What does this mean?

[Aggers]

When | start up my laptop I now get this notice....

No AMD graphics driver is installed or the AMD driver is not functioning.
Please install the AMD driver for your AMD hardware.

What the heck does this mean?

P.S. My hp Printer is refusing to work now. Is that anything to do with it?

[Workingman]

I take it from your later post about e-mails that you can get into Windows.

Go to Control Panel>>>Device Manager and see if there are any exclamation or question marks against anything. If there are update the drivers. If no marks go to Display adapters, right click add choose Properties and, again, update the driver.

As for the printer.... Simple things fist. Does it have power from the wall and is it switched on? Check the USB cable is fully plugged in - take it out and plug it back in.

[Aggers]

Thanks, Frank.

I've been to Control Panel/Device Manager and there are no ! or ? marks there.
I can't see how to get to "Display Adapters".

Incidentally, the printer is working all right when copying. I've checked all the
cables and they are all OK. It seems that the main problem is that the computer
is just not connecting with the printer, and this is the answer I get from the laptop
problem solving page. I've checked the cable connecting the laptop to the printer
and that seems perfect.

[Workingman]

If there is no Display Adapters line in the list in Device Manager you could try going to the toolbar and in View select Show Hidden Devices and see if there is anything in there. If not it probably means that your display/monitor is using Microsoft drivers. Go to your Desktop and right click in a blank space. In the menu select Graphic Properties, or similar, and see what pops up.

If your graphics card is, say, NVIDEA or ATI you should be able to go to its site and download and install the latest drivers. I am suspecting that a Windows update has caused this problem.

Your printer will 'copy' as that function is independent of the computer. I would be tempted to unplug the USB cable and stick it in another slot and see what happens.

[Suff]

Hi Aggers,

This is an AMD Catalyst Control Centre message. When CCC loads, it warns if it can't find an ADM graphics adapter to configure.

There are two main ways this can happen.

1. CCC was installed by mistake and there are no AMD graphics cards in the system.
2. The graphics driver has been lost by the system and you are using the standard Microsoft one.

One check is to look in the device manager, Display Adapters entry. If it has an entry which says Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, then you have lost the driver.

You can download the AMD graphics autodetect tool from here and it will detect and install the correct driver for you if you have lost it.

As you can guess, I generally buy AMD graphics cards and I've been round this cycle a few times. Interesting not with Windows8 which has a massively uprated hardware checker from Windows7.

Update, having read your reply,

Display Adapters is here

[Aggers]

Thanks Frank and Suff.

I haven't had any time to deal with this problem this weekend, but hopefully
will do so soon.

I did try System Restore, but that failed to function.

[Workingman]

Adding to Suff's post.

In Device Manger you could go to Action on the toolbar and select Scan for Hardware changes and see what crops up. You could also pick Add Legacy Hardware and if you know your graphics card, Nvidia/ATI/Intel, choose it from the new menu.

[Aggers]

Suff...... I've done as you suggested, and this message came back from AMD:

We were unable to find a driver for your system.
Your operating system may not be supported.

[Workingman]

John, I have been looking at the AMD site and this is what is said about your latest message:

The notebook (laptop) manufacturer is the exclusive provider of driver updates for mobile graphics products. You may use the original installation CD provided with the notebook to install the appropriate graphics drivers.
To obtain updated drivers, check the notebook manufacturer's website or contact them directly to determine if an updated driver is available.

The problem here is that many laptops (notebooks) do not come with installation discs - you have to burn them from a manufacturer's folder already on your Hard Disc however, there is a workaround. My laptop is an Acer and my Acer folder is in Program Files on C:\ in that folder there is one called Acer eRecovery Management and in there is a Recovery Management application. Within the app is a Restore function and within that is an option to reinstall drivers and applications. It looks more complicated in print than it actually is.

I do not know what make or model your laptop is but it should have something similar. Let me know and I will go look for a workaround.

[Suff]

I can look at this later, but the best bet is to tell us the model name/number of the laptop and we can go look up the hardware specs for it.

I'll be offline soon as I head for Brussels. Not looking forward to the ride from Lille to Brussels tonight. If the weather up there is like the weather down here I'll be a drowned rat by the time I arrive...

Later.