XP-VistaHP upgrade. Screen probs/ freez'g...

Hi: as a PC-illiterate older user I need gentle idiot-speak help: We've doubtless a fairly small 2-year old system and recently upgraded from XP to VistaHP. (1.5 RAM, 80Gb Hard, Pentium4 641 3.2GHz, ATI Radeon Xpress 200 128Mb). Vista runs - obviously without Aero - but with lots of problems.
1. Variable total freezing (is it the graphics card ?).
2. There can be two different screen resolutions (one perfect fit and very clear, the other screen is sized-down and poor resolution). Seems to bear no relation to how PC was previously shut down.
There are other problems perhaps for a later post but would like to get these sorted if possible.

I've downloaded all current drivers and other downloads (less two doownloads that 'refuse') but the problems persist. We're not gamers - we just want good screen clarity and no freezing. Do we need a new PC? Any help appreciated

Well most of your specs seem up to par. Except perhaps the video card. For a two year old system, the card may be AGP or PCIe I dunno. Try this: press [windows key]+Pause/break to bring up the system panel. Look down near the mid bottom, where it says Windows Experience Index. Click on it, and chose update my score on the new window. Give it a few minutes to work, and look at the ratings when you are done. What do they say?

It is very possibly that your graphics card cannot run Aero at all, let alone the other graphics pulling apps. I am running a NVidia 9500gt 1gb and i only get a 4.4 for Aero. So dont worry so much about that score, as anything over a 4 should run it. Also keep in mind that the highets rating is 5.9, not 10.

Let us know what happens with that!
~Lordbob

Many thanks for your input. The ratings did concern me; they are - CPU 4.3 RAM 4.4 Graphics 2.1 (had been below 2) Gaming graphics 3.0 Primary HD 5.3

As I type this it's one of those increasingly rare occasions when we opened up in the 'good' screen - and I'd be happy if it stayed like that (I accept we won't get full Aero effects). But in the 'poor' screen we were also getting 'Hardware acceleration not turned on'. But it was !! - and nothing I tried would make a difference. I suspect when we next get the 'poor' screen I'll get the same thing.

- do you think am I right in presuming the graphics card is responsible for the freezing and opening up in two screen qualities?
- and why does it randomly open up in one or other screen?
- is it easy to replace a graphics card?

I'm assuming there might be issues around what the motherboard and power can support - but I'm getting a bit beyond my knowledge levels here. Any further thoughts and comments much appreciated

I've downloaded all current drivers and other downloads (less two doownloads that 'refuse') but the problems persist.

Click to expand...

Do you remember which 2 drivers these were ? ?

It should be running OK with Aero turned off but there are a few things you can check:
Look in Device Manager and see if any devices have a yellow ! next to them...if so list them here.
Also check how much free space you currently have on that hard drive.

Looking down the road a video card is relatively simple to replace but you may want to enlist the help of someone who has done it before for your first time.

Yeah I would definitely get a new video card. I believe Vista wants something with a score of 3 or better to run smoothly, so you could go online to NewEgg or Tiger Direct and get a NVidia 7 series for pretty cheap I bet. A 7 series or better would run really great with Vista (Mine did, before I replaced it). Try looking into that. The question there though, is what kind of slot you have in your mobo. That is very important. Do you know?

~Lordbob

EDIT: OOps sorry i forgot. I will look up your computer since you probably dont know. (no offense)

EDIT EDIT: What is the model number of your computer? You know, manufacturer, model, so on.

Seems graphics card may or may not open up at boot. Is it possible motherboard prob?. When not connected to graphics (ie 'poor' screen) the graphics card shows 'not conected' in device manager': 'error 43'. The supposed 'free' online fixes for 'error 43' turn out to offer a free scan ('over 1300 errors found' they say !!!) but charge for actual fix. Bit sceptical. Don't trust this.

I'll keep playing around. Thanks for your various help.

Don't trust those online scans, as they cannot actually access you computer without you installing them, and can plant spy ware and fake readings.

~Lordbob