New hardware - no video

[ridgehead]

I am putting together a new system. This is actually the second of the same configuration. The first went without any issues. Here is the problem:

When I turned on the computer for the first time after assembly there were some lines comming down the screen (a la Matrix) during the post. It raised my eyebrows as I had never seen this before but as I am no technical genius I continued with the installation of Win XP.

When XP began to inspect hardware in preparation for the OS install the lines went away so I didn't worry about it. Things progressed fine until XP was about 40% through formatting the HDD. Then the screen began to flicker and finally went blank with the message "signal out of range".

This would not be a problem if XP was already installed, but I have no idea how to lower the resolution of the video card without access through windows.

Hardware is as follows:

MOBO - Chaintech ZNF-3 nVidia nForce3-250
Processor - AMD Sempron
Video - Sapphire ATI9600 pro
HDD - WD800JB
Ram - Corsair 512mb

Can anybody point me in the right direction?

 

[rpmcrash]

hi doyou have another video card

 

[ridgehead]

Yes, I have an identical video card in the other system. I will give that a try when I get the chance. I have to assemble the computers at the inlaws as they are supposed to be christmas presents for the kids.

Thanks for the help. Any other possible problems?

Keith

 

[FrequencyX]

If XP was already installed, normally you would see this screen if you choose a mode which the monitor or video card could not support (Refresh rates etc..) which is hard to do in the first place since most of the time XP will hide choices that can't be used by default and will revert back to stable changes after 15 seconds..
If this is a fresh install, it would be safe to say your videocard is toast
Try the other with another format and fresh install of windows

 

[rpmcrash]

i just finished one my self for my brother for christmas also . santa work can be a little hard sometimes !!!!! merry xmas
and good luck with the build.

 

[mechBgon]

Also, maybe the one monitor is not quite all there. But before trying the other monitor, try this:

• boot into Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key on the keyboard when you know the WindowsXP boot screen is about to come up
• If the screen stays on and Windows is visible, go into the Display Properties > Settings > Advanced tab
• depending on whether you have the basic or the full-feature ATI drivers installed, you may be able to simply select 800 x 600 @ 60Hz on the Adapter > List All Modes tab (simple drivers) or you may need to dive into ATI's fancy-pants driver panels, find the one with the monitor depicted, and change the setting there
• One way or the other, go through the motions of setting the resolution & refresh rate to 800 x 600 @ 60Hz, confirm it, then restart and see if it comes up like that on a regular boot-up.

Bigger picture: can I point you in the direction of my suggestions for setting the computers up to resist Trouble The Ongoing prevention stuff is going to be especially valuable where kids are concerned. If the Admin powers are kept locked away, good modern antivirus software is installed and configured, Automagic Updates is enabled and the firewall(s) are up, then it isn't likely you'll come back in March and find the computers swarming with spyware, Trojans, worms and seven types of media players.

Hope that helps

 

[FrequencyX]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Also, maybe the one monitor is not quite all there. But before trying the other monitor, try this:

• boot into Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key on the keyboard when you know the WindowsXP boot screen is about to come up
• If the screen stays on and Windows is visible, go into the Display Properties > Settings > Advanced tab
• depending on whether you have the basic or the full-feature ATI drivers installed, you may be able to simply select 800 x 600 @ 60Hz on the Adapter > List All Modes tab (simple drivers) or you may need to dive into ATI's fancy-pants driver panels, find the one with the monitor depicted, and change the setting there
• One way or the other, go through the motions of setting the resolution & refresh rate to 800 x 600 @ 60Hz, confirm it, then restart and see if it comes up like that on a regular boot-up.

Bigger picture: can I point you in the direction of my suggestions for setting the computers up to resist Trouble The Ongoing prevention stuff is going to be especially valuable where kids are concerned. If the Admin powers are kept locked away, good modern antivirus software is installed and configured, Automagic Updates is enabled and the firewall(s) are up, then it isn't likely you'll come back in March and find the computers swarming with spyware, Trojans, worms and seven types of media players.

Hope that helps

Well, since it sounds like the installation did not finish you could also check Setuplog.txt if you have a 98 boot disk. Just check in C:\WINNT
This log is created and will record any problems and may be able to help you pinpoint the problem of why it crashed.
From what I have seen, visual aritifacts like that of what you explained normally is vid card..

 

[ridgehead]

Thanks for all the ideas guys.

The monitor used was the same for the build of the first computer.

This was the initial installation of windows XP on a new hard drive.

I am going to be working out of town for the three weeks leading up to christmas so there is just a little pressure to get these units functioning properly.

Thanks again for the input. I knew I could count on the members of this forum for ideas.

Will let you know how it turns out.

Keith

 

[Fern]

If the first and second rigs are identicle, why not take the HD from the 1st (good working) rig and pop into the second? It should up and run fine unless there is a hardware problem with the 2nd rig.

Since they are identicle rigs, it w/b handy if you had Norton Ghost, you could just clone the first OS installation (with all drivers etc.) onto the HD for the 2nd rig to save time.

Fern

 

[LTC8K6]

If you can get to where you can use the F8 key, you might try starting XP in VGA mode and see what happens.

 

[ridgehead]

Thanks for all the help. I swapped the video card from the first computer and that fixed the problem. I will RMA the U/S card.

Keith