Graphics controller problem

vulcanbomber

I recently started my computer after having it in safe mode, in order to check something. Having restarted it my monitor resolution will not change and so my 15" monitor resolution at the moment is 640x480.

I have checked through the device manager and I see that there is an exclamation mark beside the graphics controller on the graphics card. I have updated the driver for this controller but it would appear that I am running the latest version anyway.

Following that I have tried to use system restore to the point before I ran in safe mode and that will not work either, the system restore will not let me go back any further than one date in August.

Any help would be most appreciated. BTW the computer is an HP Pavillion 7916 and is approx 5 years old.

Wombat

You could try going into the Device Manager, right click and uninstal/remove the graphics controller with the exclamation mark on it, then Add Hardware and let Windows reinstal it afresh.

You're right in that this is usually a graphics controller driver issue.

Also check the manufacturer's website for the latest driver.

vulcanbomber

I do not have any disks for the graphics controller, if I uninstall it how do I get it to reinstall? Sorry if that seems like a daft question, I'm a bit reluctant sometimes to do stuff I'm nor sure about.

Chippy_Minton

Windows will probably have the drivers for your specific graphics card already on the hard disk and will reinstall it automatically when you run the Add Hardware wizard.

If not, as wombat says, download latest drivers from manufacturer's web site and run setup.exe etc. in downloaded file.

vulcanbomber

Well I took the plunge and uninstalled it, then ran the Add hardware wizard which reeinstalled it. Oh ye of little faith....:T

Now, the problems lies with maintaining the settings, everytime I switch off the computer I am having to carry out the uninstall/add hardware task as it would seem that the computer does not want to play ball.

Any further thoughts/ideas/comments would be much appreciated.... I'm beginning to look at my big hammer!!

woo

do you know what type of graphics card it is, updating the drivers might help.

vulcanbomber

Hi Woo

I have already been to the owners site and checked the drivers, the message I am getting is that the latest version is already installed.

Wombat

Have you checked that there is no malware on your PC corrupting the drivers or Registry?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269

I have a "funny" on my system which is a dual boot system. If I switch between one version of Windows and the other I lose my USB mouse!!! Unplugging and plugging it back in again sorts it, but there could be a bug in XP.