so i've been having problems for a while now with this.

my computer is a laptop toshiba satellite series 1905 s277 (running on windows xp). my display adaptor is a mobility m6 by ati technologies. the computer is fairly old (4 yrs) but my dad keeps updating it's memory and processing functions and up until now i've had very few problems.

so this is the scenario:

usually i turn on the computer and it appears normal, then when i try to run a video clip online or a dvd it starts, then the audio begins to trail the visual, then freezes, then the screen flashes off, then back on in 4-bit. when i go into settings and try to change them there is no option. the only way to correct it is to uninstall the display adaptor and then restart my computer. i've tried to update it, and it says i've succeeded, however, the problem keeps returning. also, i don't know if it's relevent, but when i go into device manager after the malfunction, the default monitor is listed three times.

my dad keeps saying i just need to reinstall windows xp, but i don't understand what that has to do with anything. ati says it's a toshiba thing, windows says it's an ati thing and toshiba says it's a windows thing.

any advice would be greatly appreciated:)