Genealogy Chat

Hi folks, Last week I said that I had bad ghosting on my screen - dark and light grey bands across the whole screen. The colour has now faded considerably as well. I tried everything that was suggested to no avail. Thought that I needed a new monitor. Have just "borrowed" a monitor and the effect is exactly the same. Problem is - where do I go from here? I can only think that it is either the tower unit, broadband or my optical mouse that is causing this. Does anyone have any more ideas? Jill

Hi Jill, Spoke to hubbie and he reckons your video card is on its way out! Not good news but nothing too drastic - no need for a new tower. Emma.

hi jill i just spoke to my son and he reckons it sounds like your video card susie

Thanks Emma and Susie. You wouldn't happen to know how I go about installing a new card would you? I'm a complete dinasaur - do I have to get someone in to fix it or is it something I can do myself? Jill

Electronic and digital devices like video cards don't usually fade out, they generally either work or not. The video card driver may have been corrupted so reinstalling that may help. You should have a CD with it, but if not download it from the manufacturers web site. Depends what OS your using. If no success identify your video card from where it goes in at the back if it sits in a slot then you can replace it with a new one in the same place. It might be worth gently pressing down on either side of the card into the slot in case of poor connection. (turn machine off first and touch the case). If in doubt get a new card fitted. Unless your a gamester you just need a basic display card which shouldn’t cost that much. Bob

Hi Bob, Thanks for that. I shall wait until hubby can look at it - not that he knows much more than me! I have just been looking through some of the queries on the PC advisor site. Someone had a similar problem and they were talking about a graphics card. Is that the same thing as a video card? Sorry to be so thick! Jill

Yes Jill. You can spend lots on the latest ones but if you are just a normal user you don't need anything fancy. I would certainly update or reinstall the driver first. Bob

Cheers Bob. I appreciate your help. Jill

Hi Bob, I would like to thank you for the tech info you give regarding computers, but please could you "go back to basics". A lot of tech words I, and I think others, don't understand, I wouldn't know where my video card was, let alone what it looked like! A lot of us on here are "thechnophobics", you couldn't put your replies in 2 sylibals or 3? Pls, as some of the info you have given, I think, would have helped me tremedously, but I just got lost. Cheers Kim

Hey Kim, If something scares you .... you should learn about it then it won't scare you any more :) Jill, OS = Operating system i.e. Windows XP And your Graphics card is the one your monitor plugs into ( Usually a small blue socket) I would agree with uninstalling and reinstaling your driver first before delving inside :) Sioux

Sorry Kim, I didn't think it was that "techy" oops I mean technical!but your right, I suppose saying OS instead of "version of windows"is confusing but that's the problem of all abbreviation. Until lately I didn't know what "LOL" meant (which everyone was using) until someone else asked. A few years back we would be explaining what “software” and “hardware” was but I am sure everyone now knows what the difference is. The point I would make is that although computers are fantastically complicated machines it is actually quite simple to do many things with them. If you have a new machine of some value then leave alone. If your looking at upgrading anyhow why not have a "delve"?. The driver by the way is software that tells the card how to communicate, like a printer driver. Bob

The following instructions are taken from Windows XP instructions. I suggest you print this off before you start: To reinstall your driver: First restart your computer in “safe” mode 1. Click Start, click Turn off computer, and then click Restart. While your computer is starting, press and hold down the F8 key until the Startup Menu appears. 2. Use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys to select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER. 3. Open Device Manager. 4. To open Device Manager, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager. 5. Click the plus sign (+) next to Display adapters. 6. Right-click your adapter (probably the only one listed) and then click Uninstall. In the Confirm Device Removal box, click OK. 7. Restart your computer when you are prompted to do so. This will set windows off to find the driver and reinstall it Be brave... there is no guarantee that this will solve the problem but it is the first step. Bob

ROBERT wot does lol mean? been wondering but too afraid to ask in case thought very thick, when I'm only a bit thick really

Wendy Lots of people ask (inc me) LOL = Laugh Out Loud ROFLMAO = Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A*** Off Bob

Thanks, now I know, thought maybe everyone was just so loving,.... lots of love=lol, thick eh??

