PC not recognizing GPU upon driver uninstallation.

HowardTheDuck · Jun 24, 2007, 10:37 PM

This is very silly and I can't come up with a reason for it. And honestly, I'm not interested in the reason. I'm interested in a fix. Basically what happened was I recieved a message from Steam claiming that my video drivers were out of date. So I checked, and sure enough I was a few builds behind. So i downloaded the latest Omega Radeon driver and uninstalled the old one. I was prompted by windows to reboot, which I did. Except now windows isn't recognizing my video card. I have a blank screen. The video card is running, and I know the computer booted fully because I can still access files on it from my other computer, which is networked and connected to a KVM switch.

XP sp2
ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE motherboard
Radeon X 1800 XL GPU
Intel chipset

Please tell me someone has a suggestion. I feel like this should be a very easy fix, but I can't seem to come up with it. Thanks alot in advance.

Edit: I feel like installing the new drivers through the command prompt would be easy, but I'm not familiar enough with the commands to be able to do it. Anyone else think that would work?

aNy_oNE · Jun 25, 2007, 03:53 AM

Uh... does safe mode work? You didn't mention it there..

And also, does the screen show the BIOS and etc. before booting windows? Because if not.. then it's probably the actual card or something to do with your hardware.

HowardTheDuck · Jun 25, 2007, 07:46 AM

Nothing shows up on the monitor because the monitor is plugged in through the video card, obviously. The computer fullly boots. I just can't see anything on the screen. The video card has power to it, and powers up with the rest of the machine. This motherboard doesn't have a dvi/vga connector, because there's no onboard video.

To answer your question more specifically, no, I don't see the boot screen, or the bios loading, or any of that. I know that it goes through the process though, because after i turn it on, I can still access all of it's shared folders from my other computer.

OldBuzzard · Jun 25, 2007, 10:34 AM

It's not a driver problem. It's a hardware problem of some sort.

The clue is that you don't see anything during bootup. The Omega/Cat drivers don't load until the OS is loading.

It's possible that it's the monitor. Try using a different monitor to see what happens.

If you can, try that card in another system. Also, you might want to take it out, and re-seat it in the slot. Do the same with the connection to the PSU.

HowardTheDuck · Jun 25, 2007, 04:51 PM

I know it's not the monitor because I'm using the monitor right now on my other machine. The two share the monitor through a KVM switch. I'll pop the card out and re-seat it. I checked the power connector already, but I'll check that again as well. I know it's not a driver problem... I just thought it seemed fishy that as soon as I uninstalled the video card driver and rebooted, the video card became unresponsive.

Edit:Your solution, which seemed painfully obvious today (didn't think to re-seat the card last night, for whatever reason) inadvertently worked. I think it was seated fine, and the power was definitely connected, but the USB connector for the KVM switch was a little loose. So I unplugged that and plugged it back in and caught the final boot screen; the Windows screen.

Thanks for your help. I've bookmarked these forums to check on a regular basis. This looks like an amazing community. And to think I used to pay 10 dollars a month for a membership at Expers Exchange... the experts are clearly right here, among us. Thanks again.

Jun 24, 2007, 10:37 PM	#1
HowardTheDuck DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	PC not recognizing GPU upon driver uninstallation. This is very silly and I can't come up with a reason for it. And honestly, I'm not interested in the reason. I'm interested in a fix. Basically what happened was I recieved a message from Steam claiming that my video drivers were out of date. So I checked, and sure enough I was a few builds behind. So i downloaded the latest Omega Radeon driver and uninstalled the old one. I was prompted by windows to reboot, which I did. Except now windows isn't recognizing my video card. I have a blank screen. The video card is running, and I know the computer booted fully because I can still access files on it from my other computer, which is networked and connected to a KVM switch. XP sp2 ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE motherboard Radeon X 1800 XL GPU Intel chipset Please tell me someone has a suggestion. I feel like this should be a very easy fix, but I can't seem to come up with it. Thanks alot in advance. Edit: I feel like installing the new drivers through the command prompt would be easy, but I'm not familiar enough with the commands to be able to do it. Anyone else think that would work?

Jun 25, 2007, 10:34 AM	#4
OldBuzzard DH's oldest Geek? Join Date: May 2003 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 2,225 Rep Power: 83 System Specs	It's not a driver problem. It's a hardware problem of some sort. The clue is that you don't see anything during bootup. The Omega/Cat drivers don't load until the OS is loading. It's possible that it's the monitor. Try using a different monitor to see what happens. If you can, try that card in another system. Also, you might want to take it out, and re-seat it in the slot. Do the same with the connection to the PSU. __________________ When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Jun 25, 2007, 04:51 PM	#5
HowardTheDuck DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	I know it's not the monitor because I'm using the monitor right now on my other machine. The two share the monitor through a KVM switch. I'll pop the card out and re-seat it. I checked the power connector already, but I'll check that again as well. I know it's not a driver problem... I just thought it seemed fishy that as soon as I uninstalled the video card driver and rebooted, the video card became unresponsive. Edit:Your solution, which seemed painfully obvious today (didn't think to re-seat the card last night, for whatever reason) inadvertently worked. I think it was seated fine, and the power was definitely connected, but the USB connector for the KVM switch was a little loose. So I unplugged that and plugged it back in and caught the final boot screen; the Windows screen. Thanks for your help. I've bookmarked these forums to check on a regular basis. This looks like an amazing community. And to think I used to pay 10 dollars a month for a membership at Expers Exchange... the experts are clearly right here, among us. Thanks again. Last edited by HowardTheDuck; Jun 25, 2007 at 05:03 PM.

Jun 25, 2007, 03:53 AM	#2
aNy_oNE DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 160 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Uh... does safe mode work? You didn't mention it there.. And also, does the screen show the BIOS and etc. before booting windows? Because if not.. then it's probably the actual card or something to do with your hardware.

Jun 25, 2007, 07:46 AM	#3
HowardTheDuck DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Nothing shows up on the monitor because the monitor is plugged in through the video card, obviously. The computer fullly boots. I just can't see anything on the screen. The video card has power to it, and powers up with the rest of the machine. This motherboard doesn't have a dvi/vga connector, because there's no onboard video. To answer your question more specifically, no, I don't see the boot screen, or the bios loading, or any of that. I know that it goes through the process though, because after i turn it on, I can still access all of it's shared folders from my other computer.