Monitor Trouble

[Guest j-mo]

I'm having a problem with, I believe, my graphics card and/or driver.When I start my computer up, it never finishes loading to the desktop. The monitor is all black, except for a series of elongated dashes across the upper edge of my monitor. These dashes stretch from the upper left corner to about two-thirds across the top, and seem to have a pale green color to them. They go away, then return. After two or three cycles of this (I get the feeling something is trying to load) I get a blue screen, filled with text, which disappears after 2-3 seconds. While I can't read everything, I've spotted a line that I think says "unable to load video driver".This began a couple of days ago. I had just finished a flight (about 2 hours), and was flight planning for the next one, and the computer rebooted itself, albeit unsuccessfully.I'm running FSX on Vista 32-bit, and have an 8800GTS (320mb) card.I rebooted into Safe Mode, and updated the driver to WHQL 169.25. This has had no effect on the problem.I've looked at device manager. Don't see any problems there.I'm unsure how to proceed to figure this out. Ideas, anybody?

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi, did you upgrade to Vista SP1 yet? Best wishes Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Jaap-Yes, a few days ago. I've had successful boots and flights (a few) since the update.

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Alex, One good thing to get rid of is likely those auto reboots in case of troubles (Advanced System Settings). Then there's a higher chance of getting error messages or things alike. Sorry, not too many other ideas the moment... Kind regards Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Jaap-Thanks for your replies. Auto reboots disabled.The pertinent line on the blue screen is "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed." It is the same message every time.Tried a system restore- no change.While in safe mode, I encountered some kind of "Windows has recovered" message box. When I clicked on "Details" I got a screen with the following information (don't know if this is helpful or not):Locale ID: 1033BCCode: 116BCP1 : C466B008BCP2 : CB829E40BCP3 00000000BCP4 : 0000000DOS Version: 6_0_6000Service Pack: 0_0Product: 768_1Again, thanks for your replies.

[Guest j-mo]

Well, I went ahead and did a reformat / reinstall. Things are working OK now. I'll just need to update things, reinstall things, tweak things, etc... sigh...Figure I'll begin with Vista SP1.Thanks for your replies, anyway!

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Alex, glad to hear. :-) That sometimes just is the best way out. Have fun and kind regards Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Well, I was premature in thinking the reinstall cured things. As soon as I try to install any nVidia driver, the problem returns. I've tried 163.11 and 169.25. The only driver that allows me to use use my computer normally is Microsoft's Standard VGA Adapter 6.0.6000.16386Is this really a driver problem or might it be an issue with the graphics card?I'm really unsure how to proceed at this point.

[Guest baksteen33]

Maybe, you did mention artefacts after all. Did you have a look inside the case, everything clean? Can you exclude overheating caused havoc for example? Kind regards Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Jaap-Don't you ever sleep? Seems like no matter when I post, you fire back a reply! I am, of course, very appreciative!Inside the case is very clean. I am investigating temps right now... would that allow some drivers to work OK but not others?Will report back on temps.

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Alex, sleep, what's that?!? :-) BTW, this does maybe look a bit awkward? OS Version: 6_0_6000Service Pack: 0_0Shouldn't a SP be listed? FWIW, my version is 6.0.6001, albeit only Vista64 system(s). As the troubles coincided with SP1, I'm humbly starting to believe this is exclusively software related. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Jaap-You are right... software. BTW, temperatures don't seem to be a factor.I became suspicious of the drivers, so I did something I should have done in the first place: I downloaded and used Driver Cleaner Pro. The good news is it did what it is supposed to do. The bad news is I haven't yet been able to successfully install any nVidia drivers for the 8800.When I attempt to install 169.25, the installer doesn't recognize that my OS is 32-bit, which it is. I have managed to install 163.11, but windows is unable to load it. When I attempt to use Device Manager to update the driver, it reports that I have the latest driver. Current driver is reported to be 7.15.11.6906 (which apparently is not Direct 3D compatible- I can't use any screen saver).This is before installing Vista SP1, which I am currently doing.If this doesn't work, I will pursue the issue with nVidia.Once again, thanks for your replies! Kind regards to you, sir!

[Guest j-mo]

Arrggh! SP1 won't install.Apparently there are three parts to the service pack, which I downloaded through Windows Update. When installing, a reboot is, of course, required. Parts one and two installed before the actual reboot, then the reboot, the part three installs. This is what failed for me. The actual message is "Service Pack did not install. Reverting changes."Ideas, anyone?

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Alex, perhaps update some device drivers? I think an updated (Realtek) network adapter driver is important for example. Maybe un-install the video drivers and revert to default VGA? Hope you'll work or worked it out, kind regards Jaap

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Jaap-I had the same thoughts. Still no improvement. I'm now thinking that somehow the recovery partition on the hard drive is flawed. I've contacted HP and am awaiting a replacement recovery CD. I'll see how that goes.