Video problem (?)

[William B. Lurie]

I can't tell if this is a Windows problem but let's see. I've
been told that it's a "video resources" problem, but I don't
know how to pin it down. The most straightforward manifestation
is as follows:

Start>>Control Panel>>Display>>Settings

I move the Screen Resolution pointer from 800x600 to 1024x768,
click "Apply". Screen goes black for estimated half second,
then comes on again with the Display Properties screen somewhat
smaller, as expected. Now several of the "buttons" in that pane
are blacked out, for estimated half second, then they fill in
properly, and I "Okay" out.

Under other circumstances (at the end of Boot Up procedure), after
Norton System Works has finished its laborious time-consuming
testing and initiation, when the screen just goes black for about
five seconds, then returns to normal.

Machine is Compaq Presario 3.2 GHz; it came with 512 Meg of RAM, now
expanded to three times that. The video is ATI Technologies RADEON
XPRESS 200 Series. Video Memory size 256Meg. Internal DAC (400 MHz).

 

[Malke]

I can't tell if this is a Windows problem but let's see. I've
been told that it's a "video resources" problem, but I don't
know how to pin it down. The most straightforward manifestation
is as follows:

Start>>Control Panel>>Display>>Settings

I move the Screen Resolution pointer from 800x600 to 1024x768,
click "Apply". Screen goes black for estimated half second,
then comes on again with the Display Properties screen somewhat
smaller, as expected. Now several of the "buttons" in that pane
are blacked out, for estimated half second, then they fill in
properly, and I "Okay" out.

Under other circumstances (at the end of Boot Up procedure), after
Norton System Works has finished its laborious time-consuming
testing and initiation, when the screen just goes black for about
five seconds, then returns to normal.

Machine is Compaq Presario 3.2 GHz; it came with 512 Meg of RAM, now
expanded to three times that. The video is ATI Technologies RADEON
XPRESS 200 Series. Video Memory size 256Meg. Internal DAC (400 MHz).

1. Try it with all Norton programs disabled at startup. Do this from the
System Configuration Utility (msconfig). If you connect to the Internet
directly through a cable/DSL modem (no router and not dialup) disconnect
the ethernet cable first so you will not be unprotected.

2. If that solves the issue, uninstall all Norton products since they
are bloated, invasive, and not very good anyway. Recommended antivirus
programs are NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast if you want a free one. The
Windows Firewall is adequate for most people.

3. If that does not solve the issue, uninstall the ATI Catalyst Control
Panel and install only the most recent drivers for your machine. Do not
reinstall the Catalyst Control Panel.

4. If all the software troubleshooting doesn't work, uninstall the video
card and swap it out for a known-working one. If that solves the issue,
replace the card.


Malke

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Adding to what Malke posted check to see if hardware acceleration is turned
off.
Go to Control Panel->Display->Settings Tab and click the Advanced button.
Select Troubleshoot tab and ensure the slider is set to Full. Check the box
Enable write combining. Then click OK out. You may have to reboot the
computer.

 

[William B. Lurie]

Adding to what Malke posted check to see if hardware acceleration is turned
off.
Go to Control Panel->Display->Settings Tab and click the Advanced button.
Select Troubleshoot tab and ensure the slider is set to Full. Check the box
Enable write combining. Then click OK out. You may have to reboot the
computer.

Thanks, Harry; slider was already at Full, and Enable box
already checked.

 

[William B. Lurie]

1. Try it with all Norton programs disabled at startup. Do this from the
System Configuration Utility (msconfig). If you connect to the Internet
directly through a cable/DSL modem (no router and not dialup) disconnect
the ethernet cable first so you will not be unprotected.

2. If that solves the issue, uninstall all Norton products since they
are bloated, invasive, and not very good anyway. Recommended antivirus
programs are NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast if you want a free one. The
Windows Firewall is adequate for most people.

3. If that does not solve the issue, uninstall the ATI Catalyst Control
Panel and install only the most recent drivers for your machine. Do not
reinstall the Catalyst Control Panel.

4. If all the software troubleshooting doesn't work, uninstall the video
card and swap it out for a known-working one. If that solves the issue,
replace the card.


Malke

As for (1)and (2), Malke, I did zackly what you suggested, disabled all
Norton and Symantec from Start-Up list, no improvement. I share your
opinion about Symantec, but I'm too heavily invested in Ghost to go
another route....unless mandatory. As for (3)......I'll try to find the
ATI Catalyst Control Panel. Never heard of it before. As for Video Card,
I have no spares. But w aren't there yet.

 

[William B. Lurie]

As for (1)and (2), Malke, I did zackly what you suggested, disabled all
Norton and Symantec from Start-Up list, no improvement. I share your
opinion about Symantec, but I'm too heavily invested in Ghost to go
another route....unless mandatory. As for (3)......I'll try to find the
ATI Catalyst Control Panel. Never heard of it before. As for Video Card,
I have no spares. But we aren't there yet.

