Global Assembly Cache (GAC)

If you're reading this, I presume you know about the GAC. (I didn't until a
few days ago ) Most references I find on the GAC talk about adding
libraries to it. My questions relate to removing some.

I have a problem installing the interface utility for a video driver
update - the utility (ATI's Catalyst Control Center) installs, but doesn't
run more than a second or two. (Using Sysinternals ProcMon), I think it's
because it can't find the dll's it wants. It's been a known issue for a few
users for years - discovered when they go to update ATI video drivers - and
I've found references where some users have in fact succeeded in getting the
utility to work by uninstalling, simply deleting all libraries from the GAC
that have the ATI (now AMD) public key, then reinstalling. But I have 190
such entries in there (many associated, presumably, with other AMD
functionality on my computer). I've learned how to unlock the
Windows\Assembly directory so it behaves normally in Windows Explorer, and
so I could in fact remove the libraries I believe are associated with just
the problematic installation - to see if it will then install and run
properly. I count five that are relevant. (If you know ATI video drivers,
the libraries appear related to CCC.exe and MOM.exe.) As mentioned, others
have reported success doing this. However, being cautious, I'm wondering:

1. Is the GAC one of the directories tracked by System Restore?
2. If I delete a particular library, using the win explorer context menu,
can it in fact be restored to its former functionality? (I've read a bit
about something called the "manifest" which apparently does bookeeping on
the GAC.)
3. If I manually move libraries from the GAC to a temp directory, can I
simply move them back to restore their functionality if my approach fails?
4. Is there an accepted method of testing whether a particular program
issue is in fact traceable to a rogue library in the GAC?
5. How royally could I pooch my computer by removing the wrong libraries?

The GAC is presumably a dangerous place to mess around - otherwise why would
they lock it in default configuration. Any comments or links about tweaking
it - insights, links, etc. - would be appreciated. If important, I'm
running Win7pro x64 with all updates, including the recent .NET 4.0.

Thanks for any help.

On 3/9/2011 8:43 PM, Ron wrote:
> If you're reading this, I presume you know about the GAC. (I didn't
> until a few days ago ) Most references I find on the GAC talk about
> adding libraries to it. My questions relate to removing some.
>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Assembly_Cache

> The GAC is presumably a dangerous place to mess around - otherwise why
> would they lock it in default configuration. Any comments or links about
> tweaking it - insights, links, etc. - would be appreciated. If
> important, I'm running Win7pro x64 with all updates, including the
> recent .NET 4.0.
>

My suggestion to you is that you don't have a clue and you should leave
the GAC alone.

The GAC is a .NET component for storing strong named assemblies.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wd40t7ad.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.80).aspx


<http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=windows+7+components+using+the+GAC&FORM=SSVR#>

>>................
>
> My suggestion to you is that you don't have a clue and you should leave
> the GAC alone.
>
I respect the suggestion and I thank you for the references. (I had seen a
couple of them in the MSDN.) I'd like to rephrase my inquiry by posting
some event details (below) from the ACEEventLog in Event Viewer. They are
generated as soon as I attempt to run a program called CLIStart, which calls
other processes named ccc and mom. Perhaps someone would be kind enough to
interpret them, and to comment on whether they are consistent with my
hypothesis, which is that the routine fails because it doesn't have access
to the proper versions of the assemblies it needs.

BTW, these events have "information" level status, not "error," even though
they seem to refer to errors. Why would that be?

In chronological order:

0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:486 Failed to merge manifest file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with exception:
Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error Called
by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest processID:03200
threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Exception <GetType>: Method
'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation. Exception
Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:03200
threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Could not find Type
[ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:03200 threadID )
domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:767 Failed to merge manifest file:
C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with exception:
Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error Called
by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest processID:06076
threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Exception <GetType>: Method
'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation. Exception
Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:06076
threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Could not find Type
[ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:06076 threadID )
domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Exception <CCCn Cannot Quiesce>: Object
reference not set to an instance of an object. Exception Called by:
System.Threading.ExecutionContext::Run processID:01288
threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe ) assemblyNamemscorlib,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)

0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Rasing Error Event on CCCn with PID#
5964 Error Called by:
ATI.ACE.MOM.Implementation.CCCnStateMachine::ThreadQuiesce processID:01288
threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe )
assemblyNameMOM.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31964, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

Thanks for any help.

