[blondiee]

When i turn my Acer Aspire desktop on, it shows me the start up but as soon as the 'Log on' screen is meant to show up, the screen goes black and a message pops up saying....
"Input signal out of range, Change settings to 1280x1024 - 60Hz".
I would be able to change these settings, if it actually let me on to the computer!!!!
I've tried starting up in safe mode but it stops loading and sort of, freezes for about 20 minutes then the same input signal message shows up. I know its something to do with the computer, because other monitors do the same thing, and I've tried connecting using other cables and still have the same problem.
Please, please, please help me fix it!!! Preferably so that the computer still has my files on it, because I need the computer for my studies, and I can't afford to get a professional to fix it, as i have a baby on the way.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[TheOutcaste]

Welcome to TSG!

Hit F8 during boot to bring up the Advanced Options menu, but instead of Safe Mode choose Enable VGA mode. This boots the system using 640x480 resolution so you can go in and change your Display settings.

[blondiee]

oh my gosh, you are my hero thank you so much! the log in screen came up :O
but now i've forgotten my password because its been months since i've been on it hahaha uh oh....there should be a way to fix that right??

[TheOutcaste]

Well, afraid the Rules won't let us help to bypass a password. Only help we can offer is to suggest booting to Safe Mode and try the Built in Administrator account. That account often has no password set. If it asks for a password though, I'm afraid we can't help.

Since you can't choose both Enable VGA and Safe Mode at the same time, if this is XP Pro, press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome screen to bring up the Classic logon box (If it's not already displayed). Then type Administrator as the user name and leave the password blank.

If it says the password is incorrect though I'm afraid we can't help get around it..

[blondiee]

oh
well maybe theres another way to fix the screen problem....?
i dont know much about the way computers work, but if the settings for my screen (which is a 17") are wrong, should i try a smaller/bigger screen, or one of the old box-type screens?

[TheOutcaste]

You'd just need to find a monitor that supports whatever the system is trying to output. It may be as simple as its trying to use 1280x1024-75 Hz instead of 1280x1024-60 Hz, and many 17" CRT monitors will work with that.

If it's trying to output something very high resolution and high frequency, like 2560x2048-100 Hz, you'd need a pretty high quality monitor.

I don't think that will solve needing the password though. When using Enable VGA on my test systems they still automatically log in, they don't stop at the Welcome screen unless that was the way they were originally configured.

So what ever caused the resolution display to change may have also disabled the autologon feature.

If you are running XP Home and can't try the Administrator account, if you have access to a Vista DVD, or can download and burn the Win7 DVD, you can use it to add a Safe Mode option to the Boot Menu which will be displayed after selecting Enable VGA which would give you the option for Safe Mode, where the Administrator account would be available.

[blondiee]

So hopefully, by chance, i can find a monitor it works on...then i can maybe access safe mode to change the password, and change the settings to what i need, for my monitor?

This problem occurred when my ex boyfriend decided he was a computer expert (when he definitely isn't) and was mucking around on my computer.
And of course the password that I've forgotten was his name (but with numbers and capital letters and such) so it's basically all his fault haha.

If I can download and burn the Win7 DVD, do I boot up the computer with that disk in it, and enable vga mode, would the disk do what it's mean to do, and be self explanatory from there? because as you can probably tell I'm not good at how computers work or anything, i just know how to use them.

[blondiee]

I just read the info about win7 dvd and I don't think I should install it on mum's computer (the one I'm using) ....

[TheOutcaste]

With a Vista/Win7 disk, you wouldn't be installing it on her PC, just downloading the image then burning the image to a DVD.

Then on the problem system, you boot with it just to use it's repair features. It supports most SATA controllers and the Command Prompt it offers is much more functional than the XP Recovery Console. For example, you can start Notepad to edit the boot.ini file instead of trying to use the bootcfg commands.

You would boot with the DVD, select the language, click Next, then click Repair my Computer. It will look for Vista/Win7 installs, then when it's finished searching, you click Next, and can then choose Command Prompt.

From that we can add a Safe Mode line to the boot.ini file that will give you that choice.

[blondiee]

so from that website I download the 32bit version?

[TheOutcaste]

yes, get the 32 bit version.

[blondiee]

okay I've downloaded that and put it on a disc...

[TerryNet]

Now see if you can boot from that DVD. You may have to get into the BIOS (Setup) and change the boot order to put the optical (CD, DVD) drive before the hard drive.

[blondiee]

so i found a thingy which you burn to cd and boot with that, which cleared my password!!!!
i got onto my account for the first time in months on the vga mode.....
so i went into vga mode and changed the settings....then vga mode went all funny and that 'signal out of range' thing popped up, which i expected because vga mode is only meant to run in the lowest thingy....
but then when i went to go to 'start windows normally' the pop up thing still comes up and i cant get the log in.

so i fixed the password problem but not the signal pop up thing problem.
am i going to have to use vga mode from now on ?

[westconn1]

when you are logged in from vga mode you should change the display settings to enable the computer to start in normal mode