Blank screen on Login

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

Please Help!!! My Windows XP Professional had one of those automatic windows
updates and it asked me to reboot. When I rebooted, I get the BIOS screen
and then the Windows XP logo. After that I get a "no signal" message and a
blank screen. The activity lights looks like everything is working normally
but since I have a blank screen, I am only 99% certain. Now this happens
everytime I boot up.

I can get in under safe mode, and VGA mode but the display is 640 X 480; not
the 1600 x 1024 like it should be. If I change the display resolution I get
the blank screen again. I've tried the Restore back to several different
dates but the same problem exists. I've updated the video drivers to that
latest drivers but no change. I've called Dell's tech support and after two
hours, they still couldn't figure it out and suggested replacing the
motherboard, hard drive, and the fan. All the diagnostics passed! The rep
was not very competent BTW. She'd ask me a question four times before she
understood my answer. This has to be a software problem/conflict. All of
this happened after the update took place. Besides, I can see the desktop in
VGA mode.

Is there a way to see what the last updates were? Are there any software
diagnostics I can run to see what is working and not?

I have a Dell XPS 630i, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card, XP Professional.
The system is less than a year old and was working great until this last
update. Anybody else have this problem?

 

[Randem]

Try booting from your CD to see if the same problem exist. If not then you
can use the CD to look into what got updated.

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Please Help!!! My Windows XP Professional had one of those automatic
windows
updates and it asked me to reboot. When I rebooted, I get the BIOS screen
and then the Windows XP logo. After that I get a "no signal" message and
a
blank screen. The activity lights looks like everything is working
normally
but since I have a blank screen, I am only 99% certain. Now this happens
everytime I boot up.

I can get in under safe mode, and VGA mode but the display is 640 X 480;
not
the 1600 x 1024 like it should be. If I change the display resolution I
get
the blank screen again. I've tried the Restore back to several different
dates but the same problem exists. I've updated the video drivers to that
latest drivers but no change. I've called Dell's tech support and after
two
hours, they still couldn't figure it out and suggested replacing the
motherboard, hard drive, and the fan. All the diagnostics passed! The
rep
was not very competent BTW. She'd ask me a question four times before she
understood my answer. This has to be a software problem/conflict. All of
this happened after the update took place. Besides, I can see the desktop
in
VGA mode.

Is there a way to see what the last updates were? Are there any software
diagnostics I can run to see what is working and not?

I have a Dell XPS 630i, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card, XP
Professional.
The system is less than a year old and was working great until this last
update. Anybody else have this problem?

I suspect you have a dud video adapter and that it is pure coincidence that
the problem occurred after an automatic update. If this was my machine then
I would take a snapshot of the hard disk, then have the problem fixed by
Dell under warranty.

 

[Touch Base]

message I've used both NVIDIA drivers and through Dell's driver updates. Still the
same problem. I'm starting to think it might be something with the
registery
or a conflict of software but I'm not sure which.

====================================

I believe the problem is with your graphics card. Was this one of the
updates from MS?

Safe Mode only displays at 640 X 480 it does not use your video card in this
mode.

Start in Safe Mode again and navigate to the Device manager and see if it
shows a conflict [yellow question mark] against the display driver.

Regardless if no conflict found:

When in safe mode, see if you can roll back to a previous video driver. I'm
thinking the problem may be an incompatibility with an updated video driver.

From Device Manager, expand Display adapters, right-click on your adapter &
choose Properties, select the Driver tab & (if possible) click Roll Back
Driver.

If Roll Back Driver is not selectable, it means no driver is available for
roll back. Un-install the current graphics driver through add/remove and
reboot the computer and let windows detect the driver again and see what
happens.

I'd then try installing an updated driver for your grahics card but go to
Nvidia for the driver not Dell or MS because both of those places have
outdated drivers.

 

[Randem]

If you can boot into safe mode and still have video, run msconfig then click
on selective boot and in the boot.ini tab tick the /BOOTLOG box. attempt to
boot again. If the boot fails then you will need to boot again in safe mode
to look for the ntbtlg.txt file in the Windows folder. Post that.

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Touch Base]

message Please Help!!! My Windows XP Professional had one of those automatic
windows
updates and it asked me to reboot. When I rebooted, I get the BIOS screen
and then the Windows XP logo. After that I get a "no signal" message and a
blank screen. The activity lights looks like everything is working normally
but since I have a blank screen, I am only 99% certain. Now this happens
everytime I boot up.

<snip>

I have a Dell XPS 630i, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card, XP Professional.
The system is less than a year old and was working great until this last
update. Anybody else have this problem?

==================================

Does the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT video card have the molex power connector
plugged in properly?

The updated drivers were these from Microsoft or direct from Nvidia? If MS
go to the Nvidia site and download the latest for your card and install.

--
Regards,
Touch Base
Report back on the results, good or bad so others may benefit

"There's an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy
to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know
how to use my telephone."
(Bjarne Stroustrup)

 

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

I can't post the boot log. It's too long and they have a limit on the number
of characters. Any suggestions?

 

[Kelly]

Boot into safe mode and set your monitor screen refresh rate to 60 hertz.
Reboot. Make sure you turn on your system tower before the monitor.

--

All the Best and Happy Holidays,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

I've used both NVIDIA drivers and through Dell's driver updates. Still the
same problem. I'm starting to think it might be something with the registery
or a conflict of software but I'm not sure which.

 

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

Thanks Touch. Yes, I've tried all those suggestions but no change. Still
the blank screen. I'm suspecting some confict but not sure which it could be
or what to uninstall. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

Yeah, that doesn't work either. If I change anything relating to resolution
or color, the screen goes blank, as if it was is resetting, but then stays
blank. And it doesn't go back to normal to confirm if I want to make the
changes. I am very very stumped.

 

[Ed Y Blank Stare]

Well the boot log is too big to fit on here. But I do see that there are lot
of repeated commands that weren't loaded. Here is the repeated section:

Did not load driver Intel Processor
Did not load driver Intel Processor
Did not load driver Intel Processor
Did not load driver Intel Processor
Did not load driver NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Did not load driver HP LaserJet 4L
Did not load driver OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Did not load driver Realtek High Definition Audio
Did not load driver NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices
Did not load driver Video Codecs
Did not load driver WAN Miniport (L2TP)
Did not load driver WAN Miniport (IP)
Did not load driver WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
Did not load driver WAN Miniport (PPTP)
Did not load driver Packet Scheduler Miniport
Did not load driver Packet Scheduler Miniport
Did not load driver Direct Parallel
Did not load driver Trend Micro Common Firewall Miniport
Did not load driver Trend Micro Common Firewall Miniport

Any ideas anyone?