silicongod

Well you're no alone about not knowing much about the intricacies of Windows. I'm no expert myself. My understanding is that there should aways be at least one svchost running, depending on your setup. However, it would probably be useful to find out what sub-services are running in each svchost. You can do this by running "tasklist /svc" in a command prompt window. It's possible that windows has screwed up and is running the same sub-services in multiple svchosts. Some of these sub-services need to be able to access the net (otherwise you can't access the net). Some, however, just want to access the net to, who knows, talk with MS or whatever.

Multiple svchost running is normal and expected. According to MS KB article http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314056, "Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs)." Basically, it is a host for multiple sub-services so that you don't have lots or background services running (like Windows NT 4.0), you just have a couple (like Windows 2000 and XP). If you reduce the number of background DLL services, the number of svchosts *should* reduce (it might not as well...this is MS after all)

Update I installed cat 3.7 last night and the scan range problem *seems* to have gone away. Fingers crossed that stays that way. It seems a shame that for what is supposedly an excellent card, the drivers are so dodgy. Hopefully 3.9 will be better.....

I'm going to try v3.7 tonight. Will post back tomorrow with results... Thanks for your assistance. Cheers John

Tried that. It made no difference. Thanks for the suggestion though. Downloading v3.7 now... Maybe I should have stuck with nVidia? I used DriverCleaner to get rid of the Detonator drivers before I installed the Cats. You don't reckon that there is some part of the detonators still kicking around causing a problem? I've noticed that when the machine hibernates, the progress bar screen does not appear like it used to with the Detonators.

I've been running @ 1280x1024@85Hz for 2 years on the CTX with this Geforce and @ 1600x1200@85Hz for 1 year on the Sony with the same vid card. I'm fairly confident the the monitor can handle it. I've had the cat 3.8 crash on me a couple of times and the VPU Recover thingy kick in each time. It seems to me that the cat drivers are a bit dodgy. Aren't the 3.8's supposed to be the most stabile ones yet? Should I try going to cat 3.7 then? Or an earlier one? Cheers

Folks, I recently upgraded to a ATi 9600PRO vid card from a Geforce4 MX 460 (it's a long story). Now, at intermittent intervals the screen will go black and a "Out of scan range" message appears. Sometimes I can shutdown, but others the only option is reset. Once, I got a display of vertical black and white lines like a barcode. I've reseated the card twice. I'm running WinXP Pro SP1a, DirectX 9b on an AthlonXP 1800+ with a (old) ASUS A7V133 mobo (latest BIOS). Not playing games. Catalyst 3.8 drivers are installed I've tried 2 different monitors (a Sony 19" and a CTX 17") and the problem remains. The problem did not occur on the Geforce. I was wondering if there might be a BIOS setting I need to make to make the 8x ATi work on a 4x mobo? Or maybe the vid card is faulty? Thoughts anyone? tia John

Thanks guys for the info. Much appreciated.

Thanks dude. Dunno why I didn't think of that myself. Must have had a brain melt. Cheers!

Folks, What's the best (and easiest) way to completely remove detonator drivers from WinXP? Add/Remove Programs? ;( Cheers

Does anyone know how to change the window font in WinXP? The one I mean is the one that is used inside explorer windows to label icons, etc. There is no GUI in Windows that allows it to be changed (as far as I can tell). Thanks in advance

Well folks, I've got an ATi 9600Pro vid card on it's way to me now. I'll post when I give give it a try. Cheers to all.

The text on mine @ the higher res is almost unreadable it's so blurry. At 1280x1024 it's better but still not great. I do have a 2nd machine but I haven't given it a try. It's a much lower spec machine with a Geforce2 MX on it. I might give it a go tonight...Good thought! Why didn't I think of that? ;(

That's not what I wanted to hear mezron I want the monitor to be right 'cos dealing with Sony is an exercise in much frustration. Replacing the vid card is a much easier proposition.

The partition checks out according to Window's disk checker. I wonder if that means there are no problems or that the checker didn't find one ;( I found O&O to leave the partition partially fragmented just like the built-in Windows one (which is a stripped down diskeeper) on both my machines. It was a older version though. Maybe I should try the newest one.