Vista - Re: Vista update killed computer!

(cross-post added to Vista Perf & Maint)
"Ginty" <Ginty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0680DF34-F3DA-4EF8-B81A-048388FAB6BB@xxxxxx
Say no more. <eg>

BTW posting in WU with symptoms like this is similar to running down the
street chasing the truck driver who just delivered a new appliance, trying
to get some support for it... <eg> (Cross-posting for convenience.)

FWIW NT users have an option of booting in standard video mode
Does Vista have a similar option?

Apparently the old /basevideo option is now replaced by /vga in Vista.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791516.aspx

I'd try using /SOS too.. ; ).


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

Some more info...

I had a quick look into this problem over lunch and the motherboard is
reporting everything is fine - the beep feedback is that it is booting as
normal.

If I unplug my harddrive, the monitor still does not come on, therefore I am
wondering if the harddrive noise in the background is actually windows
starting up properly and the problem is simply that my graphics card does not
work.

My graphics card is an NVIDIA 9500, and one of the vista updates was a new
NVIDIA driver.
Could this update have written to some non-volatile space on the graphics
card which has done this?
Or could it have messed up my BIOS?

Thanks for any advice, in either case any advice on how to fix without being
able to 'see' anything.
Note that my motherboard does not have on-board graphics.

"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

"Ginty" <Ginty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:755A20B4-640D-4680-858D-31FA192D5E15@xxxxxx
Correct.


Hopefully neither, just not using the device correctly in that mode.


Did you look at that article I cited? There is a link for Vista users on each page
to instructions on how to use BCEDIT /SET Then there is link at the bottom
of that page to a FAQ about BCEDIT. Unfortunately there is no hint about
whether that tool can be accessed from your recovery console, which I suspect
may be one of your few options, if you don't already have a boot option set up
to do this. BTW are you sure that there is no way to switch your boot to use
base video? That seems like a pretty essential feature to have...

Ok. Here's a hint about that

http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/pages/447166.aspx

(TechNet search for
("recovery environment" OR "Windows RE") Vista bcedit
)

<quote>
Q: Are ther repair tools that can be deployed on the fly to fix set up--I've seen Ko Ze
refer to doing things with BCEDIT or other tools?
A: If I got it right. You could pop in a Windows RE media in to get to the recovery environment
and use cmp prompt from there. You would have bcedit available to repair/change your boot options
</quote>

So all you need then is to know whether you have "a Windows RE media" to use... ; )


All that should matter is whether your video card has a VGA mode.


Hopefully, the cross-post will let somebody who is actually using Vista
see this thread and then try to help you.


Good luck

Robert
---

Hi there,

Hopefully you did not take that driver from windows update?

Never take drivers from windows update unless they are intended for
Microsoft hardware.

If an updated driver is needed because the hardware does not work proper go
to the manufacturers website to look for an updatede driver.

If it ain't broke: do not try to"FIX" it.

If you did take the optional drivers from windows update try booting last
known good configuration, rolling back on the driver or system restore or
restore from the fullsystem backup you hopefully made.

here you can see how to roll back on a device driver:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...rrollback.mspx


You can disable the update appearing when automatic updates is set by going
to the windows update website and unmark (hide) driver in question.

Best regards,
Michel Denie

"Ginty" <Ginty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:755A20B4-640D-4680-858D-31FA192D5E15@xxxxxx

Suspect the video driver is your culprit. The MS driver might safely update
a pre-existing version of the MS driver but OEM and hardware vendors'
drivers tend to be more complex and may include utilities or features that
the MS drivers lack... hence creating a conflict when only a part of the
installed driver software package is updated by MS update.

You can try booting into Safe Mode and run a system restore to before you
did the updates. If system restore gives an error when run from the safe
mode GUI, or if the computer cannot boot into safe mode either, you can try
running system restore from a safe mode command prompt instead. If system
restore doesn't fix the problem you can try the "Last known good" option
(also found in the safe mode boot menu) as already suggested.



"Ginty" <Ginty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:755A20B4-640D-4680-858D-31FA192D5E15@xxxxxx