On 3/10/2011 7:52 PM, Ron wrote:
>>> ................
>>
>> My suggestion to you is that you don't have a clue and you should
>> leave the GAC alone.
>>
> I respect the suggestion and I thank you for the references. (I had seen
> a couple of them in the MSDN.) I'd like to rephrase my inquiry by
> posting some event details (below) from the ACEEventLog in Event Viewer.
> They are generated as soon as I attempt to run a program called
> CLIStart, which calls other processes named ccc and mom. Perhaps someone
> would be kind enough to interpret them, and to comment on whether they
> are consistent with my hypothesis, which is that the routine fails
> because it doesn't have access to the proper versions of the assemblies
> it needs.
>
> BTW, these events have "information" level status, not "error," even
> though they seem to refer to errors. Why would that be?

None of what you are showing has anything to do with the GAC.
>
> In chronological order:
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:486 Failed to merge manifest file:
> C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with
> exception: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error
> Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest
> processID:03200 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest, Version=3.5.4043.31963,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

It's looking for a file it can't find.
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Exception <GetType>: Method
> 'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
> 'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
> 'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation.
> Exception Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start
> processID:03200 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCCC.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31963,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

A method being called in a DLL is not there.
>
> 0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Could not find Type
> [ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
> assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:03200 threadID )
> domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

Again, it can find a method in the DLL.
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:767 Failed to merge manifest file:
> C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with
> exception: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error
> Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest
> processID:06076 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest, Version=3.5.4043.31963,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

It can't find a file.
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Exception <GetType>: Method
> 'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
> 'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
> 'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation.
> Exception Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start
> processID:06076 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCCC.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31963,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
It doesn't have a method it's looking for.
> 0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Could not find Type
> [ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
> assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:06076 threadID )
> domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)

It couldn't find a type.
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Exception <CCCn Cannot Quiesce>:
> Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Exception Called
> by: System.Threading.ExecutionContext::Run processID:01288
> threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe )
> assemblyNamemscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)

It want's use an object, but it can't find the object.
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Rasing Error Event on CCCn with PID#
> 5964 Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.MOM.Implementation.CCCnStateMachine::ThreadQuiesce
> processID:01288 threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe )
> assemblyNameMOM.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31964,
> Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
It looks like you have some kind of problem with a graphic card driver,
possibly that 'ATI.ACE'. Did you start hacking files off of the machine?
Did you install some kind of driver that is outdated and doesn't work
with what's making calls to it?

Find out what this is 'ATI.ACE'. To say that you should be messing
around with the GAC is questionable. Maybe, you need to call the vendor
for a solution if you can determine what 'ATI.ACE' is about.

..

