the display.    

I did install the new driver like you said and I can’t tell any difference.

here’s what’s going on.  I ran windows 10 updates in early November and let it restart. It evidently got stuck in a reboot loop. It was late evening so I just let it do its thing over night. I checked it 15-20 hours later and it still had the little circle going round and round. I ended up having to do a hard reboot which didn’t help -  long story short I finally got it to restart but it has been extremely slow in responding and I know at least 2 files got corrupted  and most likely more.  I have spent hours and hours on the phone with windows updates techs and while they have been able to make some improvements it’s still slow.  One issue currently is opening folders with photos.  I’m a photographer so have thousands of photos.  After a fresh reboot the first folder of photos (containing  say 30 to 100 photos ) will all load fast aka normally.  I have the folders set to view large thumbnails. But every subsequent folder that I open after closing the previous one loads slower and then slower and slower still.   After opening say 8-9 folders it loads so slow that I have to reboot and start again.

i’ll also get various error messages occasionally.  The last one was when I tried to delete a file. The error was that it couldn’t delete the file as it was open elsewhere. I closed the window and tried again but kept getting the same error and i didn’t have the file open anywhere.  I had to restart the pc to get it to delete the file.  I will also get various other errors from time to time but can’t remember what they are offhand, sorry.  

I’m wondering it maybe the cache or something got corrupted.  I”m pretty sure that the update downloaded windows AI stuff and Cortana so maybe they are taking too many resources? The techs have told me to take to get repaired or buy a new pc or that the graphics driver wasn’t compatible with windows 10. And since there was no new driver anvailable on HP’s website that I should reinstall the OS which makes no sense to me because if the driver wasn’t incompatible now it wouldn’t be after reinstalling windows 10.  This pc far exceeds the requirements for windows 10 or 11.  I don’t want to upgrade because I will lose 20 years of business inventory records as the Works data base I use won’t work with windows 11 and it’s not available anymore either so if i reinstall 10 i will lose the records.

Any help or advice is much appreciated.

thanks

[NonSequitur777]

@taz4short,

Given that your HP ENVY Desktop 795-0030xt CTO (6XQ71AV) is a high-performance system that came with an i9-9700 Intel processor and a GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6, it should have no issue whatsoever running Windows 10. The slowdowns and errors after the update strongly indicate file corruption, driver conflicts, or disk issues rather than a hardware compatibility problem.

Again, @Paul_Tikkanen, please collaborate on this if you don't mind.

Here’s a more tailored troubleshooting approach:

---

1️⃣Verify and Repair System Files (SFC & DISM):

Since the update might have corrupted system files, perform these scans:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Run:

   sfc /scannow
   • If errors are found and fixed, restart and test.
   • If errors persist, continue (copy/paste/enter) with the next command:
   dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

3. Restart the PC and check for improvements.

2️⃣ Check Drive Health via SMART Data:

1. Run:
   wmic diskdrive get model,status
   • If it shows Caution or Bad, the drive is failing, and an SSD upgrade is highly recommended.

1. Alternatively, use CrystalDiskInfo or HWInfo to get a detailed health report.

---

3️⃣Reset Thumbnail Cache (Fix Slow Photo Folder Browsing):

If Windows is struggling to generate thumbnails, it may be due to a corrupt cache.

1. Open Run (Win + R) → Type:
   cleanmgr
   and press Enter.
2. Select C: Drive, check Thumbnails, and click OK.
3. Restart and check if photo folders open faster.

Additionally, disable thumbnail generation in File Explorer:

1. Open File Explorer Options (Search “Folder Options” in Start).
2. Under the View tab, check Always show icons, never thumbnails.
3. Click Apply → OK.

If thumbnails are critical for their work, try an alternative file viewer like IrfanView or XnView that handles large image directories better than Windows Explorer.

---

4️⃣Update Graphics Drivers (Fix UI Lag & File Access Errors):

For Nvidia GPUs:

1. Download GeForce Experience and install the latest driver.
2. Or manually get the latest driver from NVIDIA’s website.

