Need technical help with video driver

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We have a Hp Pavillion 511n computer with a Nvidia Geforce fx5200 video card PCI installed. Here is the problem. The video card used to have the video driver 52.16 and then it was updated to driver 56.72. The newer driver had some issues with a game.We rolled back the driver to 52.16 and that was working well. We applied another update to the graphic card and it was the driver 53.04 and it was ok, but the real trouble was in the c:local disk. There appeared 2 folders. One folder had the name "Nvidia" (this one for the driver53.04) and another folder had the name "Nvidia Driver"(this one for the driver56.72) We accidently removed the program called "Nvidia Driver version 56.72 in the Add/Remove Programs of the computer When it prompted us to restart the computer we restarted it manually rather than do it automatically. When the changes took, the resolution changed from 1280x1024 to 800x600. When we checked the Device Manager we found that the adapter from the factory was Disabled and the adapter from the Nvidia was enabled but we got a yellow question mark under monitors. When we restarted the computer again we got a black screen after the windows loading screen.

What we would like to know is if there is a way to restart the computer and get into a "Safe Mode" to fix the conflict rather than having to do a complete system recovery?

 

Thanks Tal, we'll give that a try.

Ok, computer open in safe mode, then we saw 2 adapters the one of the Nvidia and another for a Vga adapter,this in the Display Properties, the Nvidia show the driver version but the Vga adapter in properties shows nothing,no location ,no driver,...
So the Tab of "Device usage"was changed to "Do not use this Device"(disable)" then the computer was restarted with out uninstall any driver,with no results the black screen is still there
The situation is this now, when trying to access again safe mode to fix that mistake,and enable that Vga adapter again, F9 it's press, the window to activate Safe Mod appears but now the computer get stuck in the window of the list of partitions,without no prompting the Administrator or Owner window,
At the time im typing this message the other computer it's still in the partitions window, what can be done,Thank you for your help and support.

[ April 14, 2004, 22:45: Message edited by: Dragonfly ]

 

This is what I would try:

1) Remove everything related to the driver; nVIDIA folders and drivers (via uninstall). From component manager, all VGA-PCI related entries.

2) Reboot, let the comp decide what crap it wants, then use the official installer.

3) If above did not work, I'd try swapping the PCI slot; there might be a memory/IRQ problem.

4) If it still does not work, I would uninstall the whole damn crap and try Linux for change.

Of course, remember to check that you have:

a) Newest, CORRECT driver
b) Other devices are correctly working (rem. IRQ)
c) Your display also has the newest driver.

And never forget those memory controllers; myself, had occasional crashes on my old comp for some time, before finding out that the SCSI driver was faulty

 

Thanks TAL and Virne.

What I would like to know if there's a way to access the Administrator and Owner,because via F9 SAFE MODE the screen HANGS in the partitions.
I just can't open the desktop to manage the START option.

[ April 15, 2004, 05:30: Message edited by: Dragonfly ]

 

I think what you are saying is that you cannot get as far as the desktop.

I don't know which operating system you are using Win XP, Win 98, Win ME?

If it is Win XP (it sounds like it is), then it is possible (on modern computers) to enter the computer's BIOS at startup (method varies according to BIOS used) and alter the boot sequence so that the computer boots from the XP CD in your CDROM drive ( normally CDROM or D: ). Then after saving this BIOS change and rebooting, watch out for the display screen that says press any key to boot from CD, it only lasts a short while.

It sounds as though your computer has a corrupt FAT table (Hard Drive directory tree) so if you do manage to enter windows, scan your Hard Drive for errors (due to the comp being shutdown using the power switch).

Re-enable the VGA device (even though it has probably little to do with the problem).

Let us know if you get this far.

If not, it would help if you could say:

Do you have an AWARD or AMI BIOS (Shown on DOS boot screen image)?
Does the 'factory' adaptor mean an onboard or previous video card?

If you do get the comp up, running and scanned in safe mode, reinstall the original Nvidia drivers also in safe mode.

[ April 15, 2004, 04:29: Message edited by: Bluin ]

 

Bluin,
Yes we are using XP (home edition). When we go into the Bios screen under the "Boot" option we have only two choices. One says "Boot-time Diagnostic Screen (Disabled)" and the other option says "Quickboot Mode (Enabled)"

Were you suggesting we try one of those options?

There is another option on the bottom of the main Bios screen that says "F5" Loads factory installed Setup Default values. We were wondering if that might reset the original values without reformating the entire computer.

* When we turn on the computer we get the initial Windows XP graphic and a loading symbol and then it turns into a black screen instead of desktop.

* We pressed F8 to get into the windows advanced options menu to select safe mode. When safe mode was selected another text appeared. The text says "Please select the operating system to start" the only choice is "micosoft Whistler Personal" When we click enter on that option a list of lines apears down the entire screen and does not move. For example, one says "Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\pciide.sys" There are many lines like that following. We can get no farther than that.


One other thing. When we were in safe mode before this happened we went to the display properties of the VGA adaptor and in the "adapter usage" we clicked on "do not use this device" (disabled)

[ April 15, 2004, 07:04: Message edited by: Dragonfly ]

 

HP 511n support page. Check the FAQs.

Associated HP BIOS details page.
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=en&lc=en&cc=gb&cat=faq&prodId=hppavilion77564&docName=buh07110.html


Quickfix

Beg, borrow or steal an old cheap PCI graphics card and plug it in. Your comp should boot in safe mode using this new card. This will allow you re-enable the VGA and reinstall the Nvidia drivers.

Slowfix

You need to repair your XP operating system. In order to do this you must have an XP CD and be able to boot from that CD.

Your BIOS details page states:

If, as you say, this is wrong and you cannot change the order of the boot process. Then check if inserting a floppy disk into your machine interupts the normal boot process. If so, download the six Win XP boot floppies from MS and use them to boot into the XP options screen.

As I understand it you have two partitions on your hard disk, C: and D: , with Win XP installed on D: .

This is unusual unless you have (or had in the past) Win 98 installed on C: . If this is the case then you must back up certain files on C: so that Win98 is not lost as one of your dual boot options. More details available if required.

Once at the the XP options page skip the first repair option, hit install, accept the licence agreement, XP will look for previous install and then will come up with option to install, repair, or exit again, hit r for repair at this point. It should go through the repair. You will loose all your winxp updates but you programs data and settings should be unchanged.

[ April 15, 2004, 20:50: Message edited by: Bluin ]

 

Everything is fixed now. My husband decided to reformat his computer.

By the way the (we) in this problem was my husband not me. He asked me to post on this forum for help and he is very grateful for the responses he got. You might have noticed that "my" grammer got very bad in one particular entry here. My husband's first language is not english so he still has a little trouble with grammer.

The advice was very good that we were given. My husband is still learning a lot about computers and it was accidental that he deleted the wrong drivers. The good thing is that he learned a lot from this mistake and will be more knowledgeable the next time something similar comes up.

Something else to note about this website and the people on these forums. My husband had also posted his dilemma on several other sites and had not gotten any responses. On this site we got responses fast. It's nice to know that this is a place to find help when you need it. Thank you again.