Black Screen

Still troubleshooting "Black Screen @ Startup" thread--need advice.

 

Dell Dimension 8200, Window XP Home, 1900FP monitor.

 

Symptoms: Depress power button on tower, Dell logo appears, but graphic is distorted. Normal indication on monitor status buttons and a normal Windows Start screen for about 10 sec, before monitor input status (1,2 LED) cycle and power LED goes to solid amber, monitor has black screen. All indications on tower remain normal: solid Green power LED, all four diagnostic lights Green. I can get to SAFE MODE and SAFE + NETWORKS. However, all troubleshooting menus (F2, F8, F12) have garbled text caused by interspersed numbers and symbols.

 

Actions to date: Disconnected all periperals and reseated power cords. Disconnected monitor (white) video cable and verified normal monitor performance. Checked Device Manager--all indications normal. Reseated video card. Used System Restore to go back to date prior to experiencing problem. None of these have corrected the symptoms.

 

I need to get to cause of (1) garbled text, distorted graphics and (2) what is apparently commanding the monitor to shut down during boot sequence. I am concerned that some drivers or portion of OS may have become corrupted. Though OS appears to be functioning in SAFE MODE. I tried to get to Windows Update via IE in SAFE + NETWORKS to see if it could check status, but got "the website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying o view..."

 

Need help on what else to troublehsoot, check. Any possibility this is related to System Battery? I do recall seeing a warning indication of System Battery low a few days before the problem occurred?