Video card driver permanently lost after automatic update! :(

[Jon Davis]

On an Acer Aspire 5050 which has a Radeon Xpress 200M I upgraded a healthy
configuration of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Windows Vista
Ultimate. Everything has been working fine for the last month, with
beautiful 3D video, Aero support, Media Center support, game play support,
etc., until now.

After ATI's Vista update "failed to find any installable components," I made
the idiotic mistake of opening up the Display settings and choosing "Search
automatically for updated driver software". IMO this is a severely broken
component of Vista but that's not the point of my post here. The automatic
update UNINSTALLED all of my video card drivers and told me I "successfully"
updated to the "Standard VGA Adapter".

The "Rollback Driver" button is, and always has been, dimmed. I'd try
rebooting to the "last successful hardware configuration" if it's available,
but I've already rebooted a few times with different attempts to fix this.

I had recently downloaded the Vista RTM drivers from ATI/AMD's web site, but
all Setup does is tell me that there are no compatible components to install
(that was both before and after "updating" to the "Standard VGA Adapter").
However, the .inf file containing a reference to the Xpress 200 series is
there. (Actually, three such references are there.)

I tried pointing to this .inf file, but Windows fails to try installing it
because it "cannot find the required files". There are several DLLs in this
directory where the .inf file was extracted, but their filenames are
suffixed with ".dl_" rather than ".dll". Does anyone know whether these
".dl_" files are compressed, and if so, how they can and should be expanded
for this purpose?

Jon

 

[Greg]

Same thing happened here. I just did a complete reinstall to cure after
trying everything else. Also since I use academic MS Office (legally) I'm
worried that my 3 installs of it are already used up.
Thanks MS. Linux is looking better all the time.

 

[Jon Davis]

OK so I went to Acer's site (Acer is the laptop brand) and downloaded a
Windows XP update for the graphics adapter. Their site is messed up, though,
because the Aspire 5050 is marketed as having an Xpress 200M chipset, and
the previously installed drivers I'd been using for a month were Xpress 200M
drivers, but what I downloaded from Acer was for Radeon Xpress 1100.

The Xpress 1100 drivers install correctly (as in, without errors and with
32-bit color and support for my laptop's native resolution), but Aero is
disabled and I cannot reenable it (its option in Appearance settings is
still gone, only Vista Basic is showing).

I've found Direct3D support to be working correctly by firing up Guild Wars
and World of Warcraft and seeing solid performance and resolution. Why is
Aero disabled if D3D is stable?

Jon

 

[Guest]

The only Acer "vista" drivers that support ATI 200m/1100 xpress are:

ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_3100_5100_5110/driver/vista/ATI_X1100_8.332_070108a1-041581C-Acer.zip

But they do work im running them here, if you would like to mod the ATI
offical ones add the following :-

[ATI.Mfg]
"ATI Radeon Xpress 1100" = ati2mtag_RS482M,
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5975&SUBSYS_009F1025

[ati2mtag_RS482M]
Include=msdv.inf
FeatureScore=F6
CopyFiles=R300.Miniport, R300.Display, R300.OGL
AddReg = ati2mtag_SoftwareDeviceSettings
AddReg = ati2mtag_RS482M_SoftwareDeviceSettings
AddReg = ati2mtag_Mobile_SoftwareDeviceSettings
DelReg = ati2mtag_RemoveDeviceSettings
DelFiles = R300.DelFiles
RegisterDlls = TMM.RegisterDlls

[ati2mtag_RS482M.Services]
AddService = R300, 0x00000002, R300_Service_Inst, R300_EventLog_Inst
AddService = Ati External Event Utility, 0x00000000,
Ati2evxx_Generic_Service_Inst, Ati2evxx_EventLog_Inst

