Boots but no video "help"

[fixit22]

Yes I do get that xp screen when I hit the f8 key I did try that And all the other options too.

 

[dbailey]

AHA~! do you have a newer microsoft keyboard that has that F-Lock key right after F12? you may have to hit that and then you can hit F8....and then you should be able to get to safe mode.

DB

 

[fixit22]

no I dont have that key

Im Clad to see that it's not only me

This blows

 

[robtk3]

Just so everybody knows you can't get any further than this: http://www.jayloden.com/SafeMode.htm

 

[fixit22]

That didnt make sense to me

 

[fixit22]

could it be that it has a xp os on a win98 machine

 

[SolMiester]

Did you go into the BIOS and reset the initial display back to AGP?

 

[Coro Dominicano]

.. Last case scenario, reinstall the OS.. it will definitely fix up your drivers

 

[fixit22]

This bios dose not seem to give me the option for AGP it only says VGA without a option to do anything.

 

[SolMiester]

There will be an option within the BIOS, which MUST be used if you wish to switch from On-Board AGP to PCI, (oops, unless its a jumper...but I doubt it). Look for anything to do with initial display, AGP or PCI, 'Enable On-Board VGA' etc.. If this fails, give us the Gateway model number or better yet the Motherboard model number & revision, I will see if I can find the manual for you

 

[fixit22]

how do I reinstall the os if I cant see anything

 

[SolMiester]

As a side thought, do you get any options when pressing F8 before XP starts, if so, then surely the last successful windows boot would have been with display working, have you tried to start co,puter with last successfull configuration?

 

[fixit22]

The bios has a option to enable or disable onboard audio but not video

Specs: Gateway desktop 400mhz sdram 256mb (kids computer)

This is the system in ? > http://support.gateway.com/support/allsysteminfo.asp

Thanks for everybodys help:beer:

 

[fixit22]

I do get that screen and have tried all the options but noting

 

[SolMiester]

If you can see anything when the pc POSTS (initial beep), then set the pc to boot from cd in BIOS, when XP setup starts you will be ok, it is the current windows install which cannot show anything on the display

 

[SolMiester]

What systems is it, there is no system displayed on site, only option for serial number, do you have that?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Coro Dominicano
.. Last case scenario, reinstall the OS.. it will definitely fix up your drivers

What he said.

Looks like you either deleted the default vga drivers, and/or disabled (not deleted) the onboard video. As soon as XP starts to boot, it immediately loads up ConfigurationManager, and sees that you have disabled in it the registry, so it disables the hardware itself, even if you had it enabled in BIOS originally. In fact, if you have "PnP BIOS: Yes", XP's Configuration Manager changes might get written back to your CMOS/ESCD settings, which would then be evident during the next reboot.

Additionally, you could take the HD to another machine, mount the registry, and re-enable or entirely delete the disabled device entries... although - if you disabled the vga.sys/vgasave.sys driver, deleting the registry entry might not be a wise choice, as I think that's a non-PnP driver, and wouldn't automatically be re-detected and added back in on the next reboot like a PnP device would. You would have to manually force-install it, or perform an in-place re-install to get it back.


Another potential alternative, is if you have another video card, that is of a different make + model than the onboard or the other PCI one that you tried. You may need to leave the monitor connected to the onboard as you boot, and then after XP starts to boot and the screen blacks out, then switch the CRT to the other card, and wait 10-20 seconds, and see if anything shows up.

If none of that works, well, trash it, that was the computer's way of telling you to upgrade already. 🙂

Edit: Btw, if that is an older i440BX-chipset/Socket370 mobo, Compgeeks.com has a good deal on Socket370 Tualatin adaptors for $5 ea right now. You might be able to upgrade to 1Ghz really easy, with one of those and a cheapy Tualatin Celeron PIII chip, if you can find one these days. It won't turn it into a gaming powerhouse (don't think that those boards had AGP slots, did they?), but it will definately make it a lot more "peppy" for everyday tasks. That is, if you decide not to junk it. 🙂

 

[fixit22]

http://support.gateway.com/support

Serial Number: 0013584464

 

[SolMiester]

If he uses the XP CD to boot up XP setup, he could get xp to install back on top of itself to repair/set default value without lossing any files etc, some programs may even work without 2nd install

 

[fixit22]

thanks alot for the info I will try some of these now 🙂

 

[SolMiester]

Gee Fixit22, can show you where to get drivers etc, but cant for life of me get manual to see where those display options are in the BIOS. Looks like you will have to do a re-install after all :-(

 

[SolMiester]

If you need any drivers go here, use the windows 2000 drivers if loading XP and it doesnt have drivers itself

http://support.gateway.com/sup...sp?st=pn&param=2504939

good luck, if you need to do something like change from on-board agp to pci card in future, be sure to ask for instructions 1st so this doesnt happen again.