Gateway MX7527: I've done a clean install of XP Pro and updated all the drivers downloaded from the Gateway support site. All seems to work well except I cannot get the video driver to work. It is an ATI video card and driver.
The history:
The display always has some kind of imperfection, showing odd lines and spots of grainy texture. When I connect the laptop to an external working monitor I see the same imperfections as on the laptop screen.
When I install the ATI video driver it seems to install normally but on reboot everything is normal until after the Windows logo image when I get the black screen. It appears that all is well except the display as I hear the usual sounds from the OS as it opens the desktop.
So I boot into VGA mode and I get the desktop to display. (The desktop will display in Safe mode as well.) If I attempt to change any of the display settings, or for that matter if I ever press the "Apply" button in the display setting window, the screen goes black and I have to reboot into VGA mode.
When I uninstall the ATI driver the machine will use a default VGA driver and I get workable display that I can modify with the display settings. This would be a manageable situation except that the imperfections in the screen display remain. The aberrations in the display will change as I change the display settings but it never looks right. (The settings that I am using at the moment show perfectly on about half the display area and the rest is messed up.)
I'm at a deadend. Can anyone offer any insight as to whether this is a driver issue or a hardware issue (or both) and some thoughts on how to proceed? Thanks.
The history:
The display always has some kind of imperfection, showing odd lines and spots of grainy texture. When I connect the laptop to an external working monitor I see the same imperfections as on the laptop screen.
When I install the ATI video driver it seems to install normally but on reboot everything is normal until after the Windows logo image when I get the black screen. It appears that all is well except the display as I hear the usual sounds from the OS as it opens the desktop.
So I boot into VGA mode and I get the desktop to display. (The desktop will display in Safe mode as well.) If I attempt to change any of the display settings, or for that matter if I ever press the "Apply" button in the display setting window, the screen goes black and I have to reboot into VGA mode.
When I uninstall the ATI driver the machine will use a default VGA driver and I get workable display that I can modify with the display settings. This would be a manageable situation except that the imperfections in the screen display remain. The aberrations in the display will change as I change the display settings but it never looks right. (The settings that I am using at the moment show perfectly on about half the display area and the rest is messed up.)
I'm at a deadend. Can anyone offer any insight as to whether this is a driver issue or a hardware issue (or both) and some thoughts on how to proceed? Thanks.