[ati2mtag_RS482M.HW]
AddReg = atikmdag_MSI_HardwareDeviceSettings_off

[ati2mtag_RS482M_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
HKR,, DALRULE_NOTVANDLCDONCRTC, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, WmAgpMaxIdleClk, %REG_DWORD%, 0x20
;;HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run",ATIModeChange,,"Ati2mdxx.exe"
HKR,, DALR6 CRT_MaxModeInfo,
%REG_BINARY%,00,00,00,00,40,06,00,00,B0,04,00,00,00,00,00,00,3C,00,00,00
HKR,, SMOOTHVISION_NAME, %REG_SZ%, "SMOOTHVISION 2.1"
HKR,, UserModeDriverName, %REG_MULTI_SZ%, atiumdag.dll
HKR,, R6GxO_UseI2cLayer, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, DisableQuickApply3D, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, R6GxO_UseI2cLayer, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, GI_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR,, ASTT_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, 3to2Pulldown_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, Transcode_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, TheaterMode_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD\DXVA", DXVA_WMV, %REG_SZ%, "0"
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD1,
%REG_BINARY%,12,80,08,00,00,00,00,60,14,40,09,00,00,00,00,60,16,80,10,50,00,00,00,60,08,00,04,80,00,00,00,60,10,24,04,80,00,00,00,60,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,60,14,00,10,50,00,00,00,60
HKR,, DisableDualView, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, DisableDualviewWithHotKey, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, TVDisableModes, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, DisableSWInterrupt, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, ExtEvent_BIOSEventByInterrupt, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, TVM6Flag, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR, "UMD",Main3D_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 3
HKR, "UMD",AntiAlias_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",AntiAliasSamples_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",AnisoType_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",AnisoDegree_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TextureOpt_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TextureLod_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TruformMode_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",VSyncControl_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",SwapEffect_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TemporalAAMultiplier_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",ExportCompressedTex_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",PixelCenter_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",ForceZBufferDepth_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",EnableTripleBuffering_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",CatalystAI_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, ColourDesktopGamma_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourDesktopBrightness_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0 0 0"
HKR,, ColourDesktopContrast_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenGamma_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenBrightness_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0 0 0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenContrast_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, 3D_Refresh_Rate_Override_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Display_Detection_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Panning_Mode_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Force_TV_Detection_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
[ati2mtag_R300_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
HKR,, DisableFullAdapterInit, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, GCOOPTION_DigitalCrtInfo, %REG_BINARY%, A3,38,61,C1,A3,38,61,B1
HKR,, GCOOPTION_MaxTmdsPllOutFreq, %REG_BINARY%, 50,c3,00,00
HKR,, GCORULE_FracFbDivSupport, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, PrimaryTiling, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, GCORULE_FlickerWA, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, SMOOTHVISION_NAME, %REG_SZ%, "SMOOTHVISION 2.1"
HKR,, GI_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR,, Transcode_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, TheaterMode_NA, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD1,
%REG_BINARY%,07,20,04,80,00,00,00,60,07,20,04,80,00,00,00,75,07,20,04,80,00,00,00,85,07,20,05,76,00,00,00,00,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,60,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,75,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,85,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,60
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD2,
%REG_BINARY%,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,75,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,85,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,60,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,75,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,85,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,60,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,75,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,85
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD3,
%REG_BINARY%,13,60,10,24,00,00,00,60,13,60,10,24,00,00,00,75,13,60,10,24,00,00,00,85,19,20,10,80,00,00,00,30,19,20,10,80,00,00,00,85,12,80,09,60,00,00,00,00,16,00,12,00,00,00,00,70,17,92,13,44,00,00,00,00
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD4,
%REG_BINARY%,18,00,14,40,00,00,00,00,18,56,13,92,00,00,00,00
HKR,, DALRestrictedModesBCD1,
%REG_BINARY%,06,40,04,80,00,00,01,60,06,40,04,80,00,00,02,00,08,00,06,00,00,00,01,60,08,00,06,00,00,00,02,00,10,24,07,68,00,00,01,50,10,24,07,68,00,00,01,60,10,24,07,68,00,00,02,00,12,80,10,24,00,00,01,60
HKR,, DALRestrictedModesBCD2,
%REG_BINARY%,12,80,10,24,00,00,02,00,16,00,12,00,00,00,01,00,16,00,12,00,00,00,01,20,17,92,13,44,00,00,00,90,17,92,13,44,00,00,01,00,18,00,14,40,00,00,00,90,18,00,14,40,00,00,01,00,19,20,12,00,00,00,00,85
HKR,, DALRestrictedModesBCD3,
%REG_BINARY%,19,20,14,40,00,00,00,85,19,20,14,40,00,00,01,00,20,48,15,36,00,00,00,66
HKR,, HDTVRULE_HDTVGDOENABLE, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, HDTVRULE_HDTVSIGNALFORMAT, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, TVM6Flag, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, DfpUsePixSlip, %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR, "UMD",Main3D_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 3
HKR, "UMD",AntiAlias_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",AntiAliasSamples_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",AnisoType_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",AnisoDegree_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TextureOpt_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TextureLod_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TruformMode_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",VSyncControl_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",SwapEffect_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",TemporalAAMultiplier_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",ExportCompressedTex_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1
HKR, "UMD",PixelCenter_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",ForceZBufferDepth_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR, "UMD",EnableTripleBuffering_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 0
HKR,, ColourDesktopGamma_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourDesktopBrightness_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0 0 0"
HKR,, ColourDesktopContrast_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenGamma_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenBrightness_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "0 0 0"
HKR,, ColourFullscreenContrast_DEF, %REG_SZ%, "1.0 1.0 1.0"
HKR,, 3D_Refresh_Rate_Override_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Display_Detection_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Panning_Mode_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, Force_TV_Detection_DEF, %REG_DWORD%, 0
HKR,, CatalystAI_DEF, %REG_SZ%, 1

[ati2mtag_RS482M.GeneralConfigData]
MaximumDeviceMemoryConfiguration=256
MaximumNumberOfDevices=4