On Apr 20, 5:13 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> Great to hear you solved it. Both 32 and 64 I take it.
>
> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:52940376-9326-4886-9e92-05d4c0fa47a9@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> > On Apr 20, 8:52 am, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote:
> >> On Apr 20, 7:49 am, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>
> >> > You can try a repair install if you have matching versions of Vista.
> >> > If you
> >> > have Vista installed without SP1, you can use your disk for a repair
> >> > install. If you have a disk without SP1 and SP1 has been installed,
> >> > you can
> >> > uninstall it (if you haven't deleted the file, as I see some have done
> >> > to
> >> > save disk space) and then do the repair install. You can then reapply
> >> > SP1.
> >> > This will at least save your programs installed and most settings.
> >> > I think I would run sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt
> >> > first and
> >> > see if that finds any damaged system files. You can then try to
> >> > replace
> >> > them first.
> >> > Good luck.
>
> >> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >> >news:556e5b17-8573-4110-8c90-aad74e57e4b1@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> >> > > On Apr 19, 8:53 pm, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca>
> >> > > wrote:
> >> > >> On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>
> >> > >> > Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System
> >> > >> > Restore
> >> > >> > another
> >> > >> > possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good'
> >> > >> > from
> >> > >> > the
> >> > >> > F8 menu.
>
> >> > >> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >> > >> >news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-a18b989f35cd@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> >> > >> > > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> >> > >> > >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as
> >> > >> > >> late as
> >> > >> > >> last
> >> > >> > >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying.
> >> > >> > >> I
> >> > >> > >> also
> >> > >> > >> have
> >> > >> > >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could
> >> > >> > >> uninstall
> >> > >> > >> the
> >> > >> > >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program.
> >> > >> > >> Most
> >> > >> > >> video
> >> > >> > >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new
> >> > >> > >> driver,
> >> > >> > >> either
> >> > >> > >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you
> >> > >> > >> are
> >> > >> > >> getting
> >> > >> > >> an
> >> > >> > >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver,
> >> > >> > >> let
> >> > >> > >> us
> >> > >> > >> know
> >> > >> > >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency
> >> > >> > >> Hz
> >> > >> > >> first.
>
> >> > >> > >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >> > >> > >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-470ffcddf472@u69g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>
> >> > >> > >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The
> >> > >> > >> > last
> >> > >> > >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> >> > >> > >> > Even if it were, I can
> >> > >> > >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding
> >> > >> > >> >> the
> >> > >> > >> >> Vista
> >> > >> > >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> >> > >> > >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>
> >> > >> > > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver.
> >> > >> > > First,
> >> > >> > > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the
> >> > >> > > program the
> >> > >> > > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I
> >> > >> > > can't
> >> > >> > > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
> >> > >> > > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>
> >> > >> > > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64
> >> > >> > > system use
> >> > >> > > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I
> >> > >> > > could
> >> > >> > > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change
> >> > >> > > in
> >> > >> > > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in
> >> > >> > > msconfig--
> >> > >> > > no change!!! Bizarre!
>
> >> > >> I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even
> >> > >> though
> >> > >> I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
> >> > >> having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including
> >> > >> last
> >> > >> working. I'll give driver roll back a try.
>
> >> > >> Thanks so much!
>
> >> > > What I have discovered:
> >> > > 1. I can access the system in safe mode
> >> > > 2. when I do so, there is no video-controller device listed in device
> >> > > manager
> >> > > 3. a hardware scan in safe mode does not recognize the video board
> >> > > 4. attempting to reinstall the ATI driver fails because the
> >> > > installation does not find the board
> >> > > 5. I cannot access the system in low-resolution mode
> >> > > 6. I cannot get boot logging to work
>
> >> > > I now believe that this problem may have resulted from some nasty
> >> > > interaction between Windows Speech-Recognition and ATI Catalyst the
> >> > > last time I used the system. All kinds of strange things began to
> >> > > occur with Catalyst. I would guess that Windows Speech-Recognition
> >> > > somehow interacts with Catalyst, probably because of the notorious
> >> > > ATI
> >> > > External Event Utility. If I ever get this working, I'm going to
> >> > > permanently disable that largely useless and known-to-be-buggy
> >> > > utility.
>
> >> > > Is there anything I can do to save the system or will I have to nuke
> >> > > it and start over?
>
> >> This morning I came down to my office with the not-so-bright idea of
> >> unplugging the DIV connection to my Samsung Syncmaster monitor and
> >> trying the motherboard connector on the theory that just maybe it
> >> wasn't disabled--although they always are I believe with a separate
> >> video board. No luck but bad!! when I plugged the monitor back in I
> >> was down to 1087 resolution and in trying to fix it in Catalyst I lost
> >> all video. Now my Vista 32 installation--my usual working system--is
> >> in exactly the same state as my Vista 64 (no video, showing no video
> >> controller in device manager in Safe Mode, etc.). Is this some cruel
> >> ATI joke???? Meanwhile XP continues to soldier along faithfully so
> >> it's not the monitor.
>
> > Problem solved--silly me--video was being rerouted to TV upstairs.
> > Unplugged, reset, all is well!
> > Thanks very much for suggestions--and just being there!
Yes! All is well!