X31 with XP-FL starts OK, then Video turns off and stays off

[RealBlackStuff]

Got an X31 (2885-PWU) with a strange video problem.
It has a perfectly working LCD.
Installation is Windows XP-FLP/SP3
For some reason I cannot install the IBM/Lenovo drivers for the Ati Radeon Mobile GPU.
It keeps telling me it cannot find a file (but not WHICH file). No luck with the setupapi.log.
So I uninstalled what ATI stuff there was.
System Update won't do anything for it either, so I tried the Omega drivers.
These wouldn't install either, so the GPU ran just under VGA.
I did an Uninstall Omega drivers, and the sh!t hit the fan from then on.
Booting up in regular mode, the Windows splash screen with the 'running' bar starts up, then when the bar is done, and the desktop/login screen 'should' come up, it turns the LCD off and stays off.
With Fn/F7 I can switch the LCD back on, but there is no video display. I have to press the power button for a regular shutdown.
I can start Windows in Safe Mode, and everything works and displays fine (albeit in 640x480).
Suggestions anyone (other than a complete reinstall)?

[Harryc]

What happens if you boot a Live Linux CD?

[Neil]

Probably going to have to "completely" remove the old ATI drivers, then reinstall. The following is the method I generally use for doing that:

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1. Go into the Control Panel and under the ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE icon uninstall the ATI MultiMedia software and/or the ATI DVD software. 

2. Uninstall the ATI drivers also found in the Add/Remove section. Once removed, it will prompt you to reboot....do so. 

3. When returning to windows, the NEW HARDWARE FOUND wizard will come up and will tell you that it has found a new VGA card and will prompt you for drivers. Hit CANCEL! 

4. Now, go to START - SEARCH - FOR FILES OR FOLDERS and do a search for all files and folders using the filename ati*.* 
This search will normally give you 3 to 4 files found in your c:/windows directory and subdirectories (including the Windows/System directory). Select these files and erase them. Now go to your Recycle Bin and Empty your bin. 

5. Next...time to go to your Registry. Go to START -- RUN -- regedit 

Here go to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -- SYSTEM -- ControlSet001 -- Control -- Video . Here there should be 4 entries. 3 of them are default Windows XP entries and the 4th one is put in by the ATI drivers. Expand each one by one until you see ATI entries. Once found, erase the entire key. 

Now repeat the same step above for the ControlSet002 key and the CurrentControlSet Key. Normally, whenever you erase a key in the ControlSet001, XP automatically deletes it in the CurrentControlSet section too. So if the ATI key is not found in the CurrentControlSet section, don't worry about it. 
Once all keys are deleted, proceed to the next step. 

6. While still in the registry, go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -- SOFTWARE section. Here you should find an ATI Technologies key. Select it and delete it. In that same section, look for an Installed Options key. Expand it and there you should find another ATI Technologies key. Select it and erase it. 

7. Still in the registry, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -- Software and there you should find another ATI technologies key. Select it and erase it. Once all this is done, close the registry. the registry is now clean. 

8. Close all windows and reboot. 

9. When in windows after the reboot the NEW HARDWARE FOUND WIZARD will pop up again. Cancel that. Now find the new ATI drivers that you have downloaded and extracted and run the SETUP file. Once complete, reboot and you are done.

[RealBlackStuff]

Booting with a Linux CD is OK.

Thanks Neil, after removing the ATI*.* files the machine booted up with video already.
Then I cleaned out all the registry entries.
Rebooted and everything was fine.
Only one problem still: in Device Manager the Display adapters still have a yellow exclamation mark with:
Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
Tried reinstalling IBM's ATI-drivers, no go
At least it's running at 1024x768 and 32-bit color, that's good enough for me at the moment.