Evil NVIDIA Drivers

[DuffMan]

I recently upgraded my GeForce4 display drivers only to find that on reboot my system loads to just before the windows xp log-in screen and then the screen goes blank. It does this for every type of startup mode including all safe modes, the 'Enable VGA' mode and 'Last know good settings'. I had this problem once before but then the 'Enable VGA' startup mode seemed to work. This time as I have mentioned the problem occurrs regardless of the startup mode.
Can anyone suggest anyway of forcing my computer to load up with the very basic graphics driver it uses to display things like the ms xp logo before the loggin screen, or a way of restoring my system given that i cant actually log on to windows?

Thanks in advance

[macko72]

Yes SAFE MODE does just that just basic drivers and necessary processes!!!

[pam123]

Try another video card.
When I had a card do that it was dieing by degrees and had to be rma'ed.

[SkyHi]

Do you have an on-board video card? If so use that and re-download and install the drivers. They should be, I think, 71.89. If that doesn't work, give comp. specs.

-SkyHi

[doubledragon5]

If that board has on board video, once back on line uninstall the drives. Boot back to windows using you video card, if that woks than you will know for sure it is the drivers and not the card itself.

[DuffMan]

Thanks for all your replies.
Firstly, safe mode was the first thing I tried but unfortunately, experiences the same problem: It will not load past a certain point.

As for a new video card - I also considered this but would rather not have to buy any new hardware, especially since the card clearly functions at low resolution as is shown by the startup screens. What does rma'ed mean?

My specs are listed in my signature, I do not have on-board video. There must be another way? I can boot up to the windows xp repair console but do not know what to do here.

I've attempted to reinstall windows xp over the top of itself a couple of times but this has failed. Everything is looking quite messy now. Perhaps to save my files i could move the hard drive over to a working machine and save what i need then format and start again?

[pam123]

If the card is still under warranty you e-mail the company tech support about the problem and they send you a "return merchandise authorization", you return the card and they replace it.
Sure you can save your files by slaving the drive to another machine but if you have another machine and it has an agp slot also try the card in it and see if you have the same problems.

[ltmccaul]

You had the best idea I would recommend, move the HD to another computer, back it up what ever you wanna keep and sweep the drive and reinstall XP, it doesnt cost money and less of a hassel then rma'ing the video card and waiting a week or two to get it back. If you are anything like me I cant live without my computer for that long. Since it wont boot into safe mode, and it wont let you touch the OS besides the boot option screen there is not much you can do about rolling back the drivers. Recovery consol is a good idea, if you know what you are doing, but if you dont i wouldnt recommend messing with it, you could end up doing more damage.

[bozo]

I know this won't help you now, but a FYI: When you update Nvida dirvers, you should first uninstall the current drivers from the control panel>add\remove programs. This is recomended by Nvida. I just did this a couple of days ago myself.

If you might have an old video card...try installing it, or buy a cheap one to try to get the system to boot...then remove the old Nvida drivers.

[DuffMan]

ahh good point bozo this could well have been the problem. Silly me for thinking developers might design their updates with this in mind. When will the world learn?

As for me i'm in the middle of revision for my final year comp sci exams so it would have been nice to have my own computer. Still... this one will have to do.

Thanks again everyone.