Okay, I found Program Files>>ATI>> ATI Control Panel. I didn't see
a Catalyst Control Panel. Maybe it's the same thing, but could you
be more specific as to what to do there? And is there no risk of
disabling my video with no safety belt?

 

[Malke]

Okay, I found Program Files>>ATI>> ATI Control Panel. I didn't see
a Catalyst Control Panel. Maybe it's the same thing, but could you
be more specific as to what to do there? And is there no risk of
disabling my video with no safety belt?

The ATI Control Panel is the same thing. ATI calls their drivers
"Catalyst" and sometimes the Control Panel is called that. Uninstall
just the Control Panel. When you uninstall mftr. video drivers (ATI,
Nvidia), the system will revert to basic VGA drivers.


Malke

 

[William B. Lurie]

The ATI Control Panel is the same thing. ATI calls their drivers
"Catalyst" and sometimes the Control Panel is called that. Uninstall
just the Control Panel. When you uninstall mftr. video drivers (ATI,
Nvidia), the system will revert to basic VGA drivers.


Malke

Okay, I'll give it a try, but I'll do it on my clone/backup system.
I can always recreate that from a Ghost/Drive Image.

 

[William B. Lurie]

The ATI Control Panel is the same thing. ATI calls their drivers
"Catalyst" and sometimes the Control Panel is called that. Uninstall
just the Control Panel. When you uninstall mftr. video drivers (ATI,
Nvidia), the system will revert to basic VGA drivers.


Malke

Hello, Malke.
To be safe, I operated on my clone, off line. Had to go to Safe Mode
in order to beat the "denied Access" warning. Deleted ATI Control panel,
rebooted with Normal Startup. Video performance unchanged from before.
Deleted three suspects from Startup Menu (Norton Ghost Tray, HPBootOp,
nad HPWuSchd2) and tried again. Still the same. What next?

 

[Malke]

Hello, Malke.
To be safe, I operated on my clone, off line. Had to go to Safe Mode
in order to beat the "denied Access" warning. Deleted ATI Control panel,
rebooted with Normal Startup. Video performance unchanged from before.
Deleted three suspects from Startup Menu (Norton Ghost Tray, HPBootOp,
nad HPWuSchd2) and tried again. Still the same. What next?

Then it is most probably the hardware. Unfortunately, I believe that
video card is a chip on the motherboard. If your computer has an AGP
slot, put in an AGP video card after uninstalling the ATI drivers.
Usually you don't need to change the settings in the BIOS. Sometimes you
do. If there is no AGP slot (and I rather doubt it has PCI-e although
you should check on HP's website or look in the manual), then you are
stuck putting in a PCI video card. PCI video cards aren't the greatest,
but then neither is that video chip. With those specs, you weren't
gaming anyway.

If you don't have an extra video card lying around for testing purposes,
then take the machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your
local version of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad) or live with things the way
they are.


Malke

 

[Unknown]

What else do you have in the startup menu. The symptoms indicate something
is interrupting the data transfer to the monitor. Something running in the
background. Have you displayed task manager--processes?

 

[William B. Lurie]

Thanks for stepping in. I have many programs loaded. This problem
of video blanking when clicking from place to place in
Display>>Settings>>Apply occurs with nothing running.
Like 99&, only the Task Manager itself, Performance..0% CPU usage.

It can happen when online or offline, and is entirely repeatable.
Somebody suggested inadequate resources but I can't believe
that HP shipped the machine with inadequate Video (it is 256 Meg),
and I have 1.5 GB of RAM.

 

[Unknown]

I do not believe it to be inadequate resources because they are similar to
mine and, I do not have that problem.
Have you tried tracking/tracing the problem by using the event viewer?

 

[Unknown]

You say you have many programs loaded. Why not go to msconfig and remove all
x's from the start up list. Then reboot and immediately try the video test.

 

[Unknown]

One other item: ATI has released Catalist 7.7 display driver on 7-19-2007
It is for Radoen Express 200 series.---not even a month ago. Do you have it.
Visit the ATI site and get further info.

 

[William B. Lurie]

Hey, "UN", I went further than that. I went to msconfig and
changed to Diagnostic Startup--System Services Only. I rebooted,
waited forever (it seemed) but it booted up and I tried the
resolution change. Sure enough, it's doing the half-second
video blanking in that mode. I'm trying to get ATI to work
on this, but it's a forever job to post messages on their
Customer Help facility on their website. Next time I succeed
in messaging them, I'll ask about Catalyst 7.7...but remember,
I removed ATI Control Panel and still have the blanking.