From: Grinder on
On 4/8/2010 8:06 PM, Steve Giannoni wrote:
> Many thanks for all the detailed info. Unfortunately, you're way, WAY
> ahead of me. The system is a Dell Dimension 8200 and I think the video
> is GeForce4 MX 420, running Windows XP home. Not ready yet to dig
> around inside the system. Automatic updates is probably what brought
> me this trouble. Foolish me for expecting a simple solution ...
>
> PS - why does Safe mode cure it ?

Safe mode loads only a core set of drivers and services, so the
problematic bit might be in what's not being loaded. That doesn't
reveal much, though.

It appears that the Dell Dimension 8200 does not have onboard video, so
you must be using a video card. If it's a GeForce4 MX-420, you can
download the most recent driver set for Windows XP here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html

I would recommend looking at your Add/Remove programs to see if their
are any nVidia video drivers in that list. Uninstall them and report
into "Normal" mode. Your video will be very basic, as it may just just
the standard VGA drivers. If that's the case, fire up your browser and
see if the problem has gone away. If it has, then we can suspect the
uninstalled drivers as being the culprit. Install the new drivers and
hopefully the problem will not return.

Another thought: If the IE install is just screwed up a bit, you might
get around that by creating a new user account. Try and and see if the
problem goes away. If it works and you're willing to move your files
over, great. If not, at least you have that diagnostic information.
From: Grinder on
Yet another thought:

You could just do like the cool kids and flip IE the bird by switching
to Firefox, Chrome, Opera or any one of the free and superior alternatives.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
From: Steve Giannoni on
On Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:06:27 -0500, Grinder <grinder(a)no.spam.maam.com>
wrote:

>On 4/8/2010 8:06 PM, Steve Giannoni wrote:
>> Many thanks for all the detailed info. Unfortunately, you're way, WAY
>> ahead of me. The system is a Dell Dimension 8200 and I think the video
>> is GeForce4 MX 420, running Windows XP home. Not ready yet to dig
>> around inside the system. Automatic updates is probably what brought
>> me this trouble. Foolish me for expecting a simple solution ...
>>
>> PS - why does Safe mode cure it ?
>
>Safe mode loads only a core set of drivers and services, so the
>problematic bit might be in what's not being loaded. That doesn't
>reveal much, though.
>
>It appears that the Dell Dimension 8200 does not have onboard video, so
>you must be using a video card. If it's a GeForce4 MX-420, you can
>download the most recent driver set for Windows XP here:
>
>http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html
>
>I would recommend looking at your Add/Remove programs to see if their
>are any nVidia video drivers in that list. Uninstall them and report
>into "Normal" mode. Your video will be very basic, as it may just just
>the standard VGA drivers. If that's the case, fire up your browser and
>see if the problem has gone away. If it has, then we can suspect the
>uninstalled drivers as being the culprit. Install the new drivers and
>hopefully the problem will not return.
>
>Another thought: If the IE install is just screwed up a bit, you might
>get around that by creating a new user account. Try and and see if the
>problem goes away. If it works and you're willing to move your files
>over, great. If not, at least you have that diagnostic information.
From: Steve Giannoni on
I have no experience updating video drivers. There IS an entry in the
add/remove programs for NVIDIA Display Driver but I'm apprehensive
about deleting it; doesn't it need the driver for video function? How
do I then install the correct drivers, etc. I am a novice at this so
please bear with me & thanks ...

On Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:06:27 -0500, Grinder <grinder(a)no.spam.maam.com>
wrote:

>On 4/8/2010 8:06 PM, Steve Giannoni wrote:
>> Many thanks for all the detailed info. Unfortunately, you're way, WAY
>> ahead of me. The system is a Dell Dimension 8200 and I think the video
>> is GeForce4 MX 420, running Windows XP home. Not ready yet to dig
>> around inside the system. Automatic updates is probably what brought
>> me this trouble. Foolish me for expecting a simple solution ...
>>
>> PS - why does Safe mode cure it ?
>
>Safe mode loads only a core set of drivers and services, so the
>problematic bit might be in what's not being loaded. That doesn't
>reveal much, though.
>
>It appears that the Dell Dimension 8200 does not have onboard video, so
>you must be using a video card. If it's a GeForce4 MX-420, you can
>download the most recent driver set for Windows XP here:
>
>http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71_2.html
>
>I would recommend looking at your Add/Remove programs to see if their
>are any nVidia video drivers in that list. Uninstall them and report
>into "Normal" mode. Your video will be very basic, as it may just just
>the standard VGA drivers. If that's the case, fire up your browser and
>see if the problem has gone away. If it has, then we can suspect the
>uninstalled drivers as being the culprit. Install the new drivers and
>hopefully the problem will not return.
>
>Another thought: If the IE install is just screwed up a bit, you might
>get around that by creating a new user account. Try and and see if the
>problem goes away. If it works and you're willing to move your files
>over, great. If not, at least you have that diagnostic information.
From: Grinder on
On 4/9/2010 10:03 AM, Steve Giannoni wrote:
> I have no experience updating video drivers. There IS an entry in the
> add/remove programs for NVIDIA Display Driver but I'm apprehensive
> about deleting it; doesn't it need the driver for video function? How
> do I then install the correct drivers, etc. I am a novice at this so
> please bear with me& thanks ...

If you uninstall it, you will be asked to do a restart. On that
restart, the Standard VGA driver will be used. Your screen resolution
and color depth will be quite low. At that point, just install your new
driver set where you'll likely have to restart again.