Please help! Starting, booting, dying

bottleofpopbottleofpop
edited December 2005 in Hardware
Okay, I have been having problems for the past three weeks.

My computer will start, load windows, show my desktop for a second or two, and then the monitor will die. The computer does not turn off, only the monitor. The monitor light goes from green to orange, will not turn back on with the power button, and will not respond to the keyboard or mouse. The only way to get a picture again is to restart the computer. But of course the same thing happens. This only started happening yesterday.

Prior to yesterday something similar had been going on. I could get into the computer for 5-30 minutes before the monitor would go out. It was very random and I assumed it was a security problem. I ran ad-aware, spybot, norton, and posted a hijack this logfile in the security forum. Those programs did not bring anything up and (I'm assuming from lack of replies) no one saw anything in the logfile.

I know it is not the monitor itself; I have swapped out my monitor and the replacement acted the same way, in addition to showing the message 'no video input'

Does anyone know what kind of hardware problems could be causing this? Or do you think it actually IS a bug? ANY advice or suggestions are appreciated. I'm kind of nervous and hoping this can be resolved soon...it has been a while since my last backup and there are important files in there...

Thankyou so much,

-Rachel

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2005
    It could be a lot of things, with a bad video driver as one possible culprit. It could also be that something else loading on startup is messing with the video.

    Try Safe Mode (hit F8 before Windows begins to load) and see if the monitor will stay on. We'll see what we can do from there.

    Good luck. :)
  • bottleofpopbottleofpop
    edited December 2005
    Thank you for the reply.

    By pressing F8 repeatedly as I restart, it opens a screen with the option to start in safe mode, and says to use arrow keys to select it.

    However, once that screen shows up, the monitor no longer responds to the keyboard. It will not let me highlight the 'safe mode' option using arrow keys, or select the 'normal' option that it starts on.

    Is there a way to automaticly start in safe mode during that brief time the computer recognizes the keyboard? (I mean, it has to recognize F8 for a split second to open that option menu).

    -Rachel
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2005
    It might be worth your while to run the diagnostic test from your hard drive manufacturer. A few rounds of Memtest-86 would be a good idea, too.

    What happens if you go into the bios when you start the computer and leave it there for a while? Do the arrow keys allow you to navigate through that alright? While you're in there you ought to take a look at your temperatures, usually found under "Hardware Monitoring", "System Health" or somesuch.

    If you're comfortable opening the case, you might try removing the video card (unplug the machine first!) and cleaning the contacts with a clean pencil eraser, then make sure the card is seated firmly in the slot.
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited December 2005
    How old is the computer? Have you ever rounded up the dust bunnies inside? Made sure the fans are all spinning and at the appropriate speeds? Since the up time has been getting shorter and shorter, it almost sounds like an increasing heat issue.

    Open her up and who's living inside!

    Flint
  • bottleofpopbottleofpop
    edited December 2005
    I attempted to run Memtest, but had no success. (My computer does not have a floppy drive :P ). The hardware device manager said that the video card was working properly.

    I opened up the case and vacuumed/air blasted all the dust out. There were a few dust bunnies in there and one fan was making wookie noises. At first I thought, ah ha! problem solved, but after everything was clean and put back together, the same thing was happening. HOWEVER, since it has been cleaned I can get into my computer again; it is no longer dying right away. Which makes me think the dirt contributed to the problem and it is highly likely that the video card is coated in some kind of grime as well.

    I'm not confident enough to start unscrewing things in there, so I am going to get some help cleaning the video card. I am also going to replace the card if that does not solve things. I'll update from there. Thanks again for all of the help guys!

    -Rachel
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2005
    That's encouraging news - good call, Flintstone. :)

    Just for future reference, there is also an iso file available to make a bootable CD for Memtest. It looks like your RAM is not the problem this time around, but Memtest is a tool everyone should have handy. :)
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