Win XP Home Black screen after boot

[Nigel Andrews (ITCanHelp)]

PC starts OK, but after the Win XP progress bar it quickly goes to a
black screen.

Boots in Safe Mode, and I have done a number of Restore's, back a few
days to no effect.

Whilst I had some problems yesterday (1xBSOD, and some program errors)
I suspect the video card may now have failed. But as it does display
in Safe Mode am I wrong?

I have tried setting the Boot to VGA but still no display,

Can anyone advise me?

Thanks

Nigel

 

[Malke]

PC starts OK, but after the Win XP progress bar it quickly goes to a
black screen.

Boots in Safe Mode, and I have done a number of Restore's, back a few
days to no effect.

Whilst I had some problems yesterday (1xBSOD, and some program errors)
I suspect the video card may now have failed. But as it does display
in Safe Mode am I wrong?

I have tried setting the Boot to VGA but still no display,

Without knowing the text of the Stop Errors (BSOD), I can't give you any
specific answers. If you suspect the video card has failed, uninstall it in
Safe Mode and swap it out for a known-working one. Just because it displays
in Safe Mode doesn't mean it isn't faulty.

However, those troubleshooting steps are just conjecture. We really need to
know what the Stop Errors were and the answer to The First Question Of
Troubleshooting: what changed between the time things worked and the time
they didn't? Install any drivers? If yes, then this would be a software
issue and not hardware (video card).

Malke

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Malke,

I am sorry for my slow reply, but the problem extended to a point I
thought I had it fixed. The BIOS reported it had reduced the memory!
So I diagnosed failed memory, bought more memory and replaced it and
it booted O.K.
The computer has run continuously for 2 days BUT.

I needed to reboot after doing various 'housekeeping' jobs and I am
back to the 'black screen on boot' again!

I have installed some MS updates since I added the memory, the same
ones that I installed before the last event. But I have now restored
back to before the first occurence of the problem, run CHKDSK /F and
still no change. Checked Event Viewer and there are no errors which
are not just related to running in Safe Mode and nothing coincident
with the time of any Normal start attempt (in fact I don't think it
gets as far as that)
It boots in Safe Mode OK (tho' when I first tried I logged in as Admin
and it seemed to stall) along 'with Networking' I can access the Net,
so it can't be too bad.
Trying to boot in Normal mode the scrolling 'train' seems to disappear
very early and I can't then detect any disk activity afterwards.
I have tried holding down the control key at boot, which I believe
should stop drivers loading, but no change.

Please can you advise me more, even tho' I ignored you at first!?

Thanks
Nigel

 

[Malke]

Malke,

I am sorry for my slow reply, but the problem extended to a point I
thought I had it fixed. The BIOS reported it had reduced the memory!
So I diagnosed failed memory, bought more memory and replaced it and
it booted O.K.
The computer has run continuously for 2 days BUT.

I needed to reboot after doing various 'housekeeping' jobs and I am
back to the 'black screen on boot' again!

I have installed some MS updates since I added the memory, the same
ones that I installed before the last event. But I have now restored
back to before the first occurence of the problem, run CHKDSK /F and
still no change. Checked Event Viewer and there are no errors which
are not just related to running in Safe Mode and nothing coincident
with the time of any Normal start attempt (in fact I don't think it
gets as far as that)
It boots in Safe Mode OK (tho' when I first tried I logged in as Admin
and it seemed to stall) along 'with Networking' I can access the Net,
so it can't be too bad.
Trying to boot in Normal mode the scrolling 'train' seems to disappear
very early and I can't then detect any disk activity afterwards.
I have tried holding down the control key at boot, which I believe
should stop drivers loading, but no change.

Sounds like hardware failure. Either do the hardware troubleshooting
yourself or take the machine to a competent local computer professional. I
don't recommend using a Big ComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. If the
computer is still under warranty and is OEM, contact the OEM's tech support
for repair/replacement.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If you do the troubleshooting yourself, start by uninstalling the video card
and trying a known-working one as I previously suggested.

Malke

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Malke,

Thanks for that extra.

I will think about doing the diags myself as I should be able to. It
is about 5 years old so well out of warranty!

I am puzzeled a) why it worked after the memory was knocked down (from
1Gb) to around 250mb and b) why it worked still when I started it
after putting in the 2Gb?
I had it running with no problem for around 36 hours (it is usually on
24/7) and the only reason for rebooting it then was needing to after
running 'housekeeping'. Also Outlook Express kept locking up, But
otherwise everything was running great and even a bit faster with 2Gb
instead of just 1Gb,
It runs OK in Safe Mode with Networking except of course I can only do
basic email and web browsing.

Thanks again

Nigel
P.S. Am I right about holding Control down to prevent drivers from
loading?

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Malke,

I have now run the diagnostic Tufftest Lite as suggested by the
website you pointed me to and all those tests ran OK.

So I am inclined to think now that there is some problem with Windows
XP.

I would like to find the way to stop the drivers loading at start up
or at least step thru' them and accept or decline as one used to with
Win 98.
Also how I could run a WinXP repair when the PC does not have a floppy
drive.

One difference I have noticed in the booting, when starting (i.e., not
rebooting) the BIOS progress bar moves more slowly than it used to or
does when rebooting.

Thanks again

Nigel

 

[Malke]

Malke,

I have now run the diagnostic Tufftest Lite as suggested by the
website you pointed me to and all those tests ran OK.

So I am inclined to think now that there is some problem with Windows
XP.

I would like to find the way to stop the drivers loading at start up
or at least step thru' them and accept or decline as one used to with
Win 98.
Also how I could run a WinXP repair when the PC does not have a floppy
drive.

One difference I have noticed in the booting, when starting (i.e., not
rebooting) the BIOS progress bar moves more slowly than it used to or
does when rebooting.

I really can't give you a good diagnosis without seeing the machine.
Tufftest Lite isn't definitive, but as I said - I cannot really guess
what's going on with your computer.

As for the drivers, AFAIK there is no way to step through. You can try a
clean boot.

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

You don't need a floppy drive to do an XP repair. The XP cd is bootable.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Good luck. I'm sorry I was unable to help you with this problem.

Malke