No video on Vista 64 startup

I have a quad-boot Intel CoreDuo machine with 4 GB of memory and an
ATI AIW X1900 Radeon (multi-booting courtesy of EasyBCD). To put the
matter as quickly as possible, all four systems (Vista 32, Vista 64,
XP, and Ubuntu) have been happily coexisting for a long time. I
haven't used Vista 64 for about 10 days and went in to do some work on
it this morning. To my surprise, the video disappeared immediately
after the green startup wait indicator. Eventually, after about the
usual amount of time and hard disk activity, the startup sound came on
but absolutely no video.

I restored my full backup of the Vista 64 partition from last Sunday—
same problem!

I went in on safe mode but it is impossible to change video settings
or install new drivers in safe mode so that was a dead end.

I tried the repair utility that comes with Vista but it could find no
problem with startup.

My working hypothesis is that something has gone wrong with the video
drivers although that may not be the case. Even if it were, I can
think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
64 system checked desperately do not want to do!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?

Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:

Even if it were, I can
> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?

I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also have
Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting an
error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us know
what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.



<> wrote in message
news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
> Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
> sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> Even if it were, I can
>> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
>> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>

On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also have
> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting an
> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us know
> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.
>
> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>
> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> > Even if it were, I can
> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?

Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver. First,
when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
Windows installer is not available in safe mode.

I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in msconfig--
no change!!! Bizarre!

Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore another
possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from the
F8 menu.

<> wrote in message
news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
> On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
>> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also
>> have
>> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
>> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
>> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
>> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting
>> an
>> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us
>> know
>> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.
>>
>> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>>
>> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
>> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>>
>> > Even if it were, I can
>> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
>> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>>
>> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>
> Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver. First,
> when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
> control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
> uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
> Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>
> I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
> VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
> reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
> behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in msconfig--
> no change!!! Bizarre!

On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore another
> possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from the
> F8 menu.
>
> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
>
> > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
> >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also
> >> have
> >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
> >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
> >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
> >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting
> >> an
> >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us
> >> know
> >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.
>
> >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>
> >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
> >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> >> > Even if it were, I can
> >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
> >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>
> > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver. First,
> > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
> > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
> > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
> > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>
> > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
> > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
> > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
> > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in msconfig--
> > no change!!! Bizarre!

I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even though
I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including last
working. I'll give driver roll back a try.

Thanks so much!

On Apr 19, 8:53 pm, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote:
> On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore another
> > possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from the
> > F8 menu.
>
> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
>
> > > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> > >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
> > >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also
> > >> have
> > >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
> > >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
> > >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
> > >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting
> > >> an
> > >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us
> > >> know
> > >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.
>
> > >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> > >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>
> > >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
> > >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> > >> > Even if it were, I can
> > >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
> > >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> > >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>
> > > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver. First,
> > > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
> > > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
> > > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
> > > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>
> > > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
> > > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
> > > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
> > > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in msconfig--
> > > no change!!! Bizarre!
>
> I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even though
> I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
> having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including last
> working. I'll give driver roll back a try.
>
> Thanks so much!

On Apr 19, 8:53 pm, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote:
> On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore another
> > possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from the
> > F8 menu.
>
> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> >news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
>
> > > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> > >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as last
> > >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I also
> > >> have
> > >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall the
> > >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most video
> > >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver, either
> > >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are getting
> > >> an
> > >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let us
> > >> know
> > >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz first.
>
> > >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>
> > >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>
> > >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
> > >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>
> > >> > Even if it were, I can
> > >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the Vista
> > >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>
> > >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>
> > > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver. First,
> > > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
> > > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
> > > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
> > > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>
> > > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
> > > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
> > > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
> > > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in msconfig--
> > > no change!!! Bizarre!
>
> I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even though
> I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
> having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including last
> working. I'll give driver roll back a try.
>
> Thanks so much!

What I have discovered:
1. I can access the system in safe mode
2. when I do so, there is no video-controller device listed in device
manager
3. a hardware scan in safe mode does not recognize the video board
4. attempting to reinstall the ATI driver fails because the
installation does not find the board
5. I cannot access the system in low-resolution mode
6. I cannot get boot logging to work

I now believe that this problem may have resulted from some nasty
interaction between Windows Speech-Recognition and ATI Catalyst the
last time I used the system. All kinds of strange things began to
occur with Catalyst. I would guess that Windows Speech-Recognition
somehow interacts with Catalyst, probably because of the notorious ATI
External Event Utility. If I ever get this working, I'm going to
permanently disable that largely useless and known-to-be-buggy
utility.

Is there anything I can do to save the system or will I have to nuke
it and start over?

You can try a repair install if you have matching versions of Vista. If you
have Vista installed without SP1, you can use your disk for a repair
install. If you have a disk without SP1 and SP1 has been installed, you can
uninstall it (if you haven't deleted the file, as I see some have done to
save disk space) and then do the repair install. You can then reapply SP1.
This will at least save your programs installed and most settings.
I think I would run sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt first and
see if that finds any damaged system files. You can then try to replace
them first.
Good luck.

