[dlesko]

Hi guys, i have a problem. I have a Dual Core Pentium 3gb running windows vista with the first service pack. I have a nvidia Geforce 786mb graphics card, soundblaster sound card, 2g ram, 500mb hard drive. When i turn on the computer it appears to load fine but right when i get to the part when windows vista 32 is loading and it shows the globe the screen goes dark and then says no signal. I can hear windows continue to load but the screen never comes back on. The computer starts up fine in safe mode however. Ive run a virus check in safe mode and found nothing. i did a system restore and that did nothing. any ideas of what could be going on? Thanks!

Dave

[davehc]

When did the problem start? Had you just installed anything?
My first preference would be to try installing the latest drivers. I am not familiar with Nvidia, but I think your card should have another designation (8800::8400..etc). Bu you will find their latest drivers here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

[Ars03]

try launching start up repair and go through the process of startup repair, if that doesnt work, also enable boot logging. the enable boot logging option and the startup repair option can be found when pressing f8 after your computer POSTs.

once you enable boot logging, you can attempt to boot normally, and then boot into safe mode WITHOUT enabling boot logging and grab the ntbootlog.txt from the windows folder. this file should contain the objects being loaded on windows startup and indicate which object is giving windows trouble. also, use msconfig in safe mode to disable startup items but if you're not even getting a log in, the startup items should not be an issue.

[dlesko]

Thanks guys. Its odd, i cannot even get into windows in safe mode today. It worked last night. Ill have to try the start up repair, how do i get into start up repair? F8?

[Ars03]

yes, startup repair is accessible via F8, if you cannot get into safemode to view your boot log, download the system rescue cd, its basically a linux live disc, mount your ntfs hard drives, and use the command line tools to examine your boot log file.

try startup repair first because the system rescue is a hassle if you're not familiar with linux

[dlesko]

Hi guys. Thanks for the help. I started up the computer and hit F8. It took me into the boot menu but i did not see anything for startup repair or repair at all. It took me to a menu that let me pick what the system would boot to, hard disk, floppy, cd...etc. If i hit del it takes me into the bios and i did not see any startup repair in there either. I have a Asus P5N-E motherboard if that helps. The computer itself is from Cyberpower PC. It came with a system recovery disk. Should i give that a try? Will it erase everything on my hard drive? I do not want to lose my photos or music. Thanks guys...any ideas?

[Ars03]

well, i would definitely recommend removing your hard drive and backup your files first. with the hard drive in the computer, you have to hit F8 after you see the screens for your hardware, its usually the split second of black screen right before you see the microsoft logo with the green loading bars. if you have attempted to boot your computer already and had to hard reset it, the partial F8 menu should show up without any key presses. at the partial F8 menu, you can press F8 to view the full F8 menu. the partial F8 menu gives the option to launch normaly and either to boot into safe mode or launch startup repair

[dlesko]

Ok, i get to that screen, it gives me the options of :

Start windows in Safe Mode
Start Windows in Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Start Windows in Safe Mode with Networking
Allow Windows to start normally.

I do not see an option of startup repair. Would that be on my recovery disk? Also, would using the system recovery disk erase whatever is on my hard drive, like music or pictures? I have no idea how to remove my hard drive and copy what is on it..

[Ars03]

have you tried pressing F8 at that screen?

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by dlesko

Ok, i get to that screen, it gives me the options of :

Start windows in Safe Mode
Start Windows in Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Start Windows in Safe Mode with Networking
Allow Windows to start normally.

I do not see an option of startup repair. Would that be on my recovery disk? Also, would using the system recovery disk erase whatever is on my hard drive, like music or pictures? I have no idea how to remove my hard drive and copy what is on it..

Startup Repair is on the Vista dvd and you have to boot to it then look at the lower half of the screen that comes up.

[dlesko]

Awesome...thank you. I will have to try that out when i get home from work. This is very frustrating.....

[Rich-M]

I know, come back and tell us what happens....

[dlesko]

Ok. I put in the recovery disk, which has my windows 32 on it and had the computer boot from the dvd drive. the disk loaded and it went into the windows load screen, asked for the language and the code and then the only option was to reload windows. i exitted out and restarted the computer. Let it start to reboot and then hit f8 once the bios screen passed. Opened into a screen with these options:

- start windows in safe mode
- start windows in safe mode with networking
- start windows in safe mode with command prompt
- enable boot logging
- start in low-res video
- start windows using last known good configuration
- start in directory services restore mode
- start in debugging mode
- disable auto-restart
- diable driver signature enforcement
- start normally

i tried starting windows in low res, last known good config, directory services restore mode, debugging mode and none worked.......any ideas? it still goes to black screen when started normally and black screen with cursor when started in safe mode. im really trying to avoid taking this thing in the best buy for a $200 repair. thanks guys!

[Rich-M]

You have to scroll down on the screen you boot to to see the Repair options.

[dlesko]

Thank for all the help. When i get to that screen, if i try to scroll down it just scrolls through the options i listed above. If i hit esc. it goes to a screen that lets me pick which operation system to start (windows vista is the only option). There is also a menu on the bottom of the screen that says tools. the only option there is windows memory diagnostics. Any ideas?