Video Display Is FUBAR

Cyrus · Post by **Cyrus** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:18 am

So this hard drive just got a fresh format and windows installation. Everything installed without any problems... Then I try starting up a video and I get a blank screen, hurray.

I tried everything and nothing would get it working so I went ahead and installed VLC which works regardless of what codecs you have intsalled (it uses its own crap?) and surprise I just get a blank screen like with anything which makes me think the problem is not with my codecs... and this happens with any video type.

This is the strangest problem I've ran into and this is the first time I've gotten a major problem right after a fresh windows installation.

I'm using windows XP Pro SP2 and considering this is a fresh install that makes me think it must be one of the programs which I have installed which is causing direct problems... anyway here is everything I currently have installed on this hard drive:

- 7zip
- Adobe Flash Player Plugin
- Ares 2.0.9
- ATI Display Driver
- ATI Tool
- Avira Antivirus
- Azureus
- Combined Community Codec Pack
- SoundBlaster X-Fi drivers
- Java Runtime 6 update 4
- Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0
- Microsoft AppLocale
- MS Office 2007
- Firefox
- Internet Explorer 7
- WinRAR

Nothing in that list is new in terms of what I always used to install nor do they seem to be anything which can interfere with video output. The only thing I can think to do at this point is to completely wipe my display drivers and and reinstall (already tried that with the codecs of course)... though considering it's a fresh install I don't know if it'll do anything.

Anyway, this is damn weird, any ideas or suggestions?

I.S.T. · Post by **I.S.T.** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:54 am

What are your system specs, and what version of the AMD driver are you using?

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:21 am

Try installing FFDSHOW? http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm

should work with most programs and is updated fairly regularly with support for the latest movie/music encoding formats. Just install it then try playing a movie with Windows Media Player.

Rydian · Post by **Rydian** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:40 am

You using integrated graphics or an actual card? What is it? Installed the drivers from the site?

Cyrus · Post by **Cyrus** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:24 am

Well I managed to find out what the problem was... it was Microsoft -_-'

Apparently in the auto-updates there was some random crap added to the ATI drivers (which I looked into but link after link it gave no specific detail at all, though it wasn't full driver itself). I used Driver Cleaner to get rid of whatever it was, and just like that everything returned to normal.

I never imagined a recommended update would cause severe issues but then again I suppose anything is possible with MS's fruity windows updater.

Anyway thanks everyone for trying to help.

I.S.T. · Post by **I.S.T.** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:33 am

NEVER use the drivers provided by Windows Update. They have been known to function incorrectly due to shit like what you just experienced.