Driver/Graphics Problem - PLEASE HELP

System: Windows XP SP 2
Geforce 4 Ti4400
Nvidia Detonator 40.78 drivers (also tried 41.09's)


Problem: I was on my computer viewing a life hockey stream on windows media player, listening to winamp, and viewing a popular forum and all of a sudden my screen went white. I coudln't get back to my desktop so I had to do a hard reboot. When I rebooted, my computer would load normally until the log on screen where the desktop starts to load. The graphics were slightly disfigured and the screen would turn on and off and attempt to display properly. The taskbar, icons, and WindowBlinds (yes I use windowblinds) screen that normally shows up in the center would not display correctly. I cannot navigate much at all when this happens and usually have to do a hard reboot.


What I've Tested: I hooked up my brother's monitor, still get the same problem, so I've ruled that out. I've had no malware issues, I've done a virus scan, checked my hijack this logfile, ran Adaware & Spybot, no issues. I want to say it's definitely not malware related. I can boot into safe mode successfully.

I've tried unloading my graphics card drivers as someone suggested, and surprisingly, I can boot into normal windows mode with my graphics drivers uinstalled. I used Driver Cleaner Pro to clean them up completely and tried reinstalling. Everytime I load back up with the fresh driver install I get the same problem. I even tried a later version of the drivers 41.09 and still the same problem.


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I'm out of ideas here. I want to say it's a driver problem but I don't see why it wouldn't work after installing new drivers or reinstalling the drivers that have worked for me for years...

I didn't make any significant changes to my computer and wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary at the time the comp first crashed... I do have a saved copy of my registry from Early February and I'd like to know if it would be a good idea to install my video drivers, boot into safe mode, and then roll back my registry to the February one and see if I can boot normal. I used ERUNT to make the backup and would use ERUNT to reload the saved one.

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Please let me know if there's anything I've left out, I've tried to be as descriptive as possible. Your help is greatly appreciated....

 

THanks for the response m8...

I've uninstalled Windowblinds, and uninstalled Roboform, which was the last application I installed prior to this happening....

Tried resinstalling my drivers a few times, comp wouldn't recognize it...

Tried a 3rd time, and these are the later drives (41.09's), and I got the same problem with the desktop not loading and the monitor flickering on and off....

Currently, I uninstalled the drivers and am in Normal mode....

I don't understand what would cause my comp to suddently stop displaying correctly....

At this point all I can think to do is install the drivers, reboot into safe mode, role back my registry to the last known good one, (One i saved in early February), and then give that a try.... What do you think?

Do I stand the risk of causing any permanent damage to my hard drive rolling back my registry like that? What else can we check? I can't understand why this is happening or how to address it....

Comp loads fine without graphics drivers installed.... Once I install them, desktop won't load correctly....

 

Halo...

the 40 series drivers work best with my card...I tried using newer drivers a while ago and the performance decreased quite noticeably...

Right now I have no drivers installed....

I do have RegCleaner.... do you recommend I try running that and then reinstalling the graphics drivers? If that doesn't work, then try rolling back my registry?

Is it possible that something got changed in my BIOS and that's the reason that the computer no longer correctly displays when I boot in normal mode with graphics drivers installed?


Right now in Device Manager there is nothing listed under "Display Adapters"... Not even a section for that....

Under "Other Devices"... I have a "Video Controller (VGA Compatible)" entry which I think gets put on there everytime I re boot with no drivers installed and the comp starts the "found new hardware" wizard.....

 

You could try system restore, Or if you got access to another video card you could try that as well.

 

Hi ANHEDONIC
Often overlooked, is the Monitor Driver. whenever possible get the OEM driver from the Manufacturers web site. Failing that, delete the Monitor Type from Device Manager ( usually 'Plug n Play' ) and restart Windows. Let Windows find the "new" hardware and subsequently replace the faulty driver.

 

prome unfortunately... I hooked up my brother's monitor to my computer and the same problem happened.... I don't see the monitor driver listed anywhere in Device Manager... what would it be under?

System restore is disabled on my computer... I'm going to try RegCleaner & Driver Cleaner again and attempt to reinstall the drivers... If that doesn't work I will use ERUNT to load my registery saved from last month....

If that doesn't work I guess I'll have to try another video card....

 

Sounds like a dead card to me ... Sounds like overheating got it....

 

You could be right ACE... I had been leaving my computer on a lot, and it is a 3+ year old card...

I got a question for you... Can I go out and purchase a video card, test it out, and then return it (if the video card isn't the problem)?

My main question would be... If the Video card was dead.. Would I still get a picture connected to the video card without the drivers installed? Because that's what i'm running on now

 

Anhedonic - If you've got a local Computer store that you've been dealing with, that builds PCs you could ask a tech to test the video card for you. They've usually got several "splayed" test set-ups with power supply, monitor and drives but no case. As reputable builders, they'll usually pre-test the parts, before installing them. To talk to the "tech" you've got to ask one of the "store front clerks" if you could talk to a "builder" -- that you have a "hardware compatibility question" and need to chat before investing in new hardware. These guys are a great asset, are always helpful, but are usually hidden away in the back of the store.

 

sorry kind of forgot about this thread.. Iv seen countless cards that have gone bad but still work fine in dos and the bios.... but the instant the driver for them loads thay go insane...

 

hi
my friend had a simlar problem, only it ddnt flicker...it just loaded really distorted during normal mode. He solved the problem by just uninstalling the driver and taking the card out and have the computer run on its intergrated graphic card once, and then stuck the card back in and installed the drivers again....i dont see how that wud change anythng, but hey, it worked lol

 

Thanks for your help guys.... Sorry I didn't respond sooner....

I just operated the computer without any drivers for a good 2 weeks =]

My brother gave me his old Nvidia card... I installed it and everything works fine now.... I don't know if my old card (which is a better card) is busted or not but I'm too lazy to go and swap the cards again to find out... SO I think i'll just stick with this current card for now...