Why did I have to Enable VGA Mode

[Jimbo]

During a clean install of WinXP Pro my screen became unreadable ... after
allowing the installation to run its course I eventually re-booted.
The display was still garbled and so I rebooted again ... this time pressing
F8 intending to try Safe Mode. I noticed an option to enable VGA and so
opted for this choice instead. Lo and behold everything appears to be fine
now.
Why was this step necessary ?
.... did I do something wrong during the installation ?


Regards
TIA

 

[Nick Burns]

You need to install the correct video drivers for your video card. The one
you are now using is generic. You should have a disk with the correct
drivers for your card.

 

[Jimbo]

Ahhh ... Thank you ...

I installed Win XP onto a new HDD ... consequently no drivers. I have since
installed the correct drivers (ATI Radeon 7200 series) .....
Will there now be an option to reverse the F8 / Enable VGA or has it been
made unnecessary by the installation of the ATI Graphics Drivers
(I do find that the screen is somewhat distorted until windows has loaded)

Regards
TIA

 

[XPUSER]

The Advanced Options Menu which includes the
"Enable VGA" choice should only show up when
you invoke it by using the F8 key on boot up -

The temporary distortion you see as the desktop
loads is probably a result of waiting for the ATI
driver to initialize. If you have not already done so,
you may want to check on the ATI web site and see
if perhaps there is an updated driver available for your
Radeon 7200 series adapter.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

=====================================

 

[Jimbo]

Hmmm .... well ... I have the latest ATI and iiyama drivers

If I boot from power off the display is perfect during the whole of the boot
up sequence .. However, if I do a 'restart' then the display is corrupted
during the POST as is the Windows logo splash screen. It eventually returns
to normal when the Windows 'Welcome' message is displayed.

This is more of an irritation than anything else although I do wonder if any
damage is being caused to the monitor.

Any ideas re correcting the problem will be welcome

Regards