Hi Guys, hoping someone may be able to help me out with a problem i've been having recently with my PC. Basically, i've recently set my system up to dual boot XP and vista ultimate (it was previously running XP, but my work have given me a copy of ultimate to use whilst working from home). The install all went fine, and Vista is running well on my PC so far. The only problem i have had seems to be that if i put the system into "sleep mode" while running Vista, when i try to wake the PC up i do not get a signal at my monitor, meaning the PC wakes up, but the monitor stays in sleep mode. Currently, i am running the onboard graphics that came with my PC, which is the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics adaptor/ My system is currently rated as 2.0 on the windows experience index, but that is because of the graphics. However, as i dont use the PC for gaming at all, and it runs all the windows aero stuff correctly, i assume that it should be sufficent. Everything else is at between 4.1 and 5.6 on the index. To fix this, i thought that upgrading my drivers for the onboard graphics would be enough. i managed to find THIS website, which seems to have the Vista driver i was looking for. i downloaded the top item, named "Catalyst Software Suite (32 bit) English Only", at 40.5mb. I found it by using THIS page, using the path Windows Vista (32bit edition) ---> Integrated/Motherboard ---> Radeon Express 200. Everything seemed to go fine, and it also installed the "Catalytic Control Centre", which seems to allow me to change some of the features of my Graphics output. The forst time i tried put the system to sleep and wake it up again, i got a BSOD. i ran the memory test, and all seems to be fine since. The graphics seem smoother, especially at startup, when before they would be a little "fuzzy" for a moment or so until the system was fully booted and loaded up. However, the screen still does not come on after i wake the machine up...does that mean that the only way forward would be to buy a new graphics card, or is there another way to solve this problem? For info, my PC is a Packard Bell iStart1369, details HERE, although i have upgraded my RAM to 2gb, and added a 360gb Seagate Barracuda HDD. Thanks in advance for any help. ibizaGTi
Possibly a driver bug, Vista's graphics drivers are pretty terrible, try a selection of older ones until you find one that works right. The 2.0 on performance is correct for your graphics adapter, they are terribly slow, but you'll only notice that fact in games, Aero doesn't use the graphics card much. The score is right, but doesn't matter.
OK, thats great thanks Sam. Is there anywere in particular i can find the older drivers? I have had a look on google, but im never really sure if it's safe to d/l the drivers from a site other than the manufacturers. Would the system let me install an incorrect driver and then mess up my machine, or would it stop me before it got that far? thanks for the help...im pretty useless when it comes to drivers etc. ibizaGTi
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ati_catalyst_vista/ If a driver isn't right, it usually won't work.
