startup display corruption

[Flummoxed07]

I was playing (Fear-Extraction Point) when it froze with red patterns. Every
time I restart PC, I get patterns of red dots on the very first black screen,
and green dots on windows welcome. Then screen goes blank. I tried safe mode
but got same kind of result. Tried safe -VGA and that did get me to desktop,
but with bands of colours corrupting desktop. Tried a restore from there but
no difference after restart. I booted from Acronis disk image CD, and once
that was going, the Acronis program loaded up with no visual corruption.

How can Acronis look OK, but even the very first bootup screen (presumably
with windows display drivers (?)) be corrupt? Any suggestion what's going on
before I attempt an Acronis restore? If Acronis looks OK, does that mean no
hardware fault?

 

[Gerry]

Does the monitor work correctly if connected to another computer?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Flummoxed07]

Does the monitor work correctly if connected to another computer?

Thanks for reply. I don't think it's the monitor because - I should clarify
- the PC's freezing or restarting automatically over and over at the Welcome
Screen. Safe -VGA - mode is the only way to get to desktop. Also, the Acronis
display looks fine.

 

[Gerry]

How To Force Windows to Use Standard VGA Compatible Driver
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/268852

What graphics card?

Check the System log of Event Viewer for Error Reports.

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the
System log in Event Viewer for the last boot. No Information Reports or
Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Flummoxed07]

How To Force Windows to Use Standard VGA Compatible Driver
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/268852

What graphics card?

Check the System log of Event Viewer for Error Reports.

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the
System log in Event Viewer for the last boot. No Information Reports or
Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

OK, thanks, I now understand that VGA mode isn't 'safe mode'. Anyway, I
tried F8 and safe mode (properly) again, and this time got to desktop but
with horizontal red wavy lines. System restore didn't solve the problem.

Summarizing: Ordinary boot doesn't work. Safe mode it seems sometimes gets
to desktop but with graphical corruption. And the Acronis CD will boot the
system apparently without graphical problems.

Card is 8800GTX. System's been sound for a year. But this 'Fear Extraction
Point' game has crashed a couple of times leading up to this. There are no
recent errors in event viewer - either system or programme. There are no
yellow question marks in device manager.

The very first screen (of BIOS(?) info) has the matrix of red dots, so would
restoring a complete disk image with Acronis help or is the problem lower
level (hardware/BIOS). But then why does it display with Acronis CD boot?
Confused!

 

[Gerry]

What does it say in Event Viewer? What does it say in Device Manager?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Kelly]

Try another graphics card.

--

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

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

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[Flummoxed07]

I've realised there is, in fact. corruption booting from the Acronis CD too,
just difficult to see. I did the Acronis disk image restore, but didn't
help. XFX support (it's their 8800GTX) reckon it sounds like a hardware fault
on the card since the corruption is present in safe mode and at POST. Just
within 2 year warranty as well!

Anyway, thanks Gerry, Kelly.

 

[Andrew]

I have got the exact same problem with my PC, which only happened last week.

I have an Asus 8800GTX, and nothing to date has fixed it (XP disc, Nvidia
drivers, DirectX, system restore, virus scan, etc).

Did you manage to find a fix Flummoxed07, or did you just get it replaced?

- Andy

 

[Kelly]

Most welcome and good luck!

--

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

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

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner