[hovergroovie]

The Short Version:
Windows vista boots up and loses connection with the monitor. Fixing this means disconnecting from the video card, and reconnected, while jiggling the mouse. It then turns on and works in low resolution mode, with no option to expand further than 1024x768. Tasks are 4x as slow (on average) to complete. Every new boot/alteration of driver files and functions resets the monitor. If you believe this problem is within your ability, More information on the event is below.

Full Incident:
So I brought over 2 pc games of mine for a friend without internet for the week.
San andreas, and Trackmania United. I loaded San andreas onto his bran new Vista gaming rig, and booted it. It played well, but the textures were off...While booting up trackmania, EVERYTHING slowed down, then stopped, then froze. I rebooted once, and then a subsiquent hour of booting and rebooting. I went into safe mode (which works) and did a system restore to earlier that day. When vista booted up, the signal to the monitor was lost. We could hear vista working with the bells and whisles going off, but we couldn't see anything. I found out that if you unplug, and then re-plug the monitor and then jiggle the mouse, the monitor would reconnect.
NOW vista is running as if there were no video drivers for it, and in that low resolution mode, most programs, and some games (as benchmarks). It was running WELL below the expected behavior. His computer is quite top of the line.
Whenever I touch anything to do with the video drivers, it clicks the monitor off and we have to reconnect it again and jiggle the mouse.

The Computer:
AMD dual 6000+
2 gigs Gaming ram (?)
nVidia 8800gt
Windows Vista


IF no one has a solution, which I wouln't doubt, could someone point me to a good comprehensive guide on re-installing Vista with the CD's and formatting the hard disk?
Thanks guys...

[DaveA]

What I find is that these games are NOT Vista ready and you will need a FIX to have them run properly.

You do NOT state who the maker of the machine, if it is a OEM, boot to the Vista DVD and do a clean install.

If it is a OEM machine, follow the instructions for doing a "System recover". The instructions should be in the "Start, Help and support".

[hovergroovie]

Not sure what you're meaning regarding Original Equipment Manufacturer is. We had the computer build at a custom shop...The Vista CD's are still in their origional packaging.

I'll consult the help function in the start button and give it a wipe down...but a little understanding behind the incident would help be better avoid this in the future.

So XP games can critically impare Vista right down to the video drivers with no hope of repair (without a hotfix)? Jeez...

Also, Can I grab a guide for a wipe/reistall. I googled it, but nothing really comes up...please tell me they have this feature. It's not even my computer I screwed up, I want it fixed!!

[DaveA]

Since you have a Custom built system it is NOT considered a OEM type, therefore the odds are you will not have a system recover partition.

I think what you need to try before a clean install is get the Vista drivers for this machine even if you have to go back to the "Custom Shop" to get them. Which by the way you are going to need if you do a clean install of Vista.

If you want a clean install of Vista, boot to the Vista DVD and select Clean install in lieu of an upgrade (which a upgrade will take at least 4 hours).
This will remove ALL that is on the C drive (so back things up) and you will need to get the drivers for the hardware for this Custom built computer.

[hovergroovie]

They don't include everything in the box? I remember them giving a box full of wires, disks, and other crap. If I have to take it in, then I have to pay for the fix, as well as treck half way across the city. Is it just a disk of drivers, or something special...

[DaveA]

The different drivers for the different pieces of hardware MAY in in that "box full of wires, disks, and other crap".

But this "box full of wires, disks, and other crap" may only have the XP versions and the custom shop downloaded them from the OEM's of the different hardware makers.

[Jaskkes]

I had the exact same problem, out of no where I had to unplug my monitor and put it back in to fix it. You've got a hungry rig that's for sure. My problem was my video card not getting enough juice to run it, and the current of electricity was being interuptted when vista started up because the graphics card hits into high gear to run Aero.

Here's something to try. After you start up vista, disable your 8800 and see if you can set a higher resolution. If you can, it's a power problem OR a driver problem.

Make sure there are no speakers near the back of your rig. Infact you might want to try moving your computer to the other side of your house to see that there is no problem with the power, because your outlet may be affected in the room your in.

If you still have a problem, I have no other options for you, but i had the same problem and this seemed to fix it.