Black Display until Windows loads

[invalidentry]

Hey all.

Today I replaced two PC2700 DDR Ram sticks with three PC3200 DDR and when I booted my screen was blank. So I instantly shut down and put the original memory back in. Now here is where it gets confusing.

Upon boot up the screen is black and says nothing to display. But if you sit and wait when windows finally loads the screen turns on. I rebooted several times and its the same every time. No display until windows is up. So I can't get to bios, etc.

What is going on? Did that memory mess something up? If so, why didn't it fix itself when I put the old memory back in?

Any ideas are appreciated. I am going nuts.

 

[Big Lar]

What LCD are you running, and what card?

 

[invalidentry]

Sony 17 lcd
XFX Geforce 6600GT card

Video card has been replaced with another. Same thing.

Display is fine when put on another pc.

 

[Big Lar]

OK, How bout we try different slots for the ram..

Edit.. Need more info/ is this a Dell, or other Brand name?

 

[invalidentry]

The ram I put back in is not in the same spot as the ones that started this, and now I am using just one.

 

[Big Lar]

I'd try putting the original sticks in the original slots, and see where that gets you..

 

[invalidentry]

I did that too. Thats what I meant when I said I put the originals back in.

I built this PC. No brand.

I am seeing that the memory upgrade caused this somehow. But I cannot understand how. And more so, why when the old memory is put back in it does not come back.

And again, when windows loads it does come back. So everything is working, just not without windows. Its weird.

 

[Big Lar]

I would try hitting delete at boot, and see if you get bios. I acutally think its the graphics card, looking for say dvi, when its on vga or the opposite, but a confirm of your bios settings, and a save sometimes helps refresh the bios.

 

[invalidentry]

Ok just tried that. No luck. The video card only has dvi. No vga at all.

 

[invalidentry]

Update on where we stand.

No matter what memory is, no matter what slot its in, and no matter how few or many sticks I put in the issue is still there.

Again to reiterate here is what happens. I turn on the pc. The screen is black. I wait and wait and I hear the windows logon start and then bam we have picture. When the pc is up and running there is no issue with video, etc. Its only during the boot up process that the screen gets no signal.

So again I am back to my original question. What could cause this? It started with the memory change, however something has to be permanent in the bios or something since this change for this happen as now if I change the memory there is no difference.

Any more help is appreciated. Tomorrow evening I am going to try it with a new motherboard. But even that I doubt as it really wouldn't work when Windows starts if it was messed up. What it looks like is that the video card doesn't turn on until windows loads its drivers. But thats just weird considering it worked before fine. *sigh*

 

[airfoil]

Do you see the POST screen? Is it just the XP load screen that isn't visible?

 

[invalidentry]

Nope no post screen, etc. All blank until windows loads. As soon as windows loads the video turns on. However after more and more testing I have found the issue.

I just took out another motherboard and plugged it in with one piece of the memory. It all booted fine, etc. Post displays and everything is normal. I then added the other three pieces of ram and voila same exact problem on a different mobo, cpu, etc. And then when I removed the "bad" memory the problem was the same. It would boot but no display until windows loads.

So it is at this point one of two things. Either A. the memory is bad. Or B. When they are all in something updates in the cmos and messes up. So I am now going to clear the cmos on this machine and then start over. This time adding one piece of memory at a time. This wil take a while but if I can really pinpoint this I will be a happy man!