Computer geeks, lend me your ears....

[xcm]

YOU COULD just set it to onboard, and plug in there, reboot. might work.
but ive had graphics cards fully go out, the pc wont boot with it in there, so who knows.

i kinda think graphics cards are made to break... ive gone thru 6-8 of em in the last 4 years or so

 

[SleeperXJ]

Reason I put the HP help line number was that maybe they could help you un-install the graphics driver update that messed up your machine. If you can get the onboard graphics going, un-install process should be easier.

 

[TomMcD]

I agree that the Video Card is likely at fault. A system new enough to handle Vista _should_ be able to deal with you removing the VC. If not I can come over and enable the on board video for you Troy.

Other than that I'll stay out of the way since it sounds like you're in good hands (paws?) with XCM

 

[CherBear]

I agree that the Video Card is likely at fault. A system new enough to handle Vista _should_ be able to deal with you removing the VC. If not I can come over and enable the on board video for you Troy.

Other than that I'll stay out of the way since it sounds like you're in good hands (paws?) with XCM

I know my 5 year old XP machine can run with on board graphics card. I had a similiar problem about a year ago. Just disabled the thing and ran in ultra low resolution for a week LOL. It was like windows 95 all over again...:windows:

 

[old_man]

just dont change anything you dont understand!

The bottom line is, that is the problem.

Not having Vista experience, I don't know if safe mode exists in the Vista operating system.

In XP, you would boot to safe mode, then see about restoring to the previous configuration to see if reverting to the previous drivers fixed the problem. If so, then just reboot in normal mode and don't install the drivers again.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

SUCCESS!!!

I removed the PNY video/graphics card and the WIN TV card, plugged the non-HD monitor into the on-board video port and re-booted.

We're all good, did a Norton update, and am currently doing the external hard drive backup as I type this!

The PNY card came with our PC so I'm hoping it'll be warrantied.......

Thanks BIG TIME for the tips and advice guys!

 

[xcm]

schweet! glad you got it fixed.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

For those that were curious, here's what the monitor looked like when trying to boot the computer:

Dunno if this is potentially what went wrong. Theres alot of dust buildup on the microprocessor on the video/graphics card. The fan didn't appear to be stuck or hung up on the build up but I'm wondering if the dust caused hot spots..... :dunno:

These are the two cards I removed. Video/graphics card on the left, WIN TV card on the right. I imagine the TV card is fine so I'll be re-installing it when I replace the vid/graphics card.