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Resolved Question

computer boots, runs, but no video display until rebooted

Oct 2, 2011 9:08PM PDT

Hi....this has been an intermittent problem for awhile. I have no ideas left. Any help is appreciated of course. It is XP software system, Dell XPS machine.

--I boot several times during the day. It is often slow regaining the video, but usually not a problem that way. Almost invariably overnight of late, however, the computer has far more serious problems the next morning. It seems to boot properly. In fact, I can hear audio from my programs loading (like SKYPE). But no screen, no display. That overnight rest seems to harm it for no apparent reason.

I've run chkdsk /f and chkdsk /r on several occasions. About a year ago when this happened one of them reported my volume was dirty and it fixed it. I had little problem since. However, it's hard to say whether the volume became dirty because of the constant reboots or vice versa. That is, usually I get it to work by simply turning the machine and immediately rebooting it. On the 2d try, although sluggish, it typically works. Today, it actually took 4 tries to get the screen to come up, though, which is quite a hassle.

Given the past history, I would suspect it is not a video card failing. I checked the volume with chkdsk /r yesterday and everything was fine.

What else could it be? And what accounts for the intermittently more serious issues overnight?

Discussion is locked

monsieurms has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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and the solution was....
Jan 9, 2012 3:20AM PST

So, I just thought I;d report back after the dust settled.

After ruling out the motherboard with an in-the-shop computer repair, the problem reoccurred. I assumed it was the video card, with minor possibility of monitor.

I also found that if I left the heat on in the living room where the computer is overnight, it reduced the video load time from unbearable and intolerable, to merely annoying,sometimes obnoxious, sometimes only quirky. So, while it was still periodically frustrating beyond belief, I punted on replacing the card, eventually intending to do it.

Meanwhile, I've been intending to replace the monitor with a bigger widescreen, saw a good deal and went for it. I didn't really think this would fix the problem; mostly I wanted a new monitor. Anything else was a shot in the dark and gravy.

Plugged in the new monitor. Worked perfectly 1st time, every time. No more video load lag time. I don't leave the heat on any more.

So...I guess it was the monitor!

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Answer
First thing I'd try
Oct 2, 2011 10:17PM PDT

First thing I'd try, assuming this is an XPS desktop and not laptop, is to reseat the video card. It's quick, it's easy, and it's free. There's at least a chance it's started to work itself loose, and doesn't make a good connection until thermal expansion has set in a little. It's a small chance, but like I said, quick, easy, and free.

Also double check the connections between your monitor and video card. There's a decent chance it's really your monitor giving out, not the video card. The only real problem is that there's no way to test unless you have a spare of one or the other. If you know someone you can bum a video card or monitor off of for a day or two to test, that'd be your best option. If you replace one and the problem goes away, then you buy a new one of whatever you borrowed, otherwise you buy a new one of the other component. Also, if you have a monitor where the video cable can be disconnected, you will want to test that as well. I'd just buy a second cable off of Monoprice.com and keep it around. Never know when it may come in handy, and it'd probably cost you less than $10 shipped.

Now, if this is an XPS laptop, then almost any of the potential problems are going to be cost prohibitive to fix.

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welll...queasy conclusion
Oct 8, 2011 6:00AM PDT

So, I took this into the shop.

---My own caps inspection showed no problems, the repair shop confirmed that
--I was getting just lately --this was new--an error message before I took it in from Norton Ghost telling me it could not complete the snapshot because of an unspecified hard drive error on C:. Researching the error code had things come up like "impending hard drive failure." Yikes.
--The repair shop checked the drive, found no problems, ran a low level check with Spinwrite for 11 hours, said the C: drive was fine. A chkdsk revealed many problems on the D drive oddly which he fixed.
--He said that the video problem now seemed fine.

I got it home, first boot, video didn't work! 2d boot, it popped right up.

At this point I'm wondering if this is something much simpler, if the HDD errors are caused by the improper shutdowns rather than being the cause of the problems. I reseated my monitor connections. Maybe that will help. I'll keep trying. (He said the video card looked fine...)

Maybe it's the monitor? Could something else be interfering with the vid driver loading? I note that these problems, although not truly new, have escalated since installing Droid drivers for a HTC phone.

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Choices have to be made.
Oct 8, 2011 6:05AM PDT

We had an older machine that did this. BUT it ALWAYS did that. We found swapping the motherboard to fix it but for the cost we decided to let it be.

You may be in a similar pickle since NO VIDEO at all does not point to hard drive OS corruption. Why? Because the OS is not required to see the BIOS screen. This is a hardware issue.
Bob

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thanks
Oct 8, 2011 8:06AM PDT

The backup is running properly now, so that's one thing.

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parts
Oct 18, 2011 4:55AM PDT

At this point, the caps have been examined, it's been cleaned by a service tech.
I ran a diagostics from the bios--it reported no errors.
I updated the drivers for the video card and the monitor.

Periodically, especially when it has been off overnight, it still takes a long time to produce video, although it always does. About 10 minutes. I don't even usually on cold boots now see the bios / splash screen re: Dell/ Win XP, etc. until it finally boots and the video eventually appears. It usually appears not long after my whitelist spam blocker loads (CHoicemail) which is awhile since it needs to get through the firewall. About 10 minutes.

At this point I assume it can only be:

--motherboard
--monitor
--Video card.

The mb and video card (Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT) were at least inspected by the service tech who saw no problems and nothing came up on the diagnostic. But that may not be conclusive. The monitor seems fine. That's all I can say. I reseated the connections as well.

