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When you start a Windows Vista-based computer or a Windows Server 2008-based computer, the computer stops responding on a blank screen

Article ID:946400
Last Review:March 25, 2008
Revision:1.1

SYMPTOMS

When you start a Windows Vista-based computer or a Windows Server 2008-based computer, the computer stops responding on blank screen. This problem occurs when the computer has a VGA driver installed.

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CAUSE

When the system detects the display device as using a VGA driver, the original Hardware Acceleration setting is ignored. In other words, the display device is treated as if the Hardware Acceleration setting is set to None.

This behavior occurs because the VGA driver does not support any hardware acceleration. Therefore, it is faster to update the display if the graphics device interface (GDI) performs all the drawing in an off-screen buffer instead of by passing drawing commands to the VGA driver. (These commands are run in video memory.) The display device checks the first graphics adapter only if it uses a VGA driver.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, change the order of the display divers to make sure that the VGA driver is not listed first in the display device .inf file. To do this, follow these steps:
1.Open the display device .inf file.
2.Locate the InstalledDisplayDrivers value. For example, the string that contains this value may resemble the following:
HKR,, InstalledDisplayDrivers, 0x00010000, vga, mydispdd
3.If you do not need the VGA driver, change the string to the following:
HKR,, InstalledDisplayDrivers, 0x00010000, mydispdd
Note The driver supports only the very low display settings of the original VGA standard. The most useful setting is the 640 by 480 screen resolution.
4.If you must have the VGA driver, change the string to the following:
HKR,, InstalledDisplayDrivers, 0x00010000, mydispdd, vga
5.Save the display device .inf file.

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APPLIES TO
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
Windows Server 2008 Standard
Windows Web Server 2008
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Business 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition

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Keywords: 
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