Graphics problem, .NET, and maybe something else?

[EliteRetard]

New PC and OS now seemingly randomly having an issue with graphics.
Screen saver results in solid black locked screen, internet videos don't appear correctly on page (but do seem to play fine), trying to open CCC usually results in instant crash/reboot, trying any game or GPU tool results in weird issues, lockups, black screens, reboots etc.

Tried system restore (which failed/gave an error) uninstalling/reinstalling all GPU software/drivers, tried removing/reinstalling .NET 4.5, tried a new registry string (then CCC opened fine but nothing else was fixed and now CCC is back to broken). I used CCleaner to clear registry after uninstalling before reinstalling.

No luck so far and still no real idea what's actually wrong. Been trying to solve this all day and now I have a migraine. I can't think of anything I did to cause this...it just happened yesterday when I came home and turned on the monitor. Oh and firewall and antivirus (AVG) are on up to date and no issues (updates/scans every day).

I just recently set this thing up and now have about 400GB of new data and programs downloaded and installed. I REALLY don't want to have to do that again (requires going through many services and I have slow wireless internet).

I'm at the point where I want to try deleting all drivers and windows updates I can, then use CCleaner to clean the registry and see if I can install Vista back over the top of itself (XP used to be able to). That might just break it the rest of the way but I don't know what else to try.

Figure I might as well ask here and see if I get any worthwhile suggestions before I try to nuke this thing. For now I'm taking a nap, this migraine is just about to squeeze the eyes out of my head.

Hardware if it matters:
Antec 300 w/ extra fans
AMD X6 1100T w/ old water cooling rig
Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H
2x2GB DDR3 1066MHz
HIS IceQ X 6950
2TB WD Black 7200RPM
Antec Neo Eco 620w
Vista Home Premium 64bit

 

[VirtualLarry]

first of all, are you running vista SP2? And is the ATI driver you are using, supported for Vista (SP2)? The reason I ask this, is because Vista SP2 is the only version of Vista that is still supported (by MS, and ATI), and not all ATI drivers support Vista at all.

Second, have you tried installing a second temp HDD, and installing a fresh install, and/or possibly using a Linux LiveCD and looking for issues?

 

[EliteRetard]

first of all, are you running vista SP2? And is the ATI driver you are using, supported for Vista (SP2)? The reason I ask this, is because Vista SP2 is the only version of Vista that is still supported (by MS, and ATI), and not all ATI drivers support Vista at all.

Second, have you tried installing a second temp HDD, and installing a fresh install, and/or possibly using a Linux LiveCD and looking for issues?

Did I not not say it was fully updated? My brain was a bit fuzzy, but yes it is indeed fully updated...this build/install is only like a month old.

No second HDD or backup. My other HDDs all blew up, just bought this one for the new build and haven't acquired a second yet.

Guess I'm going to try to do a reinstall. I'll let you know if it works out or if I have to reformat and start all over.