ati2dvag

[mrcaptainbob]

The next step.

Okay, Psycho0124, I'm ready for the next step. To date (minute) I ran the Panda scan, tried to buy it with no success. It found 16 potentials. I could not do anything with them except look at what the file names were. I could not tell if they are/were removed, fixed or sent to a special 'do not touch' folder. Not sure where to go from here. It did not appear that the files were really bad ones, just what was described as PUPS. IS it okay to get the drivers now? Okay to contact Microsoft for re-validation?

[Psycho0124]

Let's do a couple more things before we go ahead with the new driver. We need to do a thorough checkup of the hard drive and maybe the memory. Since it didn't find anything nasty, we really need to know what messed up that display driver before we go fixing it.

First, open up your "My Computer" and right-click your C: drive (probably called local disk). Click Properties and then the Tools tab. The top selection should be "Error Checking". Click "Check Now" and select both check boxes. It will likely require you to do a restart and run the test before windows loads. This is going to be another long process but if it checks out, it'll let us know that the hard drive is fine.

Second, we need to test that memory. Go here: MemTest Download - Softpedia and download Memtest. It's a great little program that doesn't even require an installation to run. Just run the Memtest.exe and tell it to "test all available memory". Let it run until it has at least 100% coverage. It'll may take a while especially if you have lots of Ram but it will rule out the memory as the culprit for us.

If both of these run without giving you any error messages, then go ahead and install that ATI driver. If it crashes on reboot, I'd bet the GPU has some issues and might need replacing. Of all the componants in all the machines I've built/serviced over the years, the graphics card seems to be the most frequent to fail unfortunately.

Sorry for all the steps here.
I find the whole "fix it once, fix it right" mentality can really save some headaches when dealing with computers.

[mrcaptainbob]

Ati2dvag issue

Some more great help. I'll start that when we get back home...probably late. My wife's youngest daughter will be having her second child (wife's 5th g/child. All boys!) tomorrow, so I'm not sure just when I'll get back. Thanks again for the help, Psycho0124.
Is your trade computer repair? You sure have a good handle on this stuff.

[Psycho0124]

Hey congratulations! We've got two boys here. They're a barrel of fun when the 5 year old isn't taking something apart and the 8 month old isn't gnawing on something/someone.

Actually yes, I run a little computer repair business from my home. I've got 2 systems I'm working on today and I should be getting some parts in later to finish up a custom machine for someone. I've worked at several shops over the years but I find I make a little more money operating by my self. Less overhead so I can charge less, and talking directly with the customer means we're both on the same page with what they want done. Happy customers = guaranteed repeat business! Plus it's nice to work from home, getting paid to do something I enjoy doing anyway!

[mrcaptainbob]

Memtest...

Did the disc check and all was well. Did the Mem Scan and it found 1888 questionable items. I signed up for the $39.95 package to get these fixed. Hope I did right on that.
Will check in the morn for further info....

[mrcaptainbob]

Ati2dvag

All is well so far. The 1888 items are fixed, the disk is clean. Shall I now load the new ATI and update the Windows info?

[mrcaptainbob]

Ati2dvag update...

Update. Well, Phsyco0124, Windows has now been re-registered, and the Ati driver has been downloaded. Both have been saved and run. Windows required dotnetfx.exe to be additionally downloaded. The last action was to create a store point. So far all seems well. Timely, as my wife now has a camera full of 'new' baby pictures to work on!
Thank you so much for the guidance and help. The step-by-step help you gave was easily understood by this novice. Most impressive. Thank you.

[Psycho0124]

Excellent! So is the ATI driver installed and working? Your screen should look a lot nicer if everything is working correctly. It should also list that card again in the "Device Manager" with no "?"s or "!"s next to the name.

You can get to the device manager by hitting the start menu -> Control panel -> System -> Hardware tab (up top) -> Device manager. It will be under the "Display Adapters" tree.

Sorry for going AWOL on ya over the weekend. We got some rain for the first time in months here and my damned internet started acting up. I think they've got a moisture seal problem on their box down at the end of my street. Of course I had to spend nearly an hour on the phone with somebody named "Brad" in India that barely spoke English before I could even convince them there was a problem with the system here on the other side of the world.

[mrcaptainbob]

tech support...

I wonder who answers the phone when somebody in India or Pakistan has a computer problem. Do they get somebody who speaks English and THEY can't understand them???

I will check on that tomorrow, Psycho0124. It appears to be a much cleaner screen. Am anxious for my wife to start using it to get her opinion. That will probably be near the week end. She's still doing the daily three hour round trip to help daughter and newest grandbaby.
It'll be winding down about Friday and then we'll get the REAL opinion. The one that counts!! Grandbaby pics are the only real and true test, afterall!!