Odd Vista Issue -- Help Me Track This Down

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GreNME

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May 18, 2002
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This is a weird one, so I wanted to see if I could get some other input and / or ideas from people here on methods I could use to solve the problem. But first, a brief description of the system config:

This is a Vista Business Upgrade from an XP Pro install. After the install, I only had two initial problems, one of which was the OneCare Firewall (which requires a registry edit to fix) and the other was with OutLook BCM (which was actually more a BCM 2007 issue, and I figured out what I was doing wrong in the process). Other than that, everything else has been relatively smooth, though there is still one update process from a 3rd-party app that is being blocked by Vista during the initial startup (which I assume the 3rd party will come up with a resolution).

My current issue has to do with the Photo Gallery. One one of my two screens, Photo Gallery can open images from the thumbnails just fine. However, on the other screen, Photo Gallery gives me an error: "This picture can't be displayed. You might not have enough memory available. Close some programs or, if your hard disk is almost full, free some disk space and try again."

I'm running a C2D with 2 GB of memory, so I doubt memory is the issue. I've got plenty of hard drive space on the drive, so I doubt that's an issue either. There are a few things that may be contributing factors in this:
  • even before the Vista upgrade, I had the My Docs directory on a separate drive than the system drive. This might very well be the source of the problem, because there are still directories in the user directory for my account that I could have sworn should have been moved over to the separate drive. However, Vista detected that the separate drive was my Documents directory, I assume because it was translating it from the XP install it was upgrading from.
  • I'm using a GeForce 7300 LE, with 128 MB of video memory. When I check the advanced settings, it has 0 under "System Video Memory." However, it has that for both monitors and it still works under one of the monitors.
  • The monitor that works is the CRT monitor. The LCD I'm using is connected by the DVI connector. Could that be the source of the problem?

I did some searching and did find some information of a similar nature regarding Vista's Photo Gallery, but it had a registry setting change that would force GDI to draw the photo instead of what I assume would be the video card. However, upon testing it the registry change didn't work, so I'm left with the impression that this isn't the same kind of error.

The part that has me baffled is that it works on the old (MAGVIEW 19") CRT monitor, but won't work on the new (Dell 1907 19") LCD monitor. In fact, I can even bring the error message up in Photo Gallery on the LCD, and then when I drag it over to the CRT the image comes up instantaneously, as if there were no problem to begin with. I've reinstalled the monitor drivers, had Windows check for video drivers (it installed video drivers during the update), played with the resolution, refresh rate, and even turned Aero off and on to see if there was any difference. Nothing has worked thus far. I'm going to NVidia's site to grab the latest drivers there next, but wanted to bring this up here for other ideas. This doesn't seem to be specifically a Vista issue or having to do with the monitor, because my fiancee can open Photo Gallery images up just fine on her machine (almost the exact same configuration, Dell Dim E520). I keep thinking it has something to do with the video card, as 1) that's really the only part that's different (she has a 7600) and 2) I keep coming back to that video memory thing every time I troubleshoot.

Any thoughts, suggestions? I've been able to identify the source and understand the solution to just about everything else I've seen so far with Vista, but this one has me stumped.
 
Well, it wasn't the video drivers. No change.

I have noticed that Photo Gallery will play video files on the monitor that it won't open pictures. The mystery deepens.
 
Amazing. With the glut of "should I switch to Vista?" and "is xGB enough RAM for Vista?" and similar threads out there, I figured this one would be refreshing to the likes of bbz_Ghost and Catweazle and others out there. Maybe it got bumped in the queue of all the repeat threads.

Still haven't found an answer. This doesn't seem to be a driver issue, and I can't figure out why it works on one monitor but not the other.
 
It's not that I didn't see it when you posted it, it's that you're a smart guy, you can figure it out, right? :) Joe Average, consumer that happens to own a computer, typically can't, hence that's my target for assistance most of the time.

If I had to point a finger, it's that upgrade you did.

"And that's all I have to say about that..." :D
 
I'd be almost certain that's a display driver related issue. Nvidia drivers are still not fully functional in every respect. Even in their support forum queries are most iften met with "Submit a bug report."

Sorry, but I can't replicate your circumstance here to confidently say anything better than that. Most of my gear is in storage during renovations, and I have only a singlemonitor to work with at present.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
If I had to point a finger, it's that upgrade you did.

"And that's all I have to say about that..." :D
Click to expand...
Uh-uh. The gallery works, just not on one of the monitors.

Catweazle, I tried to test this with just the plug-n-play monitor drivers as well, so the issue wasn't isolated to just that. The NVidia drivers I used were both the ones from Dell's site and the ones from NVidia's site.
 
GreNME said:
..The NVidia drivers I used were both the ones from Dell's site and the ones from NVidia's site.
Click to expand...
Neither are matured and trouble free drivers, because such a thing doesn't yet exist. Read through the release notes for even the most recent Beta drivers and the list of stuff "not yet working" is as long as your arm!

My belief that it is Nvidia driver related is no more than a 'gut feeling' really. There are a lot of seemingly intermittent annoyances being reported in relation to Vista multimedia stuff. Whenever I see them reported in accompaniment with system specs, though, there seems to be an Nvida 6xxx or 7xxx card involved. Your issue relates to Span Mode, which is no longer configured via the display drivers. It's configured in Vista. But Vista still has to go via your card (and thus the display driver) to send it to the monitor.

The "..picture cannot be displayed.." error mentions memory only, IMO, because a generic error is being generated. In essence, the error message is telling you only that "I cannot do this!"

I suspect another couple of driver revisions down the track all these annoyances will be disappearing rapidly.
 
Do what I do when I have an issue with my dual monitor setup and want to narrow down the possibilities. Run one monitor at a time. Yes, disconnect one of the monitors, reboot, and see if all the nuts and bolts are in order. If so, go to the next monitor, unplugging the first, reboot and see if all the nuts and bolts are in order. If both work fine, then either the card itself can't handle the resolutions together on Vista or you're suffering from a bug because of the underdeveloped Nvidia drivers for Vista. It can happen, heck, every driver that's been released thus far still gives me the random but annoying black screen->"Signal lost" for a few seconds and then returns.
 
Not a bad idea. I did try it without the reboots and got the same issue. I'll give reboots a try (which makes sense) and check back.
 
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