Vista - Black screen in Windows Media Center

Hi,

I know there have been other posts on this topic, but frankly I either followed their advice and it didn't work, or I didn't really understand what the advice was! So please use basic terms, I'm not incredibly computer savvy.

Basically I have been using Windows Media Center on my comp for a year or so now with no problems. I have not installed anything new, however I do get automatic updates from Windows (no idea really what updates they have done recently though.) Yesterday and again today I have tried to open Windows Media Center and it has the normal start up audio but just a black screen. I've tried pressing a few different keys (enter, tab, etc) but usually nothing... except twice it has started some video on sea creatures (built into the system perhaps??) and once it started playing my dvd. Both times, though, the video was in a smaller screen up on the LHS, and I couldn't see any control buttons or the time elapsed bar.

My specs are:

Vista Home Premium SP 1
Toshiba Satellite A200
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7100 @1.80 Ghz
2GB RAM

I have no idea what video card driver I have or where to find out. Sorry, as I said, not very comp savvy.

Thanks very much,

Alex

Hi Alex,
I just thought I would share a little bit of information with you about your issue. I have basically the same computer that you do but mine is an HP. I found a resolution that worked for me after spending hours researching blogs, tech supports, microsoft website and all but I resolved it on my own. This may or may not work for you but you can try it. I went into my screen resolution settings and max out my resolution and made sure that my refresh rate was set at 60Hz. It totally worked for me, and I understand why because I do some gaming on my laptop and remember changing this a while back so maybe it will help. Let me know. Good Luck!