Modeps
Lifer
Ok, so i've got this laptop from compaq... a presario 1700t (1ghz p3, 128mb ram, 10gb hard drive, ati rage mobility)...
I leave it on all the time typically, but after a while, it shuts off the harddrives and the screen... the other day, I come back from dinner and find it locked up completely... cant ctrl-alt-del, power button or anything... Sooo, I unplug it and remove the battery... wait a few, then plug it back in. The compaq bios splash comes up like normal... then goes black... (the speaker makes a small pop sound) The compaq bios splash comes up... then goes to black... repeat ad infinitum.
So after trying everything I can think of, I decide, screw it, I wanted to put XP pro on it anyways (it came with XP home) so I run down and get my XP pro cd, throw it in, boot off it, and successfully install it on the laptop, no more problems with bootup. However, now I notice that everything installed perfectly except the video driver for the ATI Rage Mobility... Which windows tells me 'cannot start device'.
I go searching around on their website for drivers, to no avail... find a bit of text burried deep in a pdf file about installing XP, it says that the driver for my ATI rage mobility will be installed automatically. Fantastic.
Finally, I decide to shoot compaq an email asking them how to get it working... obviously they dont read their support emails at all... because I got a response telling me to do exactly what I actually did. They even pointed me to the driver downloads section that didnt have the driver for me. Further on in their email, they state that they only support the operating system that came installed on the laptop, and I should install XP Home again, from their 'Restore Disk' that didnt come with my laptop, but that I have to actually order from them (for 10 dollars + shipping).
How can I get my video working without ordering this bloody CD? I've checked ATI's site, they say to get the drivers from the laptop's manufacturer. I've tried multiple mobility drivers that came with XP, but all of them give me the same 'cannot start device' message.
ack.
I leave it on all the time typically, but after a while, it shuts off the harddrives and the screen... the other day, I come back from dinner and find it locked up completely... cant ctrl-alt-del, power button or anything... Sooo, I unplug it and remove the battery... wait a few, then plug it back in. The compaq bios splash comes up like normal... then goes black... (the speaker makes a small pop sound) The compaq bios splash comes up... then goes to black... repeat ad infinitum.
So after trying everything I can think of, I decide, screw it, I wanted to put XP pro on it anyways (it came with XP home) so I run down and get my XP pro cd, throw it in, boot off it, and successfully install it on the laptop, no more problems with bootup. However, now I notice that everything installed perfectly except the video driver for the ATI Rage Mobility... Which windows tells me 'cannot start device'.
I go searching around on their website for drivers, to no avail... find a bit of text burried deep in a pdf file about installing XP, it says that the driver for my ATI rage mobility will be installed automatically. Fantastic.
Finally, I decide to shoot compaq an email asking them how to get it working... obviously they dont read their support emails at all... because I got a response telling me to do exactly what I actually did. They even pointed me to the driver downloads section that didnt have the driver for me. Further on in their email, they state that they only support the operating system that came installed on the laptop, and I should install XP Home again, from their 'Restore Disk' that didnt come with my laptop, but that I have to actually order from them (for 10 dollars + shipping).
How can I get my video working without ordering this bloody CD? I've checked ATI's site, they say to get the drivers from the laptop's manufacturer. I've tried multiple mobility drivers that came with XP, but all of them give me the same 'cannot start device' message.
ack.