Ditto, Wendy Bob

Bob, Very many thanks. Apologies for the late response - we have been out celebrating Robbie Burns' birthday! Anyway, before we went out I had a look on the Tiny website (yes, we have a "Tiny" package. 3 years old and just out of warranty!) They had stuff to download and we downloaded the Graphics driver. It took ages! Having done that we couldn't fathom out how to run it so we went to the pub instead! I'm not even sure that we've downloaded the right thing. We are using ME (don't laugh). There only appeared to be one option which mentioned ME so we went for it. I am beginning to feel that we're out of our depth here. Do you think we should attempt to run this graphics thing or shall I just delete it all? Presumably we would have to go through the process which you have described first. It sounds fairly hairy.....would your instructions work for ME? Sorry to appear thick. I wanted to enter the computer age so that the world didn't leave me behind. However hard I run, I don't seem to be able to keep up! Jill

Hi Jill. Hope your OK. I think we all really understand how difficult a decision you made last night, struggle with a wayward computer or go to the pub. These things are sent to test us. I’m sure you did the right thing !! I don’t use ME but jumped from 98 to XP.I used to update video card drivers often on 98 as my son was into gaming . (You had to have the latest drivers to run the latest games). I don’t know what you have got from tiny but have a look on your machine to find out what you have got. Right click on your windows desktop (not in GC or anything) any select properties. Then settings / advanced. You should see reference to the “adapter” (your video card)(write this down) and driver in properties. There should be an option to re-install driver. If Windows can’t find the correct one it wont do anything . It might ask for a disk or even go to the card manufactures site for it. I am pretty certain that it won’t install anything wrong. . Bob

Hi Bob, Wow - this is fun! We found an option to change the driver (which we did). Didn't make a blind bit of difference. There wasn't an option to re-install. Tried re-starting in "safe mode". Looked at the instructions on Windows ME on-line guide. Said to hold down the control key whist re-starting. Didn't get the start up menu. Tried holding down F8. It made all sorts of wierd noises and didn't like it at all. Had to re-boot from scratch and re-install broadband which had dissed itself. Now, at least we're back to square one! At the point the monitor plugs into the tower unit, the graphics card is not exposed so there doesn't seem to be anything to tweak. I presume we would have to open the casing to access it. Anyway, thanks for your advice - at least we're up and running again which is better than nothing! Best Wishes Jill

Jill I think we have reached the limit of my expertese as ME is a law to itself. (back to the pub I think). It would be worth taking the cover off your CPU and: 1. Close it down and switch it off but leave it plugged in. 2. Earth yourself to the metal case (Static can kill your motherboard 3. Give it a good clean cos it's probably dusty in there but be very careful. 4. Press the video card down into its slot You can try it out without the case on (just don't electrocute yourself. I got this from Microsoft: How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Me (this is like "safe mode" in XP. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK. On the General tab, click Selective startup. Click to clear all of the check boxes under Selective startup. On the Startup tab, click to select the *StateMgr check box. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes. After the computer restarts, Click Start, click Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK. IMPORTANT: Look closely at the General tab to ensure that the check boxes you cleared are still cleared. Proceed to step 6 if none of the check boxes is selected. If you see a disabled or gray check box, your computer is not truly "clean-booted" and you may need assistance from the manufacturer of the program that places a check mark back into Msconfig. After you verify that your computer is clean-booted in step 5, you can isolate the issue. If the original issue does not reoccur after the clean boot, select one item at a time under Selective startup, and then restart the computer to see if the additional entry reproduces the original issue. NOTE: When you perform this procedure, Windows uses the Standard VGA driver (640 x 480 x 16) for your display. This driver sets your display to a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels with 16 colors. If you cannot test the original issue in this configuration (for example, you have to run a program that requires a higher resolution or color depth), you may have to change your display driver to a high-resolution generic (Super VGA) driver or select the System.ini item to add your original display adapter back to your configuration. Note that if you add the System.ini item back to your configuration, you may also add components and settings with your original display driver. For additional information about how to change your display driver, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 131806 Windows 95/98/Me: How to Install or Change a Video Driver How to Return from a Clean Boot State Click Start, click Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK. On the General tab, click Normal startup. Click OK. Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer. Categories That Are Disabled in a Clean Boot System.ini entries Win.ini entries Static virtual device drivers (VxDs) Startup items Environment variables for MS-DOS emulation