XP hangs when loading video driver

[BruHawco]

Hey guys
This is a reoccuring problem that I would like to fix, but as of now I'm stumped. I restarted my computer today and when windows was loading it up it hanged. I reset, loaded it in safe mode and it loaded fine. I knew it was a video card/driver problem, because like I said, this has happened before. So I deleted my video card drivers, and my computer booted normally. I put the drivers back on, and as soon as the drivers were loaded, my monitor shut off and when I turned it back on I was faced with a black screen and a hung system. I've restarted my comptuer dozens of times since this last happened and it would boot normally... so I'm not sure why it happened this time. To resolve the issue before I had to reformat my entire system which is just a pain in the ass, and is a further pain when this seems to happen every 3-4 months. (I upgraded my system last March)

Specs

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
512 Megs Kingston HyperX
ASUS Radeon 9600XT
ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
550W Enermax PSU
Windows XP Professional SP2
ATI Catalyst drivers (can't recall version)

I've recently put SP2 on the system... I tried to go as long as possible without upgrading to it because the last time the problem happened was right after I put it on. But a situation came up where I had to put it on (Minidisc software problem) so I upgraded XP to SP2 and it worked fine... so I didn't think anything of it. Anyone think that this may part of the problem?

I've tried a few different versions of the catalyst driver in past experiences and they all yielded the same result. I've also used the drivers that came with the card... same problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated... thanks guys.

 

[AristoV300]

I have had the same problem too with my 6800GT after I loaded SP2. Every so often the VGA driver gets screwed up windows hangs up. My guess is that it might be SP2 also. Only thing that I have been able to do is to use Norton Ghost and image my System partition and when it craps out is use the rescue disk and reimage my drive back via floppy. It only takes less than 5 mins. Is is a PITA though... Anyone else have a better solution? It is always my VGA drivers crapping out.

 

[BruHawco]

bump

 

[BruHawco]

Gotta bump this again... still not working

 

[Mem]

Try Driver Cleaner in safe mode,I recomend you run cab cleaner as well(in tools menu of Driver Cleaner),there`s also a readme file included on how to use Driver Cleaner.


Btw remember if you use the new ATI CCC ,you need Net framework 1.1 installed ,link.

 

[BruHawco]

Unfortunately it didn't work
But thanks for your suggestion.... looks like I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and reformat again

 

[Mem]

Did you also try the service pack cab cleaner as well in Driver Cleaner (SP2)? Also try reinstalling your chipset Nvidia AGP (gart)driver.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Wow, I'm not the only one.

My FireGL refuses to work with the built-in VGA driver. I can't even complete SP2 setup without going to a black screen. Had to stuff the drivers and hack the INFs to make it work.

- M4H

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Usually with ATI cards on nF chipsets having trouble I'd sugest turning off fastwrites and 8x AGP support in the bios and enabling vid ram caching, then installing the drivers in safe mode, but based on the feedback this looks like something else.

 

[BruHawco]

Just an update on the situation
Cleared everything on my system, reinstalled XP... first thing I did was install my mobo drivers and then my graphics driver and tada..... same problem. So right now I'm using the default windows drivers, which is just pissing me off. Mem, I did clean both the drivers and the cabs using Driver Cleaner and that didn't work. Thanks for te suggestion. Dapunisher, I will try yor suggestion now, but first I'm gonna reseat everything in my mobo. If you have any more suggestions, please let them be heard, cause I'm open to trying anything anyone has to offer. Thanks guys

 

[BruHawco]

Alright
So I tried what you suggested dapunisher, and it didn't work. I took off all my drivers, and put on the latest Nforce and Catalyst drivers and it didn't work. So I took off the mobo drivers and my system still failed to load windows XP. My bro says that this is a software problem becayse if my video card was shot, then I wouldn't be able to run my computer normally without the drivers. Is this correct to assume? However, upon reading your post dapunisher, I didn't install the drivers in safe mode, so I'll try that now and get back to ya with the results.

 

[BruHawco]

Finally, finally I have disovered what's causing my problme... get this, it's my monitor. I thought it might have been this but figured that if it was my monitor, it wouldn't cause XP to hang, but it did. My monitor is extremely out of date and I did plan on buying a new one when I had the money... I tried to update my monitor driver to see if that would work, unfortunately the driver I downloaded off the Proview website isn't a simple install driver, rather one you have to install manually. The only problem, my monitor is not listed in my device manager and when I try to do it through the screen settings (by right clicking the screen) it doesn't give me the option of changing the driver, so I can't put these things on manually.

 

[ChunkAhoy]

Hello Bru Hawco.

