No display when bootup problem

Odd problem with my PC.

Occasionally when I reboot or power cycle, the system seems to boot OK but there is no display, just a black screen.

During the bootup, the cursor is momentarily displayed, as normal.

After system has booted, if I turn the monitor off and then back on, the Desktop displays for about a half-second. Then back to black screen.

Booting to Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration doesn't help.

After futzing around for an hour, I finally got it to display.

It's happened several times in the past month.

Any ideas? I don't think it's a hardware problem, tho it might be.

I take it this is a desk top.

First thing is to try another monitor (if that is at all possible) anything will do so long as it is known to work on other machines.

Is this a flat screen monitor? If so, and you determine the fault to be the monitor I'd say it's pretty likely your inverter board is on the blink and about to go - hope your covered by warranty! Actually it's a fairly cheap and simple repair (I used to have to change them al the time in laptops when I fixed duff Acer's! - certainly cheaper than a new LCD panel, but it don't sound like it's that.

One more thought... Again if it is a flat screen - Are you sure it's not the back light? If the back lights are gone you will de able to see a display on the LCD pixels if you turn in into the light just right, or use a torch or something, the back lights are like small neon tubes that give very bright white light that shines through the LCD panel - the LCD's them selves do not provide any light, only the colour.

Determine if the monitor is at fault first though - if it's not then all the above typing was a waste of time!!

reply to post by Now_Then


Yeah, that was a thought - to try another monitor. It is a flat screen.

I finally got it to work by

a) rebooting the machine

b) restarting the machine

That was no fun, only having a half-second to see where your cursor is between power-offs of the monitor.

It may have been coincidence, but it worked.

Fyi, in the past, going to Safe Mode, Last Known Good Config, has worked to bring it back.

Thanks for your help. I'll post he final fix here, if I ever get it.

Just some thoughts:

Most flatscreens have menu buttons on them to modify settings. If the refresh rate is outside of the acceptible range windows cannot make it work.

The video refresh settings within Windows may be set outside the monitors acceptable range.

The video driver may be corrupt. Reinstall it.

The video driver in windows may be set to default. Try to find the right driver for your flatscreen.

Another though - a broken VGA cable, try laying the cable in different positions.. You never know it may of been coincidence that the cable was laid in a way in which it worked when you did the last known config.

Thanks for all the replies. I have a feeling it's a corrupted driver, but getting a new driver from the net is frustrating.

I'm afraid to shut it down for fear it won't come back up, but the excessive powering off/on of the monitor can't be good for it.

reply to post by jsobecky


Powering the display on and off isn't necessarily bad for it. (I'm assuming it's an LCD BTW) Unfortunately, it's the only way to test to see if your fixes work. If it didn't work, you'll have to go back through the PIA process of getting it back up again.

If you have any other monitors (CRT or LCD) give them a shot to narrow down where the problem lies. without pinpointing the source of the issue, we'll just end up running around in circles.

reply to post by Rasobasi420



Raso

I'm going to display my ignorance of Windows here, but do you think the registry could be causing the problem?

Also, I'm getting another monitor today to T/S this.

technically yes, since every aspect of your windows configuration are listed in the registry, but that's not necessarily the first place to look.

let us know what happens with the separate monitor and we'll take it from there.

Sorry for the delay. Swapping monitors made no difference. I suspect the device driver. But when I try to reload, all I get is this text message:

Windows XP Plug and Play Monitor and Driver Information

Monitors associated to this information file do not need an updated driver. Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP automatically detects the type upon startup. In Windows XP, the monitor type is set to Plug and Play Monitor for the monitor driver.

Is this telling me that the driver gets loaded when I connect it to the system?

Possibility 1- monitor not supporting resolution. Go into safe mode(appears you still can) bring up display properties. Choose the lowest resolution there and click apply(if there appears to be only 1 resolution try to change it then hit apply. This will lower your resolution to the one that works in safe mode, and in normal. Then you can change resolution under normal mode to something that works(recommend downloading new driver for your video adapter, not monitor driver)

Possibility 2- Do you have integrated graphics? A seperate video card is lower down on the back and plugs in horizontally. On-board(integrated) is grouped together with the rest of the inputs and tends to be vertical. OPen your PC and lok for these signs of physical problems.

A) Check the fans to make sure that they spin freely. If you have a seperate video card, make sure if it has a fan that it spins freely.(usually the biggest cause for your problem, second to drivers) If all fans spin fine, and are dust free, then it shouldn't be a heat problem.

B) Check the capacitors on the video card(if you have one) and the motherboard. These are the cylinder towers on your motherboard and vid card. They range in size but have the same shape. The tops of these should be completely flat. Any bulging out or white powder(like on batteries that corroded) indicate failing/failed hardware. This means replacemet.

Yeah, monitors are pretty much always plug and play. It would be pretty difficult to load a driver if you couldn't see what you were doing. I'm betting it's your video card itself. Try updating the driver on your video card.

reply to post by Rasobasi420


I have integrated graphics, so that means the MB.

I get what you mean about the driver - I keep forgetting these don't have a serial port like a UNIX box...