Windows XP Home SP2 with all the latest windows updates as of this post
Pentium 4 2.6Ghz
512MB Ram
Graphics Card: GeForce4 MX 420
DirectX 9.0c
This is a bit hard to explain but I will do my best. About two weeks ago, my friend and I started having problems with our display adapters. He has the same graphics card I do and a very similar system except his version is 440. We're not sure what the cause of the problem is, or what triggers it exactly to happen each time. I even reformatted my computer but the problem returned so I suspect its something I installed. As far as I can tell, it happens fairly often, though not always, when an application or game goes fullscreen. When the problem happens, the display adapter "crashes" and I am unable to change any settings such as resolution or color quality. I normally run in 1024x768, and the resolution will stay like this unless I try to change it or the program which triggered the "crash" changed it to something lower. If it is changed to something lower or I try to change it myself after the "crash", the screen will become stuck at 640x480. I say the adapter "crashes" because when I check Display Properties, the adapter information says its not available and the GeForce tab is gone. There is no error when this happens, I can only tell its happened when the screen gets stuck at 640x480 or if I check display properties and see that the adapter info is 'gone'. The only way to fix this is to reboot and all loads up normally. I have some screenshots to help better explain my problem.
Here is a shot of the display adapter before the problem happens:
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107275352.jpgHere is a screenshot after it happens:
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107285901.jpgI also checked dxdiag but it reported no problems, even after the adapter "crashes", it reports no problems except the adapter information.
Before the problem:
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107749967.jpgAfter the problem:
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107749833.jpgIf I try to change any settings in display properties after the "crash" I get these error messages:
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107749831.jpg and
http://forums.armyofpearl.com/uploads/post-1-1107749832.jpg right after I click OK on the first one.
I have tried the obvious fixes such as updating my video drivers. I've also tried downgrading to old versions which didn't cause problems when I used them before but the problem still happens sometimes. There will be times I can run a game or watch a movie in fullscreen and the adapter will be fine, but other times it will "crash" as soon as the program goes into fullscreen. Once I even went into dxdiag and pressed "Test DirectDraw" and it triggered the problem without even going into fullscreen. Maybe it could be a DirectDraw problem?
Because the problem started happening to both my friend and I at about the same time, we assume it is probably caused by something we both installed/upgraded. The only things we can think of that we both did was install the latest windows updates (This started happening right around the time the last batch of windows updates came out in January) and also we both upgraded a codec pack we used called K-Lite Mega Codec Pack to version 1.16 after previously using version 1.03. The codec pack is what I suspect the most but even uninstalling 1.16 and reinstalling 1.03, the problem still happens. Here is the changelog for the codec pack:
http://free.hostdepartment.com/s/site183//changelogs_mega.htmAs I said, my friend and I used to use 1.03 without any issues, but as you can see from the changelog, the update from 1.03 to 1.10 changed some things dealing with DirectShow. Could changes like that be causing the problem I described? Maybe I need to somehow revert back to the original files which might have been affected, though I'm not sure how to do that and I am pretty sure the codecs are uninstalled when I uninstall the pack itself. I asked on the official forums for that pack and no one else seems to have been having my problem so I'm not sure if that is the cause.
Any help in fixing this problem would be very greatly appriciated! Thank you.