At this point, I imagine I just start ripping stuff out one by one. I presume the most likely suspects are the mb or video card.

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What I'm finding
Oct 18, 2011 5:00AM PDT

Is that techs tend to look at a slightly domed cap and pass it. The criteria is stricter than that. ONLY PERFECT CAPS can pass.

The 8800GT is seem failing a lot now. It was pretty power hungry and hot. Given only the story so far I'd swap the video card first.
Bob

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video artifact
Oct 18, 2011 5:09AM PDT

Thanks. BTW, I notice when I use Internet Explorer---which I don't very often do---that when I exit it it leaves a residue on my screen, a video artifact. Such, as I might see a menu command from a pull-down menu I'd used, like "open in new window" and it just stays on the screen, not clickable, not real, just a video artifact. Would that perchance be a clue of any sort?

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Sorry for the typo's.
Oct 18, 2011 5:13AM PDT

I meant "8800's seem to be"

The video artifact is another sign that the video card may be on its way out.
Bob

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Answer
Look into...
Oct 3, 2011 12:10AM PDT

If you have to reboot the PC during the initial cold boot, that suggests you have a weaken PSU or a probable "bad caps" situation. Also, if you haven't yet, then open case and clean-out the dust bunnies. However, if you find it dirty, the damage may already been done. Prolonged usage with a dirty/dusty PC causes heat stress which in turn start to the weakest link. Often that is the PSU or mtrbd. based components. Your repeated reboots show this, though it still could be another problem area, but that's hopeful wishing. While you can reseat the video card if so equipped, if this is a on-board video, then that's a mtrbd. component. As already posted to you, reseating and making sure of connections is worthy to do, but as I posted the remaining areas to be checked should be done as well. As this is an XP based PC, it suggest you have an older PC, you maybe starting to experience the life cycle of some faulty competent, so be ready to fix or swap parts if so needed.

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Answer
Google BAD CAPS.
Oct 3, 2011 12:27AM PDT

We've seen them on motherboards, power supplies, video cards and anything that uses electrolytic caps. THE BIG CLUE in your post is the over night symptom.

You might find a few owners that can' accept this but the symptom is a dead match.
Bob

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thanks for the initial input...
Oct 3, 2011 1:25AM PDT

"bad caps" Can you explain what this means?

In terms of the hardware itself being defective, that of course was my first thought, but that this has gone on for a year or so, waning and waxing, sometimes little or no problem, sometimes significant, led me to believe it was not per se a hardware issue. I assumed if hardware was failing, it would simply fail at some point, not regain life, then weaken, then strengthen, etc. The PC

is an XPS 630i, about 3 years old (I deliberately had it downgraded to XP instead of Vista, which was probably not wise, but Dell was offering that option at the time as Vista was controversial in terms of device driver support)---and this problem cropped fairly soon after buying it. And then seemed to disappear for awhile. THe monitor SEEMS fine. WHen the computer boots, it shows the green power light per normal, previously amber for standby when computer was off. Sometimes the green light blinks--which is usually a good sign actually since I frequently a useable and normal screen not long afterwards.The hard drive itself seems fine as noted--programs load behind the scenes so far as I can see. I've experimented with hitting a one-step button I have programmed on my keyboard to load a WORD document automatically, and it does even though the screen is off.

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It's on the BAD CAPS web site.
Oct 3, 2011 1:51AM PDT

The caps do have a symptom in that cold or morning issue. You nailed the symptom and all that is left is to do the visual inspection. No need to duplicate the BAD CAPS web sites here.
Bob

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re: caps
Oct 3, 2011 1:55AM PDT

Is it also consistent with the bad caps dx (I did a little googling) that it seems to matter more if my computer was used a lot the prior date before being shut off for the evening? I had bad problems this morning--it was on for almost the whole day yesterday, which was unusual.

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Sorry.
Oct 3, 2011 2:48AM PDT

Why are we going any further with symptoms where you nailed it in your posts?

I mean, it's time for the visual inspection and more discussion will not reverse the BAD CAPS issue. I think some folk hope a driver or setting will cure this.
Bob

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Bad caps
Oct 3, 2011 3:08AM PDT

The bad caps situation is not as clear as a full 100% bad part. Caps, which are capacitors are used all in the electronics world and of course, your PC. They are in everything about your PC. What isn't apparent, that the caps don't necessary need be all 100% bad to cause an issue. They have become "weaken" and cause what your experiencing, though everything else seems to be working. That's the clue we find, that repeated restarts or it comes and goes and/or happens usually during the initial cold starts. In some cases, poor soldering can also be suspect and if once the PC warms up allows good contact to be whole again at least for the time being.

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well....
Oct 4, 2011 4:32AM PDT

I opened up the machine, I looked at everything I thought was a cap. I saw nothing discolored or oozing. May well be I'm just incompetent at hardware and don't know what I'm looking at or for, but I could see no visible problem. I did clean out the dust. It booted immediately on the next try. The video card seemed properly seated (Nvidia GeForce 8800GT)

Then about 20 minutes into using it, it froze. Which has not been a typical problem, but has happened a couple of times of late.


I suppose if it happens again, just have to take it into the shop.

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That 20 minutes is yet another clue.
Oct 4, 2011 8:46AM PDT

Given the age, it's time to do the DEEP cleaning of all heatsinks, fans PLUS replace all the heatsink compound under each heat sink.

This should help.
Bob