"Ron" <> wrote in message
news:ilbro4$bab$...
>>>................
>>
>> My suggestion to you is that you don't have a clue and you should leave
>> the GAC alone.
>>
> I respect the suggestion and I thank you for the references. (I had seen
> a couple of them in the MSDN.) I'd like to rephrase my inquiry by posting
> some event details (below) from the ACEEventLog in Event Viewer. They are
> generated as soon as I attempt to run a program called CLIStart, which
> calls other processes named ccc and mom. Perhaps someone would be kind
> enough to interpret them, and to comment on whether they are consistent
> with my hypothesis, which is that the routine fails because it doesn't
> have access to the proper versions of the assemblies it needs.
>
> BTW, these events have "information" level status, not "error," even
> though they seem to refer to errors. Why would that be?
>
> In chronological order:
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:486 Failed to merge manifest file:
> C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with exception:
> Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error Called
> by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest processID:03200
> threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Exception <GetType>: Method
> 'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
> 'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
> 'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation.
> Exception Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start
> processID:03200 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCCC.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:580 Could not find Type
> [ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
> assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:03200 threadID )
> domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:767 Failed to merge manifest file:
> C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml with exception:
> Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI
> Technologies\ATI.ACE\MOM-InstallProxy\mom-installproxy.xml'. Error Called
> by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Foundation.XManifestation::ReadManifest processID:06076
> threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCLI.Foundation.XManifest,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Exception <GetType>: Method
> 'SubscribeToValueChangesEvent' in type
> 'ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime' from assembly
> 'CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e' does not have an implementation.
> Exception Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start
> processID:06076 threadID ) domainNameCCC.exe )
> assemblyNameCCC.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000003: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:845 Could not find Type
> [ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Runtime.Runtime] from [CLI.Component.Runtime] in
> assembly [CLI.Component.Runtime, Version=3.5.4043.31909, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e] Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::Start processID:06076 threadID )
> domainNameCCC.exe ) assemblyNameCCC.Implementation,
> Version=3.5.4043.31963, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> 0000000001: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Exception <CCCn Cannot Quiesce>:
> Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Exception Called by:
> System.Threading.ExecutionContext::Run processID:01288
> threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe ) assemblyNamemscorlib,
> Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
>
> 0000000002: 2011-03-10 19:36:41:923 Rasing Error Event on CCCn with PID#
> 5964 Error Called by:
> ATI.ACE.MOM.Implementation.CCCnStateMachine::ThreadQuiesce processID:01288
> threadIDMOM_Quiesce_CCCn) domainNameMOM.exe )
> assemblyNameMOM.Implementation, Version=3.5.4043.31964, Culture=neutral,
> PublicKeyToken=90ba9c70f846762e)
>
> Thanks for any help.

Have you tried completely un-installing all your ATI software, then
rebooting and re-installing clean with the latest drivers? What type of
card do you have?

>
> Have you tried completely un-installing all your ATI software, then
> rebooting and re-installing clean with the latest drivers? What type of
> card do you have?

Thank you both for the analysis and comments. Here's the story. I have a
Dell running Win7x64 which has a Dell installed ATI Radeon HD 5770 video
card. (Dell is known to "modify" stock drivers.) A week ago or so, there
was a new driver package pushed by Windows Update. I was baffled how
Windows Update would know what card I have, but I did install it, and it
worked fine until I messed with one of the settings and the screen went dark
and seemed to freeze. I shut down manually, and Windows seemed to recover
itself, including the new drivers. But the UI to the drivers, called
Catalyst Control Center (CCC), didn't work. So I went to the ATI (AMD)
site, found their latest driver package for Win7x64 and installed it.
Everything installed without error, but ever since, I've not been able to
get the CCC to load. After extensive googling, I found various reports of
the same behavior over the last several years for various driver releases
from ATI. One person published the "fix" that I mentioned in my top post,
ie. removing ATI assemblies from the GAC. And, yes, I've spent a lot of
time uninstalling and reinstalling. Uninstalling removes the ATI software
and directories, but not the new driver files themselves. But the
speculation is that the ATI install package will not update the GAC
libraries (which in my case were originally installed by Dell, not ATI) and
so there's a mismatch. Hence my original question, because others have
reported fixing the same issue by first removing ATI assemblies from the GAC
and *then* doing the clean install.

BTW, Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\ is the path to the
package that contains the executable that produces the above log entries.
The ATI assemblies named in the log are in the GAC, BUT NOT THE SAME VERSION
number as shown in the logs. They're older. So I'm not sure why Big Steel
says this has nothing to do with the GAC. Isn't this what you might call a
Strong Name mismatch? Again, the original thought was that if I could clear
out those older assemblies manually - because the ATI uninstall does not
remove them - then a fresh (ATI driver) install would put the proper ones in
there. That's what I think was happening for other posters who have
reported success doing that (without knowing why). But I'm not about to try
removing assemblies from the GAC without a surefire way of replacing them if
something goes wrong.

