HELP My PC's graphics are stuffed.

[Seamus]

Got fed up with then the Netcomm router,so I bought new one,a Netgear. It works spiffingly in terms of connections but my graphics have shat themselves and have gone 'funny', kinda washed out. It went funny while I was installing the new router.

First thing I did was a thorough disc check.


I've tested the monitor;it seems fine. I have an ATI Radeon HD 2400XT graphics card, and installled an updated driver. No change.

Oh, I have two other teensy problems; I'm currently unable to restore my PC to an earlier setting and when I turn it off, it logs off and just hangs at the "windows is shutting down" page. I have to turn it off manually.


The PC is a Dell Inspiron and I'm running XP Pro. I have plenty of memory; 3GB RAM 500GB hard drive, and a decent core duo processor.

I have a sneaking suspicion of what the advice will probably be ("get thee to techie"), but would prefer to avoid the expense if I can.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

Can you start the thing in Safe Mode without that problem? If you can then it is probably a problem with the driver and you may need to roll back to a previous version until they fix up the bug.

You should be safe with the router though since it really shouldn't interfere with graphics.

I have a Netgear router too. My prediction is that it is not the same model as yours though. :p

[Fearless]

Did you work on any of the internals of your computer while you were doing this? Maybe check all connections and that everything is seated properly.

Shame you can't roll back (System Restore Point) hrmm

Might have to uninstall the gfx drivers and reinstall again, and like Croc said maybe not the latest drivers in case it is unstable, and make sure you get the driver from the manufacturer o the gfx card and not some generic download website.. But again I am not sure that this would be upsetting your shut down like it is... sounds quite odd.

Did you update your motherboard drivers too?

No odd sounds?

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

To be honest I've never used a Netcomm router before so I'm surprised it would come with device drivers.

Are you comfortable with editing the BOOT.INI file on your machine? I was going to say add the /BASEVIDEO option to the end. That way you can boot in normal mode but your vendor-specific graphics drivers will not be loaded and instead VGA drivers will be loaded. After uninstalling the drivers edit again to remove /BASEVIDEO option.

[GenericBox]

I'm nowhere near as techknowledgable than these guys ... but how does / did a router alter graphic settings/hardware?

Isn't a router that external thing you just plug your computers in via ethernet cables?

[Mark]

Is it possible that whilst removing the old router and/or installing the new router that you might have moved some of the cables at the back of the computer?

Check that the video cable is securely connected to the back of your PC and also to the back of the monitor if it's not captive to it. Having a video cable that isn't firmly seated often causes weird video problems...

[Mentally Saturated]

I was thinking the same as Mark above... sounds most likely, first of all, that cables have been bumped and a connection has been upset somewhere.

Routers can usually physically connect to your PC via 2 methods.. USB or a standard Cat5 network cable.

With Windows XP (and a few other OSs) no drivers or external software should be needed to use a router if you choose to connect with the network cable. Only the USB connection requires drivers... (and as such, I reckon anyone who uses the USB connection when the other is available is nutz.. :p)

The network connection has much greater flexibility and is without a doubt the better choice.

On the GFX card.. U may have even unsettled the card in it's slot a little. Open the case (beware of warranty issues if they apply), then remove and carefully reseat the card. It's not that hard to do.. :)

Gary

[Seamus]

To be honest I've never used a Netcomm router before so I'm surprised it would come with device drivers.

Are you comfortable with editing the BOOT.INI file on your machine? I was going to say add the /BASEVIDEO option to the end. That way you can boot in normal mode but your vendor-specific graphics drivers will not be loaded and instead VGA drivers will be loaded. After uninstalling the drivers edit again to remove /BASEVIDEO option.

Thanks Croc; no I'm not comfortable. I'd need walk though for that.

I'll start with what I CAN do: try to restore from safe mode.


Related question: I only half remember this so maybe confused: I read that I can do a factory restore by using ctrl f11 at boot. (??)

I'll get back in afew minitues after I've tried the restore.



In safe mode: 'no restore point currently available'

Oh,the reboot function works fine,but the PC will hang at 'windows is shutting down" if I just try to turn it off.

PS:cables are fine. I try to avoid touching anything delicate inside the box I can. I have what is called 'a benign tremor' in my hands and I break things.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

The CTRL+F11 thing seems to be OEM specific. The factory restore in many cases will erase EVERYTHING from your hard drive and will restore the computer to where it came from the factory. Then you will need to re-apply all the updates and programs etcetera.

[Seamus]

The CTRL+F11 thing seems to be OEM specific. The factory restore in many cases will erase EVERYTHING from your hard drive and will restore the computer to where it came from the factory. Then you will need to re-apply all the updates and programs etcetera.


Umm,OK


I feel a bit dumb: I gave all the cables a bit of a jiggle and they FELT fine---BUT the graphics are now normal (!)

DOH!


However,the problems with restore and shutdown functions are still a worry. The factory restore function was specific to this PC. I'll think about it: I have everything I wan to keep backed up on my large external hard drive (1TB) -

I have a LOT of non MS applications.

[Mark]

Umm,OK


I feel a bit dumb: I gave all the cables a bit of a jiggle and they FELT fine---BUT the graphics are now normal (!)

DOH!

I'm glad that's fixed!

However,the problems with restore and shutdown functions are still a worry. The factory restore function was specific to this PC. I'll think about it: I have everything I wan to keep backed up on my large external hard drive (1TB) -

I have a LOT of non MS applications.

I'd recommend doing an image of your hard drive before doing a factory restore - that way, if you find that there was something that you missed backing up, or you can't reinstall a particular program for whatever reason, you've still got a chance to get them back.