Blank screen on startup

[Matt]

My screen goes blank during startup. When I turn on the
computer, everything starts fine, and the windows startup
screen comes up. As soon as it finishes though, the
screen just goes black. If I type Ctl+Alt+Del and then my
password and hit enter (as if nothing were wrong), I can
hear Windows loggin me on (the little music file plays),
but still nothing on the screen. If I wait a little bit
and then do ctl+alt+del, hit rigt twice, enter twice, it
will shut down correctly (log off sound plays, laptop
turns off). Safe Mode works correctly. I tried starting
up to last good config (or whatever that is) and got the
same problem. Also tried system restore when using safe
mode, same problem. After looking around online for a
while (different computer), I think that 1) I have a
virus, or 2) one of the .dll files is messed up. Can
anyone offer any help?

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100
Windows XP Pro

I've had a similar problem recently where everything loads
correctly, but to the wrong resolution. I looks like the
computer thinks my screen is larger than it really is.
Shutting down and restarting normally corrected this.

 

[Guest]

Hello Matt,

Good catch on the fact that the computer is working fine, but you can't see
anything. Take a look at the below reg key, I suspect you will see that all
of the values are zero. Zero is the number for the color black.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

Import the contents of this key from a working machine.
Since the problem continues even after logon, check the value of each user
under HKEY_USERS.

Hope this helps,

John Bukowski [MSFT]
Escalation Engineer

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the response. I just tried your suggestion,
but it seems they all have values. This was done using
the registry editor while in safe mode. Is there another
way I should be trying to edit the reg key? Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
Hello Matt,

Good catch on the fact that the computer is working fine, but you can't see
anything. Take a look at the below reg key, I suspect you will see that all
of the values are zero. Zero is the number for the color black.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

Import the contents of this key from a working machine.
Since the problem continues even after logon, check the value of each user
under HKEY_USERS.

Hope this helps,

John Bukowski [MSFT]
Escalation Engineer

My screen goes blank during startup. When I turn on the
computer, everything starts fine, and the windows startup
screen comes up. As soon as it finishes though, the
screen just goes black. If I type Ctl+Alt+Del and then my
password and hit enter (as if nothing were wrong), I can
hear Windows loggin me on (the little music file plays),
but still nothing on the screen. If I wait a little bit
and then do ctl+alt+del, hit rigt twice, enter twice, it
will shut down correctly (log off sound plays, laptop
turns off). Safe Mode works correctly. I tried starting
up to last good config (or whatever that is) and got the
same problem. Also tried system restore when using safe
mode, same problem. After looking around online for a
while (different computer), I think that 1) I have a
virus, or 2) one of the .dll files is messed up. Can
anyone offer any help?

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100
Windows XP Pro

I've had a similar problem recently where everything loads
correctly, but to the wrong resolution. I looks like the
computer thinks my screen is larger than it really is.
Shutting down and restarting normally corrected this.

.

 

[Matt]

Hey, thanks for the help. I think I'm just gonna try and
reinstall XP. From what I understand, I can reinstall the
system files without hurting my files. If that fails
though, I'll keep looking.

-----Original Message-----
Hello Matt,

Have you tried changing the screen resolution after you log on?
(Probably difficult, since you can't see anything.)

Multires is a command line utility on the internet that can change screen
the screen resolution. http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/multires.shtm

Once it is on the machine, you could run a batch file to do the following.

multires /1:800,600,16,60

Good Luck,

John

Thanks for the response. I just tried your suggestion,
but it seems they all have values. This was done using
the registry editor while in safe mode. Is there another
way I should be trying to edit the reg key? Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
Hello Matt,

Good catch on the fact that the computer is working

fine,
but you can't see

anything. Take a look at the below reg key, I suspect you will see that all
of the values are zero. Zero is the number for the

color
black.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

Import the contents of this key from a working machine.
Since the problem continues even after logon, check

the
value of each user

under HKEY_USERS.

Hope this helps,

John Bukowski [MSFT]
Escalation Engineer


:

My screen goes blank during startup. When I turn on the
computer, everything starts fine, and the windows startup
screen comes up. As soon as it finishes though, the
screen just goes black. If I type Ctl+Alt+Del and

then
my

password and hit enter (as if nothing were wrong), I can
hear Windows loggin me on (the little music file plays),
but still nothing on the screen. If I wait a little bit
and then do ctl+alt+del, hit rigt twice, enter

twice,
it

will shut down correctly (log off sound plays, laptop
turns off). Safe Mode works correctly. I tried starting
up to last good config (or whatever that is) and got the
same problem. Also tried system restore when using safe
mode, same problem. After looking around online for a
while (different computer), I think that 1) I have a
virus, or 2) one of the .dll files is messed up. Can
anyone offer any help?

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100
Windows XP Pro

I've had a similar problem recently where everything loads
correctly, but to the wrong resolution. I looks

like
the

computer thinks my screen is larger than it really is.
Shutting down and restarting normally corrected this.

.

.

 

[Matt]

I reinstalled and everything looks to be working
correctly. Still have no idea what the problem was though.

-----Original Message-----
Hey, thanks for the help. I think I'm just gonna try and
reinstall XP. From what I understand, I can reinstall the
system files without hurting my files. If that fails
though, I'll keep looking.

-----Original Message-----
Hello Matt,

Have you tried changing the screen resolution after you log on?
(Probably difficult, since you can't see anything.)

Multires is a command line utility on the internet that can change screen
the screen resolution. http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/multires.shtm

Once it is on the machine, you could run a batch file to do the following.

multires /1:800,600,16,60

Good Luck,

John

Thanks for the response. I just tried your suggestion,
but it seems they all have values. This was done using
the registry editor while in safe mode. Is there another
way I should be trying to edit the reg key? Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
Hello Matt,

Good catch on the fact that the computer is working fine,
but you can't see
anything. Take a look at the below reg key, I suspect
you will see that all
of the values are zero. Zero is the number for the color
black.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

Import the contents of this key from a working machine.
Since the problem continues even after logon, check the
value of each user
under HKEY_USERS.

Hope this helps,

John Bukowski [MSFT]
Escalation Engineer


:

My screen goes blank during startup. When I turn on
the
computer, everything starts fine, and the windows
startup
screen comes up. As soon as it finishes though, the
screen just goes black. If I type Ctl+Alt+Del and then
my
password and hit enter (as if nothing were wrong), I
can
hear Windows loggin me on (the little music file
plays),
but still nothing on the screen. If I wait a little
bit
and then do ctl+alt+del, hit rigt twice, enter twice,
it
will shut down correctly (log off sound plays, laptop
turns off). Safe Mode works correctly. I tried
starting
up to last good config (or whatever that is) and got
the
same problem. Also tried system restore when using
safe
mode, same problem. After looking around online

for

a
.

.