But if you say it's not a GAC issue, I'm back to square one. I've
downloaded the latest driver package Dell offers for my machine, which from
its date is probably the same as factory installed, and guess I'll have to
install it, effectively rolling back to it (thereby foregoing the new UI in
the latest ATI CCC which has additional functionality, which is why I've
been trying to get a good install.) Sure I'll clean out the ATI stuff
before I do that, but won't touch the GAC and can only hope the Dell package
will set everything right. In fact, I'm hoping that it will recognize there
are newer drivers, leave them alone, but install the old CCC, and that that
one will work with the newer driver files. Otherwise I may be in mismatch
hell and never have a useable CCC until ATI publishes a driver package that
does ALL the bookeeping.

I know you .NET folks laugh at stuff like this. Especially when I admit I
get real nervous doing driver installs, wondering each time if my computer
will reboot.

Well at least I'm learning new stuff.

Thanks, Ron

On 3/11/2011 12:07 AM, Ron wrote:

>
> I know you .NET folks laugh at stuff like this. Especially when I admit
> I get real nervous doing driver installs, wondering each time if my
> computer will reboot.
>
> Well at least I'm learning new stuff.
>

1) You do know that you can go to the Device Manager and roll the driver
back on the device to it's previous driver before it was replaced by a
Windows update.

2) You don't let Windows update -- update device drivers. You will get
burned. I had it happen twice on a laptop for its monitor and on a NIC
on a desktop machine. I was burned each time and had to roll the driver
updates back. That was some years ago, and I don't let the Windows
update -- update any drivers on the machine. I'll go to the vendor and
do it myself. I do the Windows updates manually, and I review what's
coming to the machine, and 'Hide' ones I don't want so that they don't
show in the update again.

>
> 1) You do know that you can go to the Device Manager and roll the driver
> back on the device to it's previous driver before it was replaced by a
> Windows update.
>

Yes. Been afraid to try it, since I don't know whether that abnormal
shutdown, and Windows "should Windows attempt recovery" option which I
accepted on restart left them intact. Again, the current drivers appear to
work fine - no video issues. It's just the UI for them that's
mis-installed. Hence I have no access to parameters at the card level.

> 2) You don't let Windows update -- update device drivers. You will get
> burned. I had it happen twice on a laptop for its monitor and on a NIC on
> a desktop machine. I was burned each time and had to roll the driver
> updates back. That was some years ago, and I don't let the Windows
> update -- update any drivers on the machine. I'll go to the vendor and do
> it myself. I do the Windows updates manually, and I review what's coming
> to the machine, and 'Hide' ones I don't want so that they don't show in
> the update again.

Guess I learned my lesson. Still don't understand how Update knew which
drivers I need. Is Dell cozy with Redmond? I have in fact also downloaded
the package that Windows Update installed (from its catalog), but have also
been afraid to try that. (There are two different .inf files in there. I
compared them. They differ in a few lines, and there's no readme
distinguishing them.) If that package came from Dell, I imagine it will
appear eventually on Dell's own user download site (which specifies versions
compatible with your model).

No comment on my hypothesis regarding mismatched assemblies in the GAC? Is
it plausible?

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:20:04 -0500, "Ron" <>
wrote:

> No comment on my hypothesis regarding mismatched assemblies in the
GAC? Is
> it plausible?

If you wrote a Net application that had a dll you needed strong
named and you installed it into the GAC, that's one thing. You should
know what you are doing in this instance.

There can be multiple versions of the same assembly in the GAC, and
the .NET program and .Net will know which assembly to use.

In your case, you are a consumer a user and you don't have the
expertise to know about the internals of what a vendor's program is
looking for or needs. I suggest you contact the vendor about its
program and the issues you are having, instead of blindly messing
around with the GAC where you don't need to be.

--
posted with a Droid

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:20:04 -0500, "Ron" <>
wrote:

>Guess I learned my lesson. Still don't understand how Update knew which
>drivers I need.

It's no mystery. WU scans your computer to see which Windows updates
you need, and in the process it also discovers which hardware you have
installed and after that it naturally follows that they would offer
you (usually optional) updates for the hardware it found.

--

Char Jackson