---

5️⃣Disable Unnecessary Windows Background Services (AI, Cortana):

Microsoft's AI features may have been installed with the update and could be causing excessive resource usage.

Disable Cortana:

1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) → Startup
2. Right-click Cortana → Disable
3. Restart the PC.

 

Optimize Windows Search for SSD Performance:

1. Open Indexing Options (Search "Indexing Options" in Start).
2. Click Modify, then:
   • Uncheck unnecessary locations (e.g., AppData, ProgramData, large archive folders).
   • Keep only essential folders indexed (e.g., Documents, Photos, and Business files).
3. Click Advanced → Rebuild Index, then restart the PC.

---

6️⃣Restore to a Previous Windows State (If Needed):

If the problem started after a specific Windows Update, rolling back may help.

1. Open Settings → Update & Security → Recovery
2. Click Go back to the previous version of Windows 10 (if available).

---

7️⃣Backup & Consider a Repair Install:

If none of the above fixes work and performance is still terrible:

• Back up critical files immediately.
• Perform a Repair Install of Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool.
  • This reinstalls Windows without deleting files or programs.

---

Final Thoughts:

• If errors persist even after all these steps, I would probably replace the primary (boot) drive to see if this is causing issues and clean-install Windows 10 to eliminate all software issues.
• DO NOT upgrade to Windows 11, as MS Works database will stop working.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @taz4short & @NonSequitur777 

The only advice I can offer is that if you don't have all of your files backed up onto a portable hard drive, you are at risk for losing all of your files and photos if the drive fails.

There is an old and very true saying...'it is not a matter of if a hard drive will fail but a matter of when.'

The drive may be on its way out or it may be getting very full and the less free storage space on the drive, normally the slower it will run.

Have you run the disk cleanup app>cleanup system files?

Is the drive set to automatically optimize in the defragment and optimize drives app?

Did you install the latest graphics driver directly from the Nvidia site as NonSequitur777 suggested?

I don't see where you replied that you did.

Here is the direct link to the latest driver for the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti graphics adapter:

Driver Results | GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | Windows 10 64-bit | NVIDIA

But if you don't have your files safely backed up someplace other than on the PC's drive, that is the first thing I would do before doing anything else.

[taz4short]

Thanks for the input from you both!

 Yes I did install the new driver from NVidia website. 

Yes I do have multiple backups!  I learned way back in the floppy disk days to do that.  I now keep at least 3 copies of the working files and 3 copies of the original untouched files across several external drives plus extra copies on the pc drive.  I buy new external drives every couple of years to be safe.  Can’t have too many backups!

I have a 2 TB drive in the pc with ~ 1.5 TB data on it.

I will run the scans and see what they say and get back to you.

thanks again

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad that you have plenty of backups.

[taz4short]

Hi,

Ran the sfc and the dism scans.  As far as I could tell there were no errors found or if there were they were repaired. i should have wrote it down.   Restarted pc. No improvements.

Did the Check Drive Health via command prompt.    Check disk found no errors

Ran "cleanmgr"  no improvement.  I need thumbnails active as I use those to find photos that I'm looking for.

Graphics driver was updated yesterday.  There were 2 options to install that - one for gaming and the other was for "creatives" I think it was called.  I chose that 2nd one.

I was mistaken about Cortana it was CoPilot that was installed with the update and it was disabled a couple of weeks ago.

Did the Rebuild Index and restarted pc.  That did seem to help the jpgs to load faster but the raw files are still slow - probably because they are much larger files than the jpegs.  This wasn't a problem before.

After these steps i downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and ran that.   Here is a screen shot (below) of the results but you'll have to tell me what it means.  I think it's good? 

 I plan on running defrag overnight as I haven't done that in a while.

Could you please explain about the Repair Install?  Will all my apps still be there after doing that?  That concerns me greatly as I don't know if I would be able to download Works again.  I don't know if it's still available.

