Video Display Adapter stopped working & restarts - Vista & ATI

I get a video display adapter error every now and then when playing SL. Sometimes it does not happen for a week, and then other times it happens once or twice a day. Is it my drivers? I have never changed my drivers since getting this machine. Here are my computer specs:

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System Information
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Time of this report: 10/26/2008, 12:55:32
Machine name: ORACLE
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell XPS420
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Page File: 2020MB used, 4347MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

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Display Devices
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Card name: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x958
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9588&SUBSYS_25421028&REV_00
Display Memory: 1523 MB
Dedicated Memory: 244 MB
Shared Memory: 1278 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Dell E207WFP
Driver Name: atidxx32.dll,atidxx64,atiumdag.dll,atiumdva.dat,atiumd64,atiumd6a,atitmm64
Driver Version: 7.15.0010.0119 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
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Does this happen to other Vista / ATI users?

I am rather afraid to update my drivers because i read so many horror stories about SL not working afterwards and I have never had that happen to me and really would like to keep it that way, but will a different version of the ATI drivers stop the error?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, to tell you but that error message often is an indication of a driver issue. But, updating your video driver is not so scarey as is sometimes conveyed here. I am one of those who caution against updating drivers (any driver) just for the sake of having the most recent...........however, I'll also be one of the first to suggest updating when there is a need to do so. The important thing to remember is that drivers are critical for proper operation of your hardware devices..........they MUST be installed properly. ATI includes a driver removal utility (something nVidia should seriously look into)........use it. It's an excellent tool. Then go to ATI's website for an updated driver for your card and save it to your hard drive. Never use any auto install from the vendor's website.......install it from your hard drive.

A couple things to be aware of. Once you remove your driver you will need to restart your computer. Windows will see your video card as a new device since it no longer has a driver and will want to search for and install a driver for it............just close the dialog box and deline Windows offer for help. Go to where you saved your downloaded driver and install it.

I, too, have heard stories about some drivers having issues with SL. NVidia has some too (my card is nVidia). The way I find the driver that will work for my particular system is to install the most recent first, try SL. If it works then I'm done. If it does not work then I go through the process of uninstalling that driver and going back to the website and get the next most recent and install it (following the same procedure as before). Repeat, til I get the first one that works for me. Or, if someone knows a specific driver that works for a similar system as mine then I will try that one first..........but, just because it works for someone else does not mean it will work for me.

I know this sounds complicated but, really it's not.........if it were, I'd never be able to do it myself.

Good luck............and lets us know if it worked.

Thanks Peggy, you are always great help.

I am just afraid that i will not find a proper driver and then not be able to get my original driver again.

if i make restore points each time, will i be able to roll back to my original driver, or does uninstalling and reinstalling screw that over?

If i were unable to use SL i would curl up into a ball on the floor and cry.

Problem.

I am at the ATI website, and they have the latest drivers of course, but they do not have my old driver. They have driver 7.12, but not 7.15 (my driver version).

So basically I have to start trying drivers...uninstall, restart, install, SL test, rinse and repeat if it does not work right.

I guess I should do a forum search for Catalyst to see if there are any versions I should automatically avoid.

I wish SL was my Operating System.

Go to your control panel and find your device manager. Open it then find the "display adapter" and expand it to show your video card. Double click on it to open the properties dialog. On the "Driver" tab you will see your driver version. Copy it down so if you need to revert back you can go to ATI's website again and download it and reinstall.

A restore point may get you back to the driver you were using at the time of the creation of the point........but I would not trust it completely. The main reason is that when you restore to an earlier point Windows merely copies over such things as drivers.........and that could cause a completely new set of problems for you.

My advice is to always uninstall any driver you wish to replace before you install the new one. Some people will disagree with that.........with some validity too. Uninstalling a driver takes away any rollback option. But, installing a driver over an existing one very often causes new problems for you to deal with (it really confuses the issue since your first thought is that the driver will not work. But the problem could be as simple as it being corrupted by the older driver not being unistalled). Having the version number of the old driver will always give the option of "rolling back".........you just have to do it manually.

Again............hope this helps and good luck.

You said you've never updated your driver since getting your computer. The driver should be on your restore disk that came with your system. Or, if you have an after market card, it will be on the disk that came with your card.

Oh this is interesting.

DX Diag says i have driver v7.15.xx

But that control panel thingo you sent me to says i have 8.5.

So what i will do is avoid the 8.6-8.8 since those versions seem to have the most issues with people who report problems on the forums and i will go for 8.9.

I find it kind of unsettling that my brand new computer does this out of the box.

Is it an SL issue? It only ever does it when i am running SL.

But from what i have read in your previous post history regarding topics like this, it is a driver issue in OpenGL with SL due to ATI not following the OpenGL rules and as you said once, being "behind the curve".

Thanks again, you are a great help.

I mean 8.10.

Not 8.9.

Though from the forums, 8.9 seems to be good. 8.10 just came out 11 days ago.

haha..........Yeah, I may have said that. But I didn't mean it quite so bluntly. Both ATI and nVidia are the big dogs in the graphics card business (at the moment). They seem to go back and forth on their support for rendering engines that big time graphics programs require (SL is certainly in the "big time" range in that respect). Linden Lab is constantly introducing new features for SL (which is normal for programs such as it is). It's hard for any graphics manufacturer to keep up with everything....especially when things change as fast as they do with SL. SL uses OpenGL for it's rendering (to not do so would shut out Mac and Linux users almost completely without having separate clients for them) but most "games" use DirectX for their rendering simply because that is what most computers are Windows based and DirectX is a Windows product...........it's where the most money is. So it's natural that the card makers would pay more attention to DirectX than to OpenGL. You can't fault either card manufacturer for not being able to handle everything that SL throws at them........SL is just not that big of a market to make it economically feasable to direct more attention to OpenGL. Someday that may change....but as of now that's the way it is.

I had the same trouble with my Dell, also running 3gb ram. remove 1gb of the ram to leave 2gb, and your problems will more than likely disappear. It took me 6 months to find this, now I never get driver stopped errors or random crashes. Hope that helps.