All-white monitor screen

[terryZ]

i am running xp media center on a gateway pc (see below).

i have an ati x1300 video card with 2 outputs. one to the monitor and the other to the tv in a "mirror" setup so i can watch all the following both on the monitor AND the tv.

when i boot up, the splash screen is perfect on both. i then have a GO-BACK screen (it's a full hard drive restore utility) which is also perfect on both.

when i get to the windows splash screen and desktop, the tv is perfect but the monitor is completely white. slowly but surely horizontal lines (pretty much from top to bottom) resolve into the desktop.

my power saver shuts the monitor off after 20 minutes of no-use. when i move the mouse to get it on, sometimes it's fine but sometimes it's back to the all-white screen and then to the slow resolution.

i'm was thinking monitor but then why would the initial splash screens be okay and only the windows like this. i updated the drivers 2 weeks ago but this did not appear until last week.

so i'm stumped.

any thoughts?

thanks in advance.

terry

[SuperSparks]

I'd try uninstalling and re-installing the drivers, in case they have got a bit corrupted. But it could be that the card is on the way out, a different bit of the card is used for the text-mode splash screens to that of the bitmapped screens that you get once you're booted into the OS.

[terryZ]

how do i uninstall video drivers? i mean, if i unstall it how will i SEE anything?

additionally, it's not just the text mode splash screen that is okay. the windows splash screen and the following GO-BACK screen are fine also. only when it gets to the desktop is it wonky.

[SuperSparks]

If you uninstall the drivers then Windows will use the bog-standard VGA drivers. And the splash screens are probably only using the VGA drivers anyway. It does sound like it is more of a driver than a hardware issue though.

[terryZ]

thx sparks.

i will un- & re-install the driver(s) tonight. i was just worried what windows would do WITHOUT a driver in the interim.

i hope it IS a driver issue too.

tho if it is a monitor or graphics card issue... well, i've been contemplating upgrading both. just a rationalization here. lol.

[Ridgerunr]

You might also want to run Driver Cleaner to get rid of leftovers after the uninstall. ATI is (in)famous for leaving junk behind...

[terryZ]

WOOT (i think).

i realize now that i forgot to mention that this problem does not happen ALL of the time. but most of the time.

i reinstalled the driver last night. no problems so far.

i'll keep my fingers crossed. and if the problem reappears, i'll take ridgerunr suggestion (which i didn't see until this morning).

if that fails, i could always go back to the previous driver. there really was no problem with it other than the fact that it was over a year old. i play Second Life and thought it best to have the newest driver.

however, this "problem" has started me looking at newer monitors and graphics cards. now i'll have to find another excuse to buy them. lol.

[ProfessorU]

I think the root of your problem is from the different resolutions at the desktop and the splash screen.

[terryZ]

as stated earlier, i reinstalled the new driver and everything was fine.

still fine after two days.