I'd resisted upgrading the catalyst drivers for a while, but just recently upgraded to the latest on the ati website. I uninstalled every ATI thing i could find in add/remove, reboot, install ...

Try using the "restart control center" start menu option. Failing that uninstall CCC and download & install the CCC package just by itself.

The AMD Catalyst software suite 12. OS: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit. Category: Graphics Cards. AMD display driver version 8.98 HydraVision™ for Windows Vista® and Windows® 7 Southbridge/IXP Driver AMD ...