I will check out those photo viewers to see how they do.  I'll run the pc through some work over the weekend and see how it does.

Thanks 

[NonSequitur777]

@taz4short,

Researching your scenario a bit deeper involving OpenAI, this is what I came up with:

If keeping costs down is the priority, sticking with large-capacity HDDs while integrating a few SSDs for critical tasks (or performance boosts) would be the most cost-effective solution. Here’s a more budget-friendly approach:

1. Stick with HDDs for Bulk Storage:

• Keep the 8TB–16TB HDDs for storage. These are still the most affordable option for large capacity.
  • WD Red or Seagate IronWolf NAS HDDs are solid choices for reliability at a good price point.
  • If they’re not already using RAID for redundancy, consider setting up RAID 1 (mirroring) for data redundancy (requires two drives of the same size) without significantly raising costs.

 

2. Use SSDs for Caching Only:

• Rather than replacing HDDs, they can add a small SSD (500GB–1TB) solely for caching. This will boost access speeds for frequently used files while keeping the large HDDs for bulk storage.
  • Intel Optane Memory or a small SATA SSD (like a Crucial MX500 500GB) would be a cost-effective solution.
  • Alternatively, PrimoCache software can be used to configure SSD caching on Windows-based systems, allowing them to boost the performance of their HDDs without requiring an expensive NVMe SSD.

 

3. Hybrid NAS Storage with SSD Caching:

• If they’re using a NAS, many affordable NAS devices support SSD caching. This way, HDDs (8TB–16TB) can be used for bulk storage, while SSD caches handle frequently accessed data.
  • Budget options like Synology DS220+ or QNAP TS-251D offer SSD cache support and are affordable for small to medium storage needs.

 

4. Use External Drives or Backup for Additional Redundancy:

• For backup purposes, consider external USB HDDs (cheap, large capacity) to keep a redundant copy of important data, ensuring they don't lose everything in case of an HDD failure.
  • A 4TB–8TB external HDD can cost under $100 and provide reliable backup storage.

 

5. Monitor and Maintain HDDs:

• Regular HDD health checks are important to avoid failure surprises. Using software like CrystalDiskInfo or HD Sentinel can help track the health of drives and take preventive action if a failure is imminent.

 

Summary of the Budget-Friendly Approach:

1. Keep using the large HDDs for bulk storage.
2. Add a small SSD (500GB–1TB) for caching frequently accessed data to improve performance without breaking the bank.
3. Consider RAID for redundancy or use a NAS with SSD caching for a cost-effective hybrid setup.
4. External HDDs for backups to further protect data.

This way, you can continue to benefit from large-capacity HDDs while adding SSDs where they’ll make the most difference in speed without incurring the high costs of large SSDs.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[taz4short]

Thanks for doing that for me!  So I’m unclear about the SSD’s.  Are you talking about an internal drive or external drive when using it for caching?

on another note.  I had the drive set to Optimise every week so didn’t need to defrag.

[taz4short]

Hi again,

I am continuing to have slow response time and just talked to windows tech support again.  He keeps telling me that my pc is "incompatible with windows 10" and that he needs the drivers to continue with the troubleshooting.  When i ask which drivers he needs he just says "all of them".  Earlier on it was just the graphics driver which i did get at NVidia and installed and it made no difference.  Now he's changed it to all the drivers.  Can you please tell me where i can find these?

Thanks

[NonSequitur777]

@taz4short,

Well, it seems that the Windows Tech Support guy is operating from inside a different Rabbit Hole than the one I am familiar with.

All right, I would try HP's drivers & software check: Official HP® Desktop Drivers and Software Download | HP® Support.

Interestingly, when I tried to access the direct link for HP ENVY Desktop - 795-0030xt CTO drivers, I got this:

So, if the aforementioned link I provided doesn't get you anywhere, you may want to try "plan B", so to speak: HP ENVY Desktop - 795-0040xt CTO Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777