Start-Up Problem

Question

I have the 1ghz XPSB Dimension with Windows 98SE and the 64 mb ddr GE Force Video card. I turned on my machine, but windows did not load properly. There were alot of rolling horizontal and vertical lines appearing. The entire screen is messed up. I restart it and it is in safe mode. I then click start, and restart and it restarts. It's not in safe mode anymore, but the settings are 16 colors so it looks like it's safe mode. The first time I called Dell, and the technician had me reset my settings, and it was normal again. The second time it happened, about two weeks later, I knew that all I had to do was reset my settings. What I want to know is why did it occur in the first place? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Sandy

Andrew67 · Answer

It may be a driver problem. Did you recently install the card, or did it come with the machine? You might check the "properties" section in My Computer (right click on My Computer, select properties). Go to device manager and see if there are any yellow exclamation signs. You might have a conflict. It happened to me whe I upgraded my V card. Also, if you have just recently installed a program, video intensive games are notorious for this, it may automatically change the video settings and the switchback (after the game is over) may not occur as one might want.

hope this helps...

Sandylp · Answer

Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate your response. Those are the first questions that the Dell Tech asked me, too. The answer is "No" to new software or hardware installation in the past few months. I hadn't done anything prior to this occurance and "Yes" the video card came with the machine and the drivers are the 6.31, which I've been using for months. There weren't any yellow exclamation marks, either, and I don't play any games on my computer.

I did try to update the Video drivers, but had to revert to the original ones due to incompatibility. This was done after the initial occurrance, however, so I don't think it is related.

If anyone has experienced this, I'd appreciate any comments.

Thanks Again,
Sandy

jim_b28 · Answer

Hi Sandy,

I wish I could help, but I didn't have your exact problem. But for what it's worth after I ran the System File Checker program I had to reset my desktop because of the same symtoms you discribed. Also I was wondering if this happened in two week intervals, could you have a program running on a schedule? Wish I could be of more help. Maybe someone has a solution for the exact symtom.
Good Luck.

Dimension XPS B800r (March/2000)
256MB RDRAM
64MB DDR NVIDIA geFORCE Plus AGP Graphics Card
32.4 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
12X Max Vairable DVD ROM Drive
250MB Iomega Zip (internal)
3.5" Floopy Drive
HP DeskJet 952C (USB)
HP ScanJet 5200 Cxi (USB)
Windows 98se

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Start-Up Problem

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