Disabled standard vga driver

What operating System?

If Win95-98-ME

boot to a ME or Win98 floppy bootdisk http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and run this command

scanreg /restore

If still not fixed then

Reinstall the operating system over the top of itself. This will retain most of you settings and programs and replace the system files.

If the CD is bootable and your system allows booting from the CD then boot to the CD and install.

Otherwise boot to a ME or Win98 floppy bootdisk http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
Put the CD in the CD drive
At the prompt run the following command

setup

If you don't have the CD then run one of these commands

C:\Windows\Options\Cabs\setup.exe

or

C:\Windows\Options\Install\setup.exe

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;259181

Note that reinstalling Windows does not alter your currently installed programs unless a program has previously replaced a Windows system file. If a program does not work correctly after you reinstall Windows, reinstall the program, but note that the program may be replacing one or more Windows system files.


http://utils.skull-tech.com/bootdisks/boot98.exe

If XP or WIn200

See if you have an option of doing a Last Known Configuration
Boot the machine and as the BIOS is ready to Finish checking the hardware hit the Ctrl key and if  there is a menu choose of Last Known Configuratin select it.

if that doesn't work then

Win200

http://www.jsiinc.com/subh/tip3900/rh3920.htm

"3920 » How do I perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000?

If a repair does NOT cause your computer to operate normally, you may wish to try an in-place upgrade, a last resort before reinstalling. The in-place upgrade takes the same time as a reinstall.

To perform an in-place upgrade:

1. Boot the CD-ROM (or boot disks).

2. Press Enter to install a copy of Windows 2000.

3. Accept the License Agreement.

4. If setup does NOT detect a your installation, an in-place upgrade is NOT possible.

5. When prompted to repair the existing installation, press R. Setup will perform an in-place upgrade"
-------------------

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBJ/tip4500/rh4508.htm

"4508 » What does a Windows 2000 in-place upgrade change and not change?

I described performing an in-place upgrade in tip 3920 » How do I perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000?

When you perform an in-place upgrade:

1. Service Packs, hotfixes, and IE upgrades are rolled back.

2. Default registry values are restored.

3. Default permissions are reapplied.

4. COM and WFP are reregistered.

5. Plug and Play devices and the HAL are re-enumerated.

6. Drive letters are changed based upon the current drive and partitions. See Q2324048 - How Windows 2000 Assigns, Reserves, and Stores Drive Letters.

The following is NOT changed:

1. Installed components and programs.

2. Passwords.

3. Third-party registry entries.

4. The computer's role.

NOTE: If you upgraded your computer from Windows NT 4.0, profiles were stored at %SystemRoot%\Profiles. The in-place upgrade creates a \Documents and Settings folder and changes the registry profile to point to it. To fix the problem, use the Registry Editor to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. For each user, there will be a SID sub-key and a Value Name of ProfileImagePath. Change the string value to point to %SystemRoot%\Profiles\<UserName>."


if XP
Repair
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

Visual aid to the above procedure
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
Click on How To Run a Repair Install

You May Lose Data or Program Settings After Reinstalling, Repairing, or Upgrading Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;312369

Data Loss May Occur After Reinstalling, Repairing, or Upgrading Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;312368

Additional info: Operating System is XP pro

Ok take a look at my second comment

By the way where did you get the drivers from?. I believe since this is an onboard adapter that you need to get them from either the vendor of the machines site or the motherbord vendor.

CrazyOne..I am impressed.
However,
1. I tried last known config..that did not work
2. I did not upgrade the system form a previous version
3. I read of someone on the net with a similar problem. They tried to repair/upgrade XP, that did not work.
Also, I can't afford to reinstall

>>>Also, I can't afford to reinstall

I am not sure what you mean by this but Please read the links about doing a reinstall isn't the same as installing.

I got the driver with the Mboard. I had it loaded on previously, however, when i updated via windows update (new nvidia drivers) I got a conflict with the sound device. When i tried to remove the nvidia drivers to re-install them, it removed all the drivers including chip set, modem, vga etc. When i re-installed the nvidia drivers everything reinstalled except the video controller. When i check device manager, i saw a the std driver in place (save vga) i think.