<> wrote in message
news:556e5b17-8573-4110-8c90-...
> On Apr 19, 8:53 pm, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote:
>> On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore
>> > another
>> > possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from
>> > the
>> > F8 menu.
>>
>> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> >news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
>>
>> > > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>> > >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as
>> > >> last
>> > >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I
>> > >> also
>> > >> have
>> > >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall
>> > >> the
>> > >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most
>> > >> video
>> > >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver,
>> > >> either
>> > >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are
>> > >> getting
>> > >> an
>> > >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let
>> > >> us
>> > >> know
>> > >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz
>> > >> first.
>>
>> > >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> > >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>>
>> > >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
>> > >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>>
>> > >> > Even if it were, I can
>> > >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the
>> > >> >> Vista
>> > >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>>
>> > >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>>
>> > > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver.
>> > > First,
>> > > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
>> > > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
>> > > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
>> > > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>>
>> > > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
>> > > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
>> > > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
>> > > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in
>> > > msconfig--
>> > > no change!!! Bizarre!
>>
>> I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even though
>> I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
>> having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including last
>> working. I'll give driver roll back a try.
>>
>> Thanks so much!
>
> What I have discovered:
> 1. I can access the system in safe mode
> 2. when I do so, there is no video-controller device listed in device
> manager
> 3. a hardware scan in safe mode does not recognize the video board
> 4. attempting to reinstall the ATI driver fails because the
> installation does not find the board
> 5. I cannot access the system in low-resolution mode
> 6. I cannot get boot logging to work
>
> I now believe that this problem may have resulted from some nasty
> interaction between Windows Speech-Recognition and ATI Catalyst the
> last time I used the system. All kinds of strange things began to
> occur with Catalyst. I would guess that Windows Speech-Recognition
> somehow interacts with Catalyst, probably because of the notorious ATI
> External Event Utility. If I ever get this working, I'm going to
> permanently disable that largely useless and known-to-be-buggy
> utility.
>
> Is there anything I can do to save the system or will I have to nuke
> it and start over?

I would also consider posting on the 64-bit newsgroup as there are many
talented posters there that don't participate here.
microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general

<> wrote in message
news:556e5b17-8573-4110-8c90-...
> On Apr 19, 8:53 pm, "no_spam_paque...@uwo.ca" <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote:
>> On Apr 19, 7:36 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > Have you tried 'roll back driver' in device manager? System Restore
>> > another
>> > possibility, and first, probably would be to try 'last know good' from
>> > the
>> > F8 menu.
>>
>> > <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> >news:73c5b725-332e-490c-8bd6-...
>>
>> > > On Apr 19, 3:51 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
>> > >> I have changed video settings in safe mode several times as late as
>> > >> last
>> > >> weekend when I had to swap monitors due to a transformer dying. I
>> > >> also
>> > >> have
>> > >> Vista64. Have you tried low resolution mode? You could uninstall
>> > >> the
>> > >> driver in safe mode thru control panel/uninstall a program. Most
>> > >> video
>> > >> drivers are there. You should be able to install the new driver,
>> > >> either
>> > >> there or back in regular mode if the uninstall works. If you are
>> > >> getting
>> > >> an
>> > >> error message in safe mode while trying to install the driver, let
>> > >> us
>> > >> know
>> > >> what it is. I would try changing the resolution and frequency Hz
>> > >> first.
>>
>> > >> <paque...@uwo.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> > >>news:8500321d-9b6e-4357-a836-...
>>
>> > >> > Please excuse the undetected speech-recognition typo. The last
>> > >> > sentence in the second last paragraph should have read:
>>
>> > >> > Even if it were, I can
>> > >> >> think of no way of fixing it short of completely rebuilding the
>> > >> >> Vista
>> > >> >> 64 system which I desperately do not want to do!
>>
>> > >> >> Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this mess?
>>
>> > > Something has obviously gone very wrong with the video driver.
>> > > First,
>> > > when I look at it in safe mode, the only ATI entry in the program the
>> > > control-panel uninstall list is the ATI install program. I can't
>> > > uninstall, change, or repair it, however, because Vista says the
>> > > Windows installer is not available in safe mode.
>>
>> > > I've also used VistaBootPro to make the offending Vista 64 system use
>> > > VGA mode (reasoning that if I could get into a normal session I could
>> > > reinstall the ATI drivers) but when I restart, there's no change in
>> > > behavior. Same thing if I set to boot with "base Video" in
>> > > msconfig--
>> > > no change!!! Bizarre!
>>
>> I've tried system restore but there are no restore points--even though
>> I'm using the EasyBCD/neogrub volume-hiding approach to avoiding
>> having XP clobber Vista restore points. F8 options yes including last
>> working. I'll give driver roll back a try.
>>
>> Thanks so much!
>
> What I have discovered:
> 1. I can access the system in safe mode
> 2. when I do so, there is no video-controller device listed in device
> manager
> 3. a hardware scan in safe mode does not recognize the video board
> 4. attempting to reinstall the ATI driver fails because the
> installation does not find the board
> 5. I cannot access the system in low-resolution mode
> 6. I cannot get boot logging to work
>
> I now believe that this problem may have resulted from some nasty
> interaction between Windows Speech-Recognition and ATI Catalyst the
> last time I used the system. All kinds of strange things began to
> occur with Catalyst. I would guess that Windows Speech-Recognition
> somehow interacts with Catalyst, probably because of the notorious ATI
> External Event Utility. If I ever get this working, I'm going to
> permanently disable that largely useless and known-to-be-buggy
> utility.
>
> Is there anything I can do to save the system or will I have to nuke
> it and start over?