Changed monitor --> Catalyst crashing

[Concillian]

So I am stumped right now.

2x FP1708 Dell monitors --> 1x Dell U2412M monitor. Vista ultimate SP2, up to date. S1156 / 5770 / 8 GB.
Reboot --> Catalyst crashes within 2 minutes of booting (whether it stays at login or I actually log in, it doesn't matter)

Things I have tried:
System restore and re-attach 2x 1708s. Works
Remove catalyst drivers. Put new monitor. Works.
Reinstall Catalyst drivers, Vista crashes.

Remove Catalyst drivers, boot to safe mode, remove Catalyst related registry entires, reboot. Works.
Reinstall Catalyst drivers, Vista crashes.

Have tried DVI, HDMI --> DVI and VGA cables, all result in same symptoms.
Monitor driver from Dell or Windows generic PnP monitor both have the same symptoms.

Then I system restore to a point that catalyst is not installed, but I haven't booted to safe mode and removed all the registry entries. Games appear to work and it doesn't crash. So I left it here for a while so I can put my old monitors on my wife's computer, which is S775 / 4850 / 4GB.

Remove her old TN panel to add the 1708s. It's crashing too. Same symptoms. System restore and put her TN panel back, it's working.

What the hell. Just a monitor swap. Why is the display driver crashing? Why is it consistent on both machines? Never seen anything like this before. Thinking my next step is re-installing. Not too big a deal for my computer, but my wife has all these crappy little programs installed I'm going to have to find download and reinstall.

 

[remyat]

Really weird indeed...

something to do with vista and dual monitor setting? try to set it to default, same with the desktop resolution (standard vga 640x480 or so).

good luck!

 

[Elixer]

What is the crash message ?
Also, did you run something like driver sweeper / cleaner ?

 

[Concillian]

What is the crash message ?
Also, did you run something like driver sweeper / cleaner ?

I dunno what the message is, the screen turns black or grey, makes sense since I know it's some portion of the display driver that's crashing. Sometimes the HD continues on for a bit, but it's definitely done at that point and I must manually power off and on.

Yeah, I use a sweeper program in safe mode to get rid of the last remnants of the AMD driver. Once that's out, there's no driver and everything looks like ass (640x480 on a 1920x1200 display is pretty funny)

Catalyst fully installed = crash
Remove through control panel uninstall and reboot = no crash, can game, no CCC or anything, but some part of the drive that crashes isn't there anymore and some part of the driver that does most of the work is fine.

But anytime more than that is installed, it's rebooting itself after a minute or so in Windows. It's obviously something with the way I'm configuring the dual monitors since my wife's computer is doing it too, but I just don't know what.

I think a full wipe is going to be necessary. Luckily I have a working condition so I can postpone that until a convenient time.