Monitor shuts off after splash screen...won't display Welcome

[Sheil Naik]

For some reason unbeknownst to me, my computer's monitor randomly shut
off one day while I was at school. I tried restarting the computer,
but now the monitor shuts off after the XP splash screen shows (the
one with the bar moving back and forth) and doesn't turn back on. If
I don't touch the computer for a while, the system will reboot.

I can log into XP in safe mode, and I can enter XP if I'm using a
default VGA driver (the driver that XP automatically uses if I delete
my video card in safe mode), but after XP automatically reinstalls the
video card's drivers, I can't enter XP again after rebooting. My
video card is a Nvidia GeForce Ti4200 128MB.

I have tried System Restores to days before the problem started
occurring - didn't help. I tried uninstalling the video card, then
going back into safe mode and installing the video card using various
drivers from the Nvidia website, both old and new - didn't help.

Anyone know what the solution to my problem may be, other than
reformatting?

 

[Bee]

You have isolated the fault at the graphics adapter card. If you can swap
it out with another graphics card known to be working, or even a brand new
one, and it works, then that will show once and for all the root of the
problem. But before you do that, check that the Graphics Processing Unit
chip is not overheated. Is the little fan over it ( tilt up the computer
case to look for it on the underside of the plugin PCI card right at the
center of the motherboard) spinning like mad into a blur? After the
computer has been running for, say, 15min, hover your fingers -- don't ever
touch anything here; static electricity will kill the electronics -- over
the top side of the PCI card where there is a large span of metal. This is
the other half of the heat sink. It should not be more than some radiant
warmth, just barely detectable, as in, say, at about 5cm above a hot cup of
tea. While you are here, check the CPU fan and the tower case fan. Clear
away any fluff (i.e. after the machine is powered off at the mains). Good
luck.

Bee.

 

[Bee]

One more point to add: you may wish to take off the case side panel(s) and
leave it open for a few days. This augments the air circulation thus better
cooling. If the glitch doesn't return, overheating is the cause (if the
problem persists, no conclusion can be drawn!) The flat ribbon cables
between the power supply unit and the hard disk(s) have a lot of slack.
This can be taken advantage of by bending and molding to direct the focused
air flow from the case fan(s) to the graphics chip. I have used this trick
to cool my hard drive so now I no longer have popup warnings that the HDD
temperature is critical and overdue -- only 46°C and yet these are the
alarming words -- from installed HDD Health (freeware).
http://www.panterasoft.com/

Bee.
--
[I have found my Shangri-La in ntlworld.]

--

You have isolated the fault at the graphics adapter card. If you can swap
it out with another graphics card known to be working, or even a brand new
one, and it works, then that will show once and for all the root of the
problem. But before you do that, check that the Graphics Processing Unit
chip is not overheated. Is the little fan over it ( tilt up the computer
case to look for it on the underside of the plugin PCI card right at the
center of the motherboard) spinning like mad into a blur? After the
computer has been running for, say, 15min, hover your fingers -- don't ever
touch anything here; static electricity will kill the electronics -- over
the top side of the PCI card where there is a large span of metal. This is
the other half of the heat sink. It should not be more than some radiant
warmth, just barely detectable, as in, say, at about 5cm above a hot cup of
tea. While you are here, check the CPU fan and the tower case fan. Clear
away any fluff (i.e. after the machine is powered off at the mains). Good
luck.

Bee.
--
[I have found my Shangri-La in ntlworld.]

--

For some reason unbeknownst to me, my computer's monitor randomly shut
off one day while I was at school. I tried restarting the computer,
but now the monitor shuts off after the XP splash screen shows (the
one with the bar moving back and forth) and doesn't turn back on. If
I don't touch the computer for a while, the system will reboot.

I can log into XP in safe mode, and I can enter XP if I'm using a
default VGA driver (the driver that XP automatically uses if I delete
my video card in safe mode), but after XP automatically reinstalls the
video card's drivers, I can't enter XP again after rebooting. My
video card is a Nvidia GeForce Ti4200 128MB.

I have tried System Restores to days before the problem started
occurring - didn't help. I tried uninstalling the video card, then
going back into safe mode and installing the video card using various
drivers from the Nvidia website, both old and new - didn't help.

Anyone know what the solution to my problem may be, other than
reformatting?