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General discussion

Black screen Dell Dimension E310

by hmatthewcooper May 27, 2007 3:11AM PDT

I recently disabled my plug-in video card and enabled my onboard video card. I rebooted and went to the setup (f2) screen and selected my onboard card as the default startup video adapter. While I was there I changed the harddrive performance settings from bypass to performance if that has any relevancy here. I rebooted again and now it's a total black screen. no video signal at all, not even the boot up screen. When I turn the computer off or on sometimes I'm able to hear chimes. Does anybody know how I can re-enable one of my video cards with a black screen? does anybody have any informed advice for me? PLEASE HELP!?

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Too
by hmatthewcooper May 27, 2007 3:14AM PDT

oh yeah I'm running windows xp

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Tried Rebooting In Safe Mode ??
by Grif Thomas Former Forum moderator May 27, 2007 3:20AM PDT

...and making the changes while in Safe Mode?
How To Start In 'Safe Mode'

If it starts in Safe Mode, revisit Device Manager and make sure only one card is enabled and shows that it is working properly.

If normal Safe Mode won't load, try rebooting, press the F8 key once per second till a selection screen loads.. Use the "up/down" arrow keys to select "Enable VGA Mode", then press the "Enter" key..

Hope this helps.

Grif

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thanks
by hmatthewcooper May 27, 2007 3:22AM PDT

thanks for the advice but I have no screen to select any options on. ANybody know how many times to hit the arrow keys and whatnot?

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You Don't See Anything During POST?
by Grif Thomas Former Forum moderator May 27, 2007 8:01AM PDT

That sounds more like a monitor issue.. During the initial stages of the boot, can you access the BIOS by pressing the appropriate F key? Even if the video card is incorrect, you should be able to see the F8 options.. If there is nothing on the screen at all, it might be a bad monitor.. Have you tried swapping in a known good monitor?

I would also try physically removing the plug-in card from the PCI/AGP slot to see if it will cause the onboard video to take over.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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the simplest of things
by hmatthewcooper May 27, 2007 12:00PM PDT

The monitor cable was still attached to my plug-in video adapter and I had succeeded in switching to my onboard chipset...so....I had to plug the cord into the onboard card...


whoops...

Thanks for all the help everyone,

C

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