Ok try this

strip the machine down to just a mouse, keyboard, video adapter, one hard drive, and/or disable all on board devices not needed to run the OS and see if you get any video.

When the system is starting, I am seeing the Windows Logo screen. However after it has loaded, the screen goes blank. Is it safe to assume that the registry has changed? If so, can i change the registry if the troubled Hard disk is connected as a slave?

I don't understand the trouble harddisk thing. What is the other hard disk? Did you install XP on the master one and the slave is the one you are having problems booting to?

Since I am not entirely sure what or how have this setup change the drive letters to match you drive letter.

Start with this

ren c:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM SYSTEM.bak
ren c:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM.alt SYSTEM

If that didn't do it then

copy c:\Windows\repair\TheParticularHive C:\Windows\system32\config\

This will replace the registry hive to the last time that hive was bacped up. Hopefully you didn't backup the registry at the time the problems started to happen. If you never backed up the registry then the registry will be dated from the day XP was installed hence a doing a Repair install might be the better choice becuase it will retain most of our registry settings. Otherwise you are going to have reinstall most of you programs and redo all your tweaks and settings from scartch. Not much different then doing a fresh install.

Following is a list of the files that are the registry hives. I would suggest starting with the SYSTEM hive and then reboot and if the problem still persists do the SOFTWARE hive next. Note these files don't have a file extension on them

DEFAULT
SAM
SECURITY
SOFTWARE
SYSTEM

I would suggest to first backup or rename these hives from the C:\Windows\system32\config\ to folder of your making or choice just don't back them up to the C:\Windows\repair\ folder.  

You will probably need to reapply any services patches that you have previously installed.

When you inserted the AGP card did you disable the on board graphics?
also in the bios check that it is set to boot to AGP
it may be that the onboard graphics has an issue.
If you can put in a new card in the AGP slot it should detect on boot up as a new vga card prior to you installing the drivers.

quick solution.

insert another video card into the agp slot. enter the bios and disable onboard graphics card.
boot the system using safe mode. (this will disable all drivers and only use standard).

this should allow the screen to work. enter the device manager and use driver roll back on the vga card. (you should see 2 video devices, one stating not working or disabled) select the problem child and then choose driver roll back.

Then find out what type of nvidia card is installed on the motherboard. (there are so many versions using the same basic design) and then go to the make of the vga and install those drivers. Never disable drivers in future. when you install new drivers and they work they will always keep the last working (microsoft version of working not a fully working version) driver.

Some questions:
If I understood you correctly, the machine seems to still be booting, it only doesn't display anything; are you able to logon blindly, either because you enabled automatic logon, or because you can just enter your password?
Is that machine networked, that is, do you have remote access?

The best solution to this problem is still the in-place upgrade install that CrazyOne mentioned in the first place... (and by the way, it has nothing to do with whether or not your version of XP was an upgrade; "in-place upgrade" is just Microsoft's term for installing Windows over itself while retaining most of your settings and program functionality).

Problem Solved:
I installed a PCI video Card and started in VGA mode. That did the trick.
The AGP card did not work,
Safe mode did not work; the system just stalled and restarted for itself.
The standard vga drivers never loaded, probably because i disabled it. When i installed the PCI card, XP had the drivers for it, and went ahead and automatically installed it.

Once the system started i was able to installed the correct video driver for the onboard video device.

My sincere appreciation to all of you for your assistance.

Cool good work clintsld.

In my techical solution I stated the problem resolution.  The signal is being send to the second video which is your PCI video board after the system bootup... when you plug the monitor into the second video - after coming up the system will send video signal to there.  Software developers use dual-monitor setup to perform application debugging and get into this problem all the time.  I requoted my post below and marked my statement.

Have you tried to plug the monitor into the second video port?  When you see the Window screen at load time, that is your primary video device.  >>>> After the screen goes blank unplug the monitor and plug it into the other video port.  That is where the video signal is being redirected to. <<<<

cheers

Gnart look at the question. clintsld couldn't get it to work from either port.

...never throw away a PCI card...