No video on boot - what should I look for?

[Jeff H]

Guys,

I'm going to a buddy's house tomorrow to determine why he's getting no image on screen during boot. I've only spoken w/ his wife, and she says they get a blue screen, but it's not Windows-based, as she says there's no boot image, i.e. BIOS post. Monitor (17" Hitachi LCD) status light goes from yellow to green, but nothing comes on-screen.

What should I look for tomorrow? I'm thinking bad video connection, bad vid card, or bad mobo. FYI components include: Crucial 8500LE 64MB AGP, 17" Hitachi LCD, 512MB Crucial PC2700, EPoX EP-4PEA+ i845PE board, Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HD (on High Point 372 controller), LiteOn 16x DVD and 48x24x48 CD-RW, each as master on primary and secondary IDE controller, respectively. There's been no software installed lately. We did a Ghost 2003 to CD-R, and the system ran fine after that. Apparently started "acting up" a week later.

TIA,

Jeff

 

[KBTibbs]

check for beeps...if it beeps on and off it's memory, no beeps prolly vid card, proc, or something else...

As always reseat required hardware, remove the optional, etc...

 

[Bovinicus]

Originally posted by: KBTibbs
check for beeps...if it beeps on and off it's memory, no beeps prolly vid card, proc, or something else...

As always reseat required hardware, remove the optional, etc...

Actually, beeps could mean the video card is the culprit. I have had beeps occur because of a improperly seated video card before.

Anyway, I would suggest starting by reseating the video card, as the previous posted said.

Resetting the CMOS is a good idea at this point as well. Most likely this isn't going to fix anything, but it is a quick thing to check.

Switching the video card with an old one you have laying around could give you some very valuable information.

Another thing to check for is the functionality of the power cord. If you have another power cord handy, see if replacing it fixes the problem.

If that doesn't work, then scan the entire system for incorrect connections. Any other power connections that are misaligned can cause the system not to boot. Reconnect as necessary.

If you don't find anything, then try booting with only the bare essentials connected: CPU, memory, video.

If you still can't boot, then I would replace the other possible hardware culprits: the memory, the CPU, and the motherboard, in that order. Most likely you don't have a spare CPU or motherboard lying around, but most likely it won't come to that because the memory and video card are more likely culprits.

 

[Amorphus]

did he mess with the BIOS? press delete, and then "sweep" the f1-f12 keys during bootup to try to get into BIOS. see if video comes on during that.

does it boot into windows? I'm getting the impression that it does. run some 3d benchmarks on the video card (predownload them and put them on a CD or something to save time tomorrow), and see if you get massive artifacting (slow is alright)).

 

[magneto125]

I would say the video connection or the monitor, if it isn't making no beeps on the post then the video card is initializing correctly. But it could be the other things other members posted. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeff H]

Guys, thanks for all the replies, and suggestions. I'll be over there tomorrow to get a look at the machine, and I'll let you know what I find out.

Jeff

 

[Jeff H]

OK guys, I just back back from looking at the system, and here's what I saw. Contrary to what my buddy's wife said last week, the BIOS does post on the screen. Continuation of boot finishes on a blue screen, actually an aquamarine shade - not a Windows BSOD.

So, before going over I made a Norton AV Rescue CD, and am currently having that run, to determine if a family member tagged onto a virus recently. Barring that, what else should I be looking for? FWIW on 12/31 we did a Ghost over to CD-R, so we have that to fall back on. The original Win98SE install was done from an OEM CD, so I don't think I have the reinstall/repair option available. I also did a "restore" from a backup ERU folder, which was known to be good, and that had no affect. FWIW he was running Active Desktop at the time, and that seemed flakey.
We did the ERU thing over the phone prior to my going over there, and he did say that he heard a Windows startup sound, but got no video, after recovery and reboot.

There is nothing on the screen, no Start button, no taskbar, no system tray. If you do a Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Task Manager the program box is empty, leading me to again suspect a virus.

Please let me know if there's anything else I'm missing, to diagnose this problem.

TIA,

Jeff

 

[Atlantean]

Did he change the drivers for the video card recently? Were there any changes to the computer before this happened or did he just turn it on one day and it didn't work properly?

 

[Jeff H]

Atlantean, all good questions. He was gone on a business trip. His wife called me a few days ago to tell me of the situation. "Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly" nothing was changed. However, daughter was home from college, and between wife, daughter, and son no one is the least bit computer-savvy. According to wife they turned it on to the "blue" screen.

Buddy just called to say NAV Rescue process completed w/o a detection (latest Symantec dat file). Will do a safe boot, and see what that portends. Will also try a reinstall, as MS guy says a reinstall (to fix corrupted files) is possible w/ an OEM CD.

 

[Jeff H]

Just got back from buddy's house. Even in Safe Mode there was nothing on the screen, but two "Safe Mode" labels in each of the top corners. But, not Task Bar, no Start button, etc.

With no viruses present, I ended putting in his 98SE CD and doing an install/repair. That did the trick! I'm stumped as to why this happened. I'm guessing someone in that house messed w/ the video settings and between 98SE, the vid card and the LCD it simply refused to display from w/i Windows.

But, he's now back up and running.