Video card just stopped working

My system is a Dual boot XP Pro SP3 and Vista Ultimate SP1. Intel 965
chipset, E6700 CPU, 2GB RAM, Lightscribe DVD-RW, with multiple hard drives
and multiple partitions. I was running a Geforce 6600GT 128M PCIe video card.

Last week I was working in XP, and when I booted back to Vista, the monitor
reports no signal. It gives me the boot up screen with the scrolling bar,
then goes black when the GUI starts to load. I can hear the boot sounds, I
know it is running, but no video signal. I shut it down and booted into XP,
where it worked fine. I went back into Vista, safe mode and disabled the
video card, now it booots up and runs. I contacted Nvidia, who had me update
drivers, and then try several older drivers, but the problem still exists. I
put in a new video card, a Geforce 8600GT 1GB PCIe, but the problem is the
same. Through all of this the system boots and runs fine in XP, and it runs
OK in Vista using the standard VGA driver (just no hardware acceleration, and
no Aero).

During this process I found out that dual booting with XP deletes all of the
previous restore points, so I can't go back. I did try uninstalling all of
the recent updates on the system, and then reapplying the drivers, but still
no help.

I really don't want to have to reload Vista...AGAIN...Any suggestions?

Thank you for the response.

Windows XP is on the same drive as Vista, different partitions.

The BIOS is set correctly

As I said, per Nvidia's suggestion I have tried several drivers from newest,
to much older (version 175.19, 175.16, 174.74, 100.65) each time using driver
cleaning software recommended by Nvidia.

When it has the Nvidia drivers installed, it reports they are from Nvida,
not Microsoft, of course this can only be seen with the card disabled, or in
safe mode.

"Curious" wrote:

> I suggest
> Shutdown and disconnect the drive with XP on it.
> Boot into your BIOS and be sure that it is set to use your graphics card for
> primary graphics.
> Boot into safe mode and insure that the latest Vista drivers for your 6600GT
> card from the Nvidia website are installed.
> Boot in normal mode and if problems use device manager to insure that you
> are not using Vista default drivers.
> "GeekSr" <GeekSr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:7D04EE1B-770A-412A-91A2-677C96B9C4CB@microsoft.com...
> > My system is a Dual boot XP Pro SP3 and Vista Ultimate SP1. Intel 965
> > chipset, E6700 CPU, 2GB RAM, Lightscribe DVD-RW, with multiple hard drives
> > and multiple partitions. I was running a Geforce 6600GT 128M PCIe video
> > card.
> >
> > Last week I was working in XP, and when I booted back to Vista, the
> > monitor
> > reports no signal. It gives me the boot up screen with the scrolling bar,
> > then goes black when the GUI starts to load. I can hear the boot sounds,
> > I
> > know it is running, but no video signal. I shut it down and booted into
> > XP,
> > where it worked fine. I went back into Vista, safe mode and disabled the
> > video card, now it booots up and runs. I contacted Nvidia, who had me
> > update
> > drivers, and then try several older drivers, but the problem still exists.
> > I
> > put in a new video card, a Geforce 8600GT 1GB PCIe, but the problem is the
> > same. Through all of this the system boots and runs fine in XP, and it
> > runs
> > OK in Vista using the standard VGA driver (just no hardware acceleration,
> > and
> > no Aero).
> >
> > During this process I found out that dual booting with XP deletes all of
> > the
> > previous restore points, so I can't go back. I did try uninstalling all
> > of
> > the recent updates on the system, and then reapplying the drivers, but
> > still
> > no help.
> >
> > I really don't want to have to reload Vista...AGAIN...Any suggestions?
>

Hello GeekSr!

GeekSr wrote:
> My system is a Dual boot XP Pro SP3 and Vista Ultimate SP1. Intel 965
> chipset, E6700 CPU, 2GB RAM, Lightscribe DVD-RW, with multiple hard drives
> and multiple partitions. I was running a Geforce 6600GT 128M PCIe video card.
>
> Last week I was working in XP, and when I booted back to Vista, the monitor
> reports no signal. It gives me the boot up screen with the scrolling bar,
> then goes black when the GUI starts to load. I can hear the boot sounds, I
> know it is running, but no video signal. I shut it down and booted into XP,
> where it worked fine. I went back into Vista, safe mode and disabled the
> video card, now it booots up and runs. I contacted Nvidia, who had me update
> drivers, and then try several older drivers, but the problem still exists. I
> put in a new video card, a Geforce 8600GT 1GB PCIe, but the problem is the
> same. Through all of this the system boots and runs fine in XP, and it runs
> OK in Vista using the standard VGA driver (just no hardware acceleration, and
> no Aero).
>
> During this process I found out that dual booting with XP deletes all of the
> previous restore points, so I can't go back. I did try uninstalling all of
> the recent updates on the system, and then reapplying the drivers, but still
> no help.
>
> I really don't want to have to reload Vista...AGAIN...Any suggestions?

Just a thought.
Could it be, that the monitor gets out of scan range, due to a refresh
rate setting that the monitor can't handle?

I have experienced a similar problem. I had a CRT monitor which I could
attach instead of the LCD monitor, and I booted with the CRT monitor
attached and changed the refresh rate to a low setting.

After having shut down the computer, and re-attached the LCD monitor, I
was able to boot normally.

Regards
LDJ

I suspect a Refresh/Scan rate issue, but can not access the refresh rate from
safe mode or in regular mode when running standard VGA drivers. I installed
correct monitor drivers, but when I go to Standard VGA mode, Vista converts
it back to Generic Non-PnP Monitor.

I hadn't thought of hooking up a CRT, I'll give that a try, Lord knows I
have a few of those! I'll post an update when I get that job done.

"LDJ" wrote:

> Hello GeekSr!
>
> Just a thought.
> Could it be, that the monitor gets out of scan range, due to a refresh
> rate setting that the monitor can't handle?
>
> I have experienced a similar problem. I had a CRT monitor which I could
> attach instead of the LCD monitor, and I booted with the CRT monitor
> attached and changed the refresh rate to a low setting.
>
> After having shut down the computer, and re-attached the LCD monitor, I
> was able to boot normally.
>
> Regards
> LDJ
>
>
>
>
>
>

I installed a CRT to test the system and sure enough, the CRT works. With
the CRT connected I added the LCD back in to the digital connector, and it
came up as a 2nd monitor. I rebooted with just the LCD and it all went away
again. Someone else suggested I install the analogue cable instead of the
DVI cable. In my clumsiness I disconnected the digital cable and then
plugged it back in, I heard the "new device" sound and turned the LCD over to
see it working. On each reboot it would fail, but unplugging it and plugging
it back in would cause Windows to discover it and start it up, however, I
could not adjust the resolution. So I connected it by analogue cable only,
and the problem disappeared. Now I am going to the LCD manufacturer to see
if there is a resolution that would allow me to go back to the DVI cable,
although I'm not sure how much difference that will make.

So thanks everyone, call it resolved!

"LDJ" wrote:

> Hello GeekSr!
>
> I have experienced a similar problem. I had a CRT monitor which I could
> attach instead of the LCD monitor, and I booted with the CRT monitor
> attached and changed the refresh rate to a low setting.
>
> After having shut down the computer, and re-attached the LCD monitor, I
> was able to boot normally.
>
> Regards
> LDJ

Hello GeekSr!

GeekSr wrote:

> So thanks everyone, call it resolved!

I think you are at least at the the beginning of the right solution, if
not exactly at the end of having resolved the problem :-)

As you can boot with WinXP, with no problems, but not with Vista, the
problem is in the Vista installation, IMHO.

Kind Regards
LDJ