PUB98: Troubleshooting Video Problems

This article provides general troubleshooting steps to isolate problems that are related to the video driver or subsystem. Symptoms of display problems may appear in Publisher as the following:

• Crashing (general protection faults, invalid page faults, and so on)
• Freezing
• Printing problems
• Unexpected mouse behavior
• Unexpected colors
• Screen redraw problems

How to Determine Whether Display Driver is Causing a Problem

Windows 95:

1. Test the problem in Safe Mode. Start Microsoft Windows 95 in Safe Mode, a diagnostic mode of Windows 95, and attempt to reproduce the problem you are having. To do this, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.
   2. In the Shut Down Windows dialog box, click Restart The Computer.
   3. When you see the "Starting Window 95" message, press F8.
      
      NOTE: If the Windows 95 splash screen appears, repeat steps a through c.
   4. Select the Safe mode option.
      
      -or-
      
      If you are running a shared copy of Microsoft Publisher, select the "Safe mode with network support" option.
      
      Windows 95 will start in Safe Mode without network support. The words "Safe Mode" appear in all four corners of the screen.
   5. Test the problem. If the problem goes away, your video driver may be the cause. When you run Windows in Safe Mode, Windows uses default settings (VGA monitor, no network, Microsoft mouse driver, and the minimum device drivers required to start Windows). Therefore, the problem could be related to any software that extends the functionality of these default settings.
      
      If the problem does not go away, this usually indicates the problem is not related to the video driver or video subsystem.
   6. After you finish this procedure, restart your computer and start Windows as you normally do.
2. Change the display driver to VGA. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Display icon.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Click Change Display Type. Write down all information regarding your current adapter. You will need this information when you restore your original settings.
5. Under Adapter Type, click Change. Click Show All Devices.
6. In the Manufacturers box, click Standard Display Types. This option should be at the top of the Manufacturer's list.
7. In the Models box, click Standard Display Adapter (VGA), and then click OK.
8. Click Close.
9. Click Close again. If you are prompted to restart Windows 95, click Yes.
10. Test the problem. If the problem goes away, your problem is related to your video driver or subsystem.

1. Check for any conflicts in Device Manager. In some cases, a hardware conflict may manifest itself as a video problem.
   
   
   1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click the System icon.
   3. Click the Device Manager tab.
   4. Look for a problem with any installed device. If there is a problem with a device, you will see one of the following symbols on the device icon:
      
      
      • Black exclamation point (!)
      • Red "X"
      • Blue "i"
      NOTE: Some sound cards and video adapters do not report all the resources they are using to Windows 95, and therefore, cause Device Manager to show only one device in conflict or no conflicts at all. To verify whether this is the case, disable the sound card or use the standard VGA video driver to see if the conflict is resolved. (This is a known problem with S3 video cards and 16-bit Sound Blaster sound cards or sound cards using Sound Blaster emulation for Sound Blaster compatibility.)

For additional troubleshooting information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Windows NT:

1. Test the problem in Windows NT VGA mode. To do so, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.
   2. Click Restart The Computer. Click Yes.
   3. When the OS Loader menu appears, select the following option:
      
      Windows NT Version (Server or Workstation) 4.00 [VGA mode]
      
      and then press ENTER.
   4. Test the problem. If the problem does not occur, you may have a problem with the installed video driver. Please consult the video adapter manufacturer to obtain an updated video driver.

For additional troubleshooting information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

What to Do If Your Display Driver Is Causing a Problem

Windows 95:

1. Determine if you are running a 32-bit video driver, using these steps:
   
   
   1. Click the Start button, and then click Run.
   2. In the Open box, type system.ini, and then click OK.
   3. Locate the display.drv= line in the [boot] section of the System.ini file. If you are using a 32-bit display driver, the display.drv line will look like this:
      Display.drv=Pnpdrvr.drv
      If the Display.drv line does not look like the one above, you are using a 16-bit display driver. If you are running a 16-bit video driver, contact the manufacturer of the video driver and obtain a 32-bit driver designed for Windows 95 (if one is available).
      
      NOTE: Replacing the video driver will not solve the problem if something else is conflicting with the correct operation of the video driver.
2. Modify the Advanced Graphics Settings.
   
   
   1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click the System icon.
   3. Click the Performance tab.
   4. Under Advanced Settings, click Graphics.
   5. Note the position of the Hardware Acceleration slider. Move the slider one position to the left to decrease hardware acceleration.
   6. Restart your computer and test the problem again. If the problem does not go away, repeat steps a through e, moving the Hardware Acceleration slider one position to the left until it is set to none.
3. Obtain a different display driver.
   
   Contact your display adapter vendor and obtain an updated Windows 95 display driver.

1. Reinstall your video driver.
   
   Reinstall Windows 95 and select the Verify option.

Windows NT:

1. Make sure that your video adapter is on the Hardware Compatibility List.
2. Contact your display adapter vendor and obtain an updated Windows NT display driver.