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No POST, sorta boots to Windows 7

MartyMcFly3

MartyMcFly3

Lifer
Hey everyone, I have a Dell XPS420 (Windows 7 Home Premium) that has some issues which have got me stumped.

Sometime overnight, my computer decided to reboot itself - common due to windows updates. Upon attempting to access Windows, I had a black screen. I rebooted the computer and discovered the monitor does not display the POST, or anything, at all. It then, with the screen black, makes the windows sound indicating its at the login screen. I can not see anything. With a black screen, I type my password and hit enter. It then displays a blank desktop. I have no start menu, no desktop icons. Nothing. I can right click which pulls up the menu options of:
View
Sort by
Refresh
Paste
Paste shortcut
NVIDIA Control Panel
New
Screen Resolution
Gadgets
Personalize

If I try clicking on any of these, nothing happens except for New, but that just creates shortcuts on the "desktop".

So because I have a display, I figure I can rule out being issues with the graphics card. Because it boots and doesn't shut down randomly, I'm figuring its not the power supply or overheating. Google is turning up nothing so I have no clue what the issue is. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Sounds like one (or more) of the updates failed and Windows is hung. Try this: restart the PC and tap the F8 key until the advanced options screen appears. Select Safe mode with networking and see if will boot to the desktop. If it does; restart and see if it will boot to the normal desktop.
 
Bubbaleone said:
Sounds like one (or more) of the updates failed and Windows is hung. Try this: restart the PC and tap the F8 key until the advanced options screen appears. Select Safe mode with networking and see if will boot to the desktop. If it does; restart and see if it will boot to the normal desktop.
Click to expand...

Tried. F8 doesnt do anything in boot up. or at least I cant see what it does.

Edit: Also unable to boot from CD as I can't see the settings to change boot from modes.
 
Last edited:
Well.. two things come to mind that you could try: reset the CMOS by jumper or battery removal, switch over to the onboard VGA if the monitor is currently connected to a graphics card.
 
Bubbaleone said:
Well.. two things come to mind that you could try: reset the CMOS by jumper or battery removal, switch over to the onboard VGA if the monitor is currently connected to a graphics card.
Click to expand...

Resetting the CMOS by battery removal did the trick. Such a weird issue to have though. I guess I was making it more complicated than it needed to be. Thank you for the help!
 
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