A mess of graphics cards and drivers

Hello all!

A friend phoned me ...... ...... after having messed up his computer. He physically installed a new graphics card and then the drivers. He was not satisfied, physically reinstalled the old graphics card and then reinstalled the old drivers.

Upon reboot, the startup is normal until the black WinXP screen but thereafter the screen 'dies'. No 'Welcome' screen and it remains black.

He says that he can not start the computer in safe mode but I don't understand why not. Is it possible that he is correct?

I'm thinking in terms of having a look in safe mode (if possible) and either let Windows roll back the drivers or install the correct drivers.

If the above is unsuccessful, boot from the install CD and do a repair installation.

I'm going there tomorrow and any hints are gratefully received!

Thanks for your time,
Christer

 

Whiskeyman,
that's my assumption too, that he didn't know what he was doing.

I hope that I can either roll back or remove the drivers and have the computer boot using MS generic drivers. Then reinstall the proper drivers.

I also hope that a repair install can be avoided. I'm not sure what would happen regarding the 'updates status'. I will bring them all on CD to cover that base.

Christer

 

Some feedback (FWIW):

I didn't believe that starting in safe mode was not possible but it wasn't. During a normal start and a start in safe mode, HDD activity revealed that Windows XP was starting and the 'welcome.wav' was heard in the speakers but it all happened behind a black curtain. No 'last good' either.

Being a Ghost user, I'm not familiar with the recovery console but that didn't matter. When running the RC from the install CD, I was prompted for an 'administrator password' ...... ...... which the owner didn't remember and had not written down. I'm still in the dark as to what I could have done in the RC to fix the problem.

The only option was to tell the install CD to install Windows and in the next screen choose 'Repair'. I didn't expect the 'Repair Installation' to commence without any further input from me ...... ...... and I must confess that I was a bit worried.

It went without a hitch and the only thing after that was an expected reinstallation of all Windows Updates since SP2.

During these two hours, my affection for Ghost was scoring new 'highs'!

Christer