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March 24th, 2015 18:00
Updating Display Driver Breaks Laptop
I have a Dell inspiron 1521. Running Windows Vista 32-bit. It's got AMD Turion 64 X2 1.8 GHz processor. and 2GB RAM. Searched hi and lo for an answer.
The display driver is messing up. I always have to go back to the standard display driver which doesnt work right for games or for sleep.
So i update it to ATI Radeon X1250 or x1270 using Device Manager, or from .exe drivers i download from dell, and both start to install fine but once i restart the computer to complete the installation process, the computer almost makes it to the windows symbol and start up tone, but then it just goes -click- and the screen goes black and it loses all power immediately and is totally off in less than a second.
Then for Dell to stop clicking off i got to power up holding F8 and pick Safe Mode and it will start. I disable or uninstall the display driver using Device Manager and restart in Regular Mode and i am back where i started.
I have clean reinstalled Vista, tried updating drivers in different orders, searched hi and lo for a AMD clean uninstall utility for vista... i can't fix it.
What are all my options of display drivers for my particular laptop? could it be a combo of drivers causing this?
Drivers and stuff is why i hate Windows. I have had this problem with this computer for many years.
Thanks.
DELL-Terry B
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March 25th, 2015 15:00
If it was just a corrupted video driver then clean reinstalling Vista and then installing the Radeon Xpress 1250 driver should have corrected the problem.
I don't like being the bearer of bad news, but if reinstalling Vista and the video driver didn't help, it could mean that the video chip has failed and the system board will need to be replaced.
If this is the case, you can call tech support and request an fee based out of warranty service. Or if you prefer to replace the motherboard yourself, the part numbers for the system board WP042 or WK078 depending on the system build.
TB
lurice0
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March 25th, 2015 21:00
thanks for replying. i was afraid board was broken, but might it also be possible to try windows 7 or 8 and then downloading some different driver for it and get it working somehow like that?
if not, how can i get it to just use the generic display driver? it was called Video Controller VGA Compatible standard (or something like that). It was doing it before i tried to update display driver again.
All i could find was this article Called "How to force Windows to use a standard VGA compatible driver" , but is there an easier way?
http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/268852
thanks
DELL-Terry B
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March 27th, 2015 12:00
You can try booting to Enable VGA mode by selecting it from the menu after booting the system while tapping F8. This is different from normal Safe mode as it loads all other drivers and only the standard GA mode.
I don't suggest it, but with the alternative being replacing the system board, I understand that you may not have that much of a choice.
TB
lurice0
3 Posts
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March 27th, 2015 21:00
There is no such option on my f8 safe mode menu.
what did you think of that article i sent, will it work?
DELL-Terry B
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March 30th, 2015 09:00
With Windows XP, Vista and 7 the option for enable VGA mode should be present in the F8 menu, if it isn't present on your system there may be Windows corruption still even after reinstalling Windows. The article that you mentioned appears to be for Windows 2000 so I don't know if it will work or not, but you really shouldn't have to go through that much work.
TB