- FIX: Solving ATI Black Screen Problems in Vista
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Posted by oVan on Friday, August 10, 2007 | PermaLink | 5 commentsI've mentioned in my previous post about remotely restarting Vista with RDP that my switch from the finally fully working but oh so slow nVidia Quadro FX 550 card to the very fast (Aero Graphics: 5.9, Gaming Graphics: 5.5) and affordable XpertVision ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Super didn't work out because of the many sleep/hibernate problems in Vista.
To explain the situation a bit more, here's what my problems (and some early solutions) looked like.- The system (sometimes) boots normally and the ATI card performs fast and stable.
- Putting Vista into Sleep mode or Hibernation mode always works.
- Shutting down Windows Vista also always works.
- Resuming from Sleep or Hibernation, or powering up sometimes works, but other times this can lead to this:
- Boot or resume works but with black screen syndrome: Windows is running but the ATI card appears not present and thus you get no picture whatsoever. You can however log in remotely using Remote Desktop Client.
- Boot or resume fails during the BIOS POST routine, and after some 30 seconds you get two beeps indicating your machine is tired of waiting on the video card to come alive.
In the first case, it is enough to shutdown your pc remotely, and then retry the whole routine.
In the second case, it only helped (in my case) to eithe remove and reinsert the ATI card, or to remove the power while your pc is hanging in the BIOS routine. Both solutions reset the video card and should get you going. - Note that this happens with the ATI Catalyst 7.7 drivers, as well as with the beta version (RC3) of Catalyst 7.8.
However, while checking the very limited ATI/AMD support site, I decided to try some of the few solutions they had for similar but not identical problems.
To my big surprise, one of them actually worked... I've been able to put my workstation to Sleep, Shutdown, Restart for several times and not once did it fail.
Here's the solution:- Open the Start menu and type services.msc, then press Enter:
- You'll now see the list of services. Select the ATI External Event Utility service, then press Enter:
- This brings up the properties window. You'll notice that the service is started but that you can't stop it.
- Change the Startup Type dropdown list from Automatic into Manual.
- Close this window by pressing the OK button, then reboot your machine (with a proper restart via the Start menu).
- Test the Sleep, Shutdown, Restart and Hibernate functions... it should work now.
I hope this really solves it, and that I don't need to revise this post or write a follow-up.Labels: ATI, crash, driver, hibernate, Microsoft, problem, problems, sleep, Vista, Windows Vista
- Fix: Vista sleep problems with High Definition Audio device
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Posted by oVan on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 commentsSimilar to the sleep problems with Creative X-Fi and SoundBlaster audio cards, many Vista users have sleep/hibernation problems with the High Definiation Audio device from Intel.
Microsoft has released a new fix: as described in KB 937077: A high definition audio device may no longer work after you resume Windows Vista from hibernation or from sleep.
Download here: 32-bit or 64 bitLabels: AC'97, AC97, audio, fix, HD, HD Audio, hibernate, hibernation, Intel, Microsoft, problem, problems, sleep, Vista, Windows, Windows Vista
- 22 Reasons Why Safari 3 is Unusable (and counting)
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Posted by oVan on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | PermaLink | 9 commentsAs indicated in my previous post, I had high hopes for Safari on Windows and I've played with it for about an hour.
Although I didn't intend to use it as my daily browser, I did want to keep it for testing purposes. The following list of problems and bugs will explain why I will uninstall it immediately, as it won't be of any use to me anymore:
Update: I've added some more problems posted by visitors
Update 2: Added related articles at the bottom- The interface does not adhere to Aero or XP Windows UI standards (same problem as iTunes and QuickTime (and is subjectively ugly)
- No ClearType support, only font smoothing that looks terribly fuzzy on flat panels
- In Vista, the window has no drop shadow like other applications, making it very hard to see what application is focused (unless you keep checking the status bar)
- Clicking on the Safari icon in the Windows taskbar doesn't Minimize or Restore its window
- You can't resize the window with its borders, only by using the small grip in the bottom right corner (provided it is not off screen).
- You can't close a tab with the middle button of your mouse
- Alt-Enter does not open an address in a new tab
- Typing Ctrl-Enter does not add "www" and ".com" in the address bar
- Escape key doesn't close the Print Preview window.
