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5573
June 16th, 2005 13:00
Blank Screen after re-installing Windows XP on Inspiron 8000
My computer had recently started to slow down so I decided it was time to do a fresh install of Windows XP and start clean, which I do about once a year. I went through the whole install without a hitch (boot to CD --> full format --> restarts --> installs --> restarts --> BLANK SCREEN). Throughout the whole install process the screen works with no problems and on the final restart everything is going fine, the Windows XP logo screen comes up and then it just goes black.
The only thing that I can think of is that I replaced the screen about 6 months ago, after it got cracked - but it's worked fine since then and as I said it works fine all throughout the install so I can say there is no problem with the screen or the connections but could there be some software/driver communication problem (I never had to install a new driver when I got the screen, just popped it in and it worked).
Or is there some other deep rooted problem that is behind my comprehension, I've reinstalled several times before and never had this problem.
Thanks
Inspiron 8000
Windows XP Professional
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funtoupgrade
2 Intern
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937 Posts
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June 16th, 2005 19:00
Check it with an external monitor (toggle on and on off with Fn +F8 keys).
mlt245
4 Posts
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June 17th, 2005 01:00
So I seem to have figured out the problem. It appears that this sometimes happens with the newest BIOS and you have to download the newest video driver (from Dell not nvidia) to fix it, and that seemed to work for a bit. (I knew it wasn't a problem with the monitor since it would work in safe mode).
So I had the newest BIOS and the newest video driver and things seemed to be working out alright, then I started to get all the XP updates (including SP2, criticial and security updates . . .) And again the problem recurred with a slight twist, now instead of the screen going blank and staying blank, it would now come back on after about 5 minutes but then I would get the blue screen with an error message -
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to protect your computer.
The problem seems to be caused by the following file: nv4_disp.
If this is the first time you've seen this error screen restart your computer. If this screen appears again follow these steps
The device driver got stuck an infinite loop this usually indicates problems with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly.
Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates"
And the computer would restart, sometimes it would go through this cycle 3 times before the screen would come up and stay up, other times it would work almost immediately. Then Windows Error reporting kicked in, and I opted to send the report and got back a tip to download a fix from Microsoft which seemed to work for about 2 bootups but then it started again (variety 2 with the blue screen) this time it was afer I installed the Dell Software Tool, that it suggested an update which seemed to be the fix, but the same story happened and I once again had problems after a couple starts, and the Windows error reporting gave me one last download and the problem seems to be fixed now after multiple re-starts.
So while I don't have the true-blue technical answer it seems the problem is with the new BIOS, video drivers and windows updates, maybe someone out there will make better use of this info and fix the appropriate drivers.