I have recently reinstalled windows XP, and it nstalled my monitor as a "plug and play" device. I was changing monitors and playing with settings & drivers, and I have somehow uninstalled the monitor. Windows now freezes on startup every time, just before the desktop loads up. I can start in Safe Mode, but when I look through device manager, monitor is not listed. It doesn't scan up as "newly installed hardware", and I can't see it in the "add new hardware" section of control panel, even when listing everything by manufacturer - all is just gone! I have also tried using System Restore, to no avail. If anyone can help me to get this back, much appreciated!!
I don't know exactly what you did with the settings and drivers. But is you video card still showing? If so is the monitor plug and play or does it have an installation disk. Windows should default to p n p. You may have to go to the manufactures web site to download the driver. If all of this is doesn't work, computer tech rule of thumb, if it can't be solved in 15 minutes. Reinstall.
I have now tried installing a few versions of Windows, the monitor shows in the device manager on Windows 98, but it only runs in 16bit color on 480x640 resolution. When I install either XP Home or Pro, the computer still freezes just before logging in. I can get into both versions of XP in Safe Mode still, but no monitor option listed in device manager, and doesn't come up with a hardware scan. In Windows 98, it shows as plug and play. I assume the fault must be a hardware problem, as I have reinstalled Windows several time, both as an upgrade from 98 and fresh XP install with a newly formatted drive, and the same thing happens every time. Is this likely to be the graphics card? If so, what are my options, and how easy do you think it will be to isolate and fix the problem? Thanks
You said you changed monitors? Have you tried the old monitor to see if it works? If not try a different video card, as this is the cheapest route. It is weird that it only recognizes the minimum settings for the monitor which are through the card. Have you tried updating the drivers for the video card? It sounds like the card was legacy and when you uninstalled the monitor or card the driver is gone, so it goes to system default. Just enough to get the computer up and running to fix the problem. You may have to pull the card and get all of the info you can off of it and search the manufacturers website. Or go to computerhope.com. they have a large base of drivers.
Yeah, I've tried three different monitors, including the original one, all doing the same thing. Windows is telling me my video card has the best driver at the moment, I'm struggling to do anything in the way of updating it because in safe mode you can't access the net or any form of cd drive etc., so updating the driver is proving tricky. I may try replacing the video card, just need to find some $$ to get one.
If you have a circuit city, walmart, or even a Radio shack you should be able to find a low priced video card to see it it makes a difference. If it doesn't work take it back. XP has don this to me in the past, one of my usb ports started to malfunction. XP assigned several different drivers to it until I just disabled it. Speaking of that you don't have an onboard video card, plus a pci or agp card do you? Bios can be really cranky when it comes to changes after it has had the same settings for awhile. Let me know if you figure it out. CD