- Buttons for Minimize, Maximize and Close are too small
- Clicking on Bookmarks button or using Show All Bookmarks function (Ctrl-Alt-B) crashes Safari
- Viewing installed plugins gives error message: Safari is missing important resources and should be reinstalled.
- While typing my email address in the edit box on this page, Safari just crashes!
- The toolbar buttons have no tooltips. I have no idea what that spider button will do...
- Moving the Print Preview window around the desktop is very slow
- Left edge of toolbar on Print Preview window has transparent part
- Loading a different website in the main Safari window while the Print Preview window is still open, renders the new site also in Print Preview mode. I can't see the use of that, and the Print Preview should probably be a modal box.
- Safari doesn't maximize properly on a second monitor.
- Side-scrolling with the mouse does not work
- Using Back & Forward buttons on my Logitech mouse doesn't work either
- Not only does it use a lot of memory, it also leaks memory fast! Reloading this blog post a few times will eat up a few megabytes extra.
- And finally... it does not uninstall gracefully. It leaves a lot of orphaned registry entries, including for the Bonjour technology.
- Submitted by Tamir: Choose Language description in Hebrew is shown in reverse.
- Submitted by Philip: It's impossible to change the proxy settings.
- Submitted by anonymous: Preferences do not persist between sessions, nor is there a save button!
Okay, I agree that some bugs mentioned will be fixed, as this is a beta version after all. What will not be fixed however, is the fact that although Apple has the reputation of building user friendly devices and software, it actually fails totally in the User Experience! They have the arrogance to ignore de facto UI standards on the Windows platform, and by doing so they confirm what I've always thought about their products: they're (most of the time) beautiful but not practical. Sure, a lot of people benefit from a simple user interface, but not if it makes it harder to use the product: you can't easily resize the window, the font rendering looks horrible, buttons have no tooltips, the top header panel is huge, the removal of the status bar makes you wonder if your webpage stops at the bottom of your screen or continues under the taskbar, etc.
Apple might think that they'll gain some market share back from FireFox or Internet Explorer, but as it is now it just might backfire...
What are your thoughts? What problems did you encounter, or maybe you really like it? Let us know!
Here are some related articles on other blogs:- View from W6th: Mac browser on the pc
- Phun-ky.net: Safari on Windows bugs
- 456 berea street: Safari now officially available for Windows
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- Nvidia Hit With New Class Action Threat Over Windows Vista Glitches
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Posted by oVan on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | PermaLink | 0 commentsApparently I'm not the only one with nVidia problems on Vista:
From Bink.nu:
A New Yorker is seeking support for a class action suit against the video card manufacturer because he says drivers for the company's high-end 8800 card have caused him problems.
A new Web site seeking support for a class action suit against video card manufacturer Nvidia has appeared on the Internet.
A message on the site -- www.NvidiaClassAction.info -- asks consumers who purchased the high-end Nvidia 8800 card with the intention of installing it on Windows Vista-equipped PCs to join the proposed lawsuit.
"Nvidia said the 8800 was built for Windows Vista ... it is anything but," said Dan Goldman, the site's founder, in an interview Tuesday.
Goldman, a New York City-based investor and IT consultant, said he purchased a version of the $700 card sold by Asus International before Windows Vista was released for sale to the public at the end of January. After upgrading his computer to the new Microsoft operating system in February, and installing Nvidia drivers that were supposedly Vista compatible, "all hell broke loose," Goldman said.
Goldman's PC screen started to blank out intermittently and constantly flash an inscrutable error message that read: "Video driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has recovered."
Goldman claimed Nvidia's drivers for Windows Vista caused the problem and that the company ignored his requests for help. Now, he wants payback. "I'm entitled to damages I incurred as a result of Nvidia's misleading marketing campaign, and so are a lot of other people," he said.
Goldman, who said he spent about 100 hours unsuccessfully trying to fix the problem on this own, is in talks with three law firms in preparation for a class action suit.
Nvidia officials were not immediately available for comment.Labels: class action, drivers, nVidia, problems, Vista, Windows