Help...No monitor after nforce driver update

[Sid]

On my wifes laptop for this.....

downloaded the latest nforce drivers,

[gec]

if u have an extra monitor would be good to try and hook it up on the laptop. maybe the new driver is sending picture to the external monitor for some reason.

[Rattler]

If Gec's idea is correct, you should be able to cycle through the video outputs by using the laptop's function controls (mine is fn+F5).

[Sid]

sorry, I'm using the laptop to communicate on because the fault is on my gaming rig....I'm also on TS

[Rattler]

Have you tried booting in safe mode?

You should be able to go back to your last restore point from there.

[Sid]

Cheers Pete, how do i find safe mode? Do i get that from the bios?

[Rattler]

When you restart, and the bios begins to post (run), press F8 and it should give you a menu selection screen to select safe mode, or normal boot to windows.

Give that a try, mate.

[B16Enk]

After post keep pressing F8, like Pete says, until you get safe mode option.

Don't select safe mode (unless you have auto logon enabled) what you need to look for is 'Last Known Good'.

This will restore your system to the last time you successfully logged on.

If you have auto logon enabled (not good IMHO see above for one reason) then you will need to try safe mode.

If that fails you are now entering the repair arena, and for this (unless the repair console was installed which is highly unlikely) you will need your OS install disk.

Is it XP or Vista?

[Sid]

hmmm, dont have a clear safe mode reference on the screen....details the drives to select then 'nvidia Age or 2 Nvidia'

[Fireman]

might be way off base here.but you mentioned something about SATA, etc......

I know that whenever I try to uninstall my nVidia graphic drivers from my system (I'm also using an nVidia MOBO) it asks me what I want to uninstall (ie: graphics, something to do with the bios, and a few other things, maybee SATA stuff too)

[Sid]

I thought I'd left the graphics driver alone so that shouldn't be the case m8, I was looking to update the chipset/motherboard drivers...

I now can get no further than the beginnings of safe mode. I have 2 windows that I can't click or tab on, even after plugging in a ps2 mouse and keyboard. They work to get me to safe mode, but won't let me click on anything now...

[Sid]

I've left the computer in the part-started state for 20 mins now and the screensaver has just come on. Waggling mouse doesn't do anything so I think it is time to call 'time' on it and RMA it - I got a 3 year collection/delivery when I bought it so I will let them do the worrying instead of me.

Right PITA this is....ah well, I will learn from this.....I hope!!

[B16Enk]

RMA may not be your solution, it is not hardware related and there may be a charge for software/user created issues.

You could try system restore from the command prompt, providing you know the logon details for the administrator account (wish I had a quid for every time I tell someone to create a password to log on with):

1. Hold F8 to get start up options.

2. Select Safe Mode With A Command Prompt

3. Logon using Administrator and password (if you have a password for your account and it was auto-logging on use the password for that account).

4. Run this command at the command shell (DOS Box): %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe then press enter.

5. Follow on screen prompts.

This will only work if you have the password (if it is blank then try just hitting return) AND you have not disabled system restore.

Again, for others to bear in mind, You MUst Always Log ON to Your System With A Password, it is your first line of defence against malware/trojans/hackers and is your last resort if your driver install goes tits up, because until you logon XP keeps a copy of the old configuration, once you logon it is destroyed and you cannot easily roll-back with Last Known Good.

[B16Enk]

I will lurk on TS Sid

[Sid]

Ok, just tried that Rog - the keyboards won't allow me to type anything and this 'New hardware wizard' keeps popping up.

Might be a pointless exercise because a) I don't have a password that i recall and I disabled system restore, and man, am I regretting that now

I will join you....you really are a good sport mate

[Sid]

Many, many thanks to those that bunged in to this thread, especially Rog. It is a frustrating time when a pooter goes awry but it is fantastic that there are peeps that will contribute and get things going again. Off licence still open, was it?

Don't know what actually happened but a dodgy driver installation is most likely the cause. Ended up with a Windows Xp repair, went smoothly and everything is up and running again.

Much appreciated gents.

Cheerzen

Sid

[B16Enk]

Offlicence was open, mildly toasted and really pleased to hear you are up and running again

[Blairgowrie]

Glad you got it all fixed Sid. Now no more tweaking. You might go blind!

[Sid]

Ok, I promise