My windows XP crashes while at the loading logo and there's a signal sent at my screen because the LED is still green. This happened to me 3 month ago, stoped and now its back.

After hours and hours of research on the forums. im at the end of the roll.
Until i find this thread.
Seem's like we are having the exact same problem.
altough, i'm not sure its your monitor.
look at my system specs

AMD Barton 2800+
512 Megs Kingston Value
ASUS Radeon 9800XT
ASUS A7N8X
400W Antec PSU
Windows XP Professional SP1
ATI Catalyst drivers (latest on december 3rd)

i know its not my monitor because i have 2 different monitors and the problem apears on both.
And since we are having the exact same problem with verry similar hardware. You may have been fooled like the first time and think the problem has stopped but it will eventualy come back. ( thats what happened to me ).
Or maybe you know somthing i don't about these monitor drivers.

i'd like to meet you on messenger or email. If you're willing to.
maybe we can figure out more about this problem with what we have both seen.
please send me an email to gperras@msn.com

 

[ChunkAhoy]

CORRECTION.
My video card is not a ASUS Radeon 9800XT, its an ATI Radeon 9800XT
sorry about that...

 

[Kervokian]

You are not alone. I have the same problem and have had no luck so far in finding a fix. I had already tried everything suggested here with no luck. Tried both Catalyst and Omega drivers, old and new ones, after running the cleaner every time. My system specs are:

Intel P4 2.53Ghz
512MB Corsair XMS RAM
ASUS P4P800 E-Deluxe
ASUS Radeon 9600XT
400W Antec Smart Power PSU
Windows XP SP2

 

[BruHawco]

ChunkAhoy, just added you to my MSN... hopefully we can get it figured out. I am 100% sure it was my monitor. I loaded up windows with the catalyst drivers and it hung as usualy. I reset the computer with my brothers monitor hooked up and it ran perfectly. I was able to put the drivers for my monitor on, plugged back in my monitor and there hasn't been a problem since. What was causing the problem for me was my refresh rates. With my old monitor I couldn't change the refresh, but after installing the drivers, I could. Just message me on MSN and we'll see if we can fix it up. Kervokian, if you want, you can gimme a shout on MSN if you want too... brianhawco2003@hotmail.com

 

[jarantal]

I had the same prob and I think i resolved it!? Tried everything I could imagine would help - nothing till I found this article http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/3179.html on ATI site and it mentioned the AGP chipset drivers. I had installed the drivers but they had somehow got screwed up and the default XP drivers were in use. I cleaned all ATI catalyst-drivers off my comp, re-installed the AGP chipset driver and re-installed the catalyst WITH the ATI control panel. Booted and everything has been honkydoory ever since. Dont know if this will help you guys but I wish it will - I HATE these driver problems with XP cause you just cant always resolve them....

 

[istari01]

now i also have the same problem but for me windows loads up (extremely slowley tho) but the only thing i see on the screen is some icons and thats it, i then restart the computer, which loads up fine and then i get a black screen with a moveable mouse.....
i have updated all the drivers and flashed the bio's what else is there to do?

heres my specs

amd athlon xp 1800
kingston 512 + 256 mbs of ram
ati radeon 9800 xt
windows xp sp2
320 kilowatt PSU

 

[BruHawco]

Well guess what happened to me today. Power outage occured, and now I'm having the problem again. And yes, I have come to the conclusion that it's a GART (AGP chipset) problem. I tired what you suggested jaranta, but it didn't work. So if it's possible... can you give me the step by step instructions of what you did just incase I didn't do something I should have or something you didn't do. Thanks.

 

[bikky]

I've had exactly the same problem in 2 days with 2 machines.

firstly was xp2400, gig ddr400 gf4 4800ti.

this turned out to be my usb adsl modem, as safe mode worked but safemode with networking didnt, uninstalled themodem and it booted fine.

secdonly was my laptop

dell lattitude d600 1.7gig 512 ram ati gfx card.

booted into safe mode, then rebooted normally and it loaded fine.

please note i did try several boots in normal mode on both machines without sucess before i found the problem through safe mode.

 

[jarantal]

If I remember correctly I unistalled all the ATI drivers from Add/Remove programs, then "manually" deleted all ATI drivers and related files from my system folders. I also deleted the GART drivers. Reboot -> Installed chipset drivers -> reboot -> installed catalyst drivers and the control panel.

I had a similar problem once before. Then the "guilty" party was my USB- driver. You can eliminate this by unplugging all your USB devices and then booting your sys -> if everything is OK then update your USB-driver and thats it. XP-drivers dont work OK with all MOBOs.