Windows won't start...black screen

[Guest]

Running Windows XP Home edition SP1 on a 4-year old Dell Dimension 4600.
Starts up and I get the Windows XP logo with the loading bar below it, and
then the screen goes black. Then I hear the Windows chime like it's starting
behind the black screen. It's not a black screen like a DOS screen with a
command prompt. It's just black.

I CAN start it in Safe Mode.
It will not do system restore at any point, and it will not boot to "last
known good configuration".
Clean boot did not work.
Ran AntiVirus with no results.
Tried to boot from Win XP installation CD and it wouldn't boot (is that a
BIOS thing?)
ZoneAlarm did catch a trojan the other night, which I deleted.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Running Windows XP Home edition SP1 on a 4-year old Dell Dimension 4600.
Starts up and I get the Windows XP logo with the loading bar below it, and
then the screen goes black. Then I hear the Windows chime like it's starting
behind the black screen. It's not a black screen like a DOS screen with a
command prompt. It's just black.

I CAN start it in Safe Mode.
It will not do system restore at any point, and it will not boot to "last
known good configuration".
Clean boot did not work.
Ran AntiVirus with no results.
Tried to boot from Win XP installation CD and it wouldn't boot (is that a
BIOS thing?)
ZoneAlarm did catch a trojan the other night, which I deleted.

Any ideas?

While in Safe Mode try to have a look in the event Viewer:
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us
Try to run an Anti-Virus scan from another vendor:
First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Taps:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.
Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.
How to manage Add-Ons:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883256

2... You need to be sure your system is clean from malware and Viruses by
scanning for them
Scan for malware from here:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-gb/default.htm?s_cid=sah
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-gb/default.htm
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
http://www.safer-networking.org ; for Spybot S&D

=How to perform a clean boot procedure to prevent background programs from
interfering with a game or a program that you currently use
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

If all clean then your Video Card given up the ghost, if it integrated to
the Motherboard, then you will need to buy a new Mobo, if it a card then buy
a new video card.
HTH.
nass

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Running Windows XP Home edition SP1 on a 4-year old Dell Dimension 4600.
Starts up and I get the Windows XP logo with the loading bar below it, and
then the screen goes black. Then I hear the Windows chime like it's
starting
behind the black screen. It's not a black screen like a DOS screen with a
command prompt. It's just black.

I CAN start it in Safe Mode.
It will not do system restore at any point, and it will not boot to "last
known good configuration".
Clean boot did not work.
Ran AntiVirus with no results.
Tried to boot from Win XP installation CD and it wouldn't boot (is that a
BIOS thing?)
ZoneAlarm did catch a trojan the other night, which I deleted.

Any ideas?

At the screen where you can select Safe Mode, there's an option for VGA
mode. Try this.

It's possible that the screen resolution has been set outside the monitor's
capabilities, and this will cause it to shut down the display. In VGA mode
(and not in Safe Mode) you can set the display resolution correctly.

HTH
-pk