Question

Lost video, except for Safe Mode

Asked by: desertratr

HP m9000 media PC running Vista Home Premium.  Unit is 9 months old. All was well.  Suddenly it won't display the desktop.  It starts to boot, and once the Windows splash screen shows up everything is black thereafter.  It appears to continue to boot normally except for lack of display.  The HD LED flashes for a few minutes and then stops except for the occasional blip. I can see that the WiFi LED is flashing is it sends and receives.  When I jiggle the mouse or poke the keyboard the wireless dongle LED flashes, indicating it is receiving.    I tried using a PS2 mouse - no luck.  When I boot in Safe Mode the boot is normal.  The problem arose this afternoon after refusing to come out of hibernation or suspend mode (I can never tell - the lighted power button goes from blue to orange when it hibernates/suspends).  I had to do a hard shutdown by holding the power button for several seconds.  Then the problem arose. Hardware?  SW?

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Asked On
2008-09-07 at 16:54:01ID23710797
Tags

Microsoft

,

Windows Vista

,

Home Premium

,

HP

,

Pavillion

,

m9000

Topics

Windows Vista

,

Personal Computers

Participating Experts
4
Points
250
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: DBrookfieldPosted on 2008-09-07 at 16:57:54ID: 22413473

Oh software, safe mode boots you into a mode where fewer drivers and startup device are started if you see what I mean. Check your error log Ibet you;'ll see a load of werrors there that will tell you what the problem is.

START RUN then type eventvwr.msc to bring up your event viewer..

 

by: desertratrPosted on 2008-09-07 at 21:24:41ID: 22414660

Are you suggesting doing that in Safe mode, since I have no video otherwise?  I am familiar with the event viewer.   However, why would the errors generated during a normal boot hang around during a Safe boot?

 

by: ewavefrontPosted on 2008-09-07 at 21:56:26ID: 22414733

Try at the boot menu - choose "Last Known Good Configuration" to see if Vista will restore the previous good configuration.

 

by: coral47Posted on 2008-09-07 at 22:24:35ID: 22414789

>> Are you suggesting doing that in Safe mode

Yes

>> why would the errors generated during a normal boot hang around during a Safe boot

Usually it keeps a list of bootups for a period of time. How many exactly depends on how your log is set up (size limit, append or overwrite, etc)
Check the app and sys logs

 

by: coral47Posted on 2008-09-07 at 22:28:48ID: 22414802

Forgot:
most likely you have a corrupted video driver, but it could be something else (like a nic or soundcard)

 

by: SheharyaarSaahilPosted on 2008-09-08 at 00:08:37ID: 22415153

tried uninstalling the video card from Device Manager in safemode and then restarting back in normal mode?

 

by: desertratrPosted on 2008-09-09 at 18:44:34ID: 31494942

Figured it out on my own, but since i offered the points I'll pay the,

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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