New to Vista and having start-up problems

Question

I'm helping my sister set up her new E521 (arrived 10 days ago) and after getting everything going successfully tried a shut down.  On restart Vista would not start - it got to the first flash of the 'start' circle in the middle of the screen and then the screen went blank and stayed like that with no sign of action.  I switched off and tried again with the same result but the strange think is that, after about 6 attempts, Vista did start and work successfully.  I then tried sleep rather than shut-down and that worked OK for a few times but then the start-up stopped again at the same point.  Now it seems to take several attempts to get Vista to start.   Any ideas before I try a (long) phone call to Dell.   Needless to say I'm sticking with XP until Vista settles down.

penguinspenguin · Answer

Try updating the video driver.   Does it consistently work in safe mode?

pbramsen · Answer

Not only that, but also the chipset driver, and see if there's any new BIOS upgrades for your system.  They're at the Dell support page.

MADB7 · Answer

I’m experiencing exactly the same problem. I have installed the update for my ATI Radion X1300 Pro (there are no updates for the chipset and there is no new BIOS version), but it doesn’t work. After trying to restart it a few times it works, but when I shut the computer down and start it up, it fails again.

I also have another problem: When my computer enters sleeping mode and I press a button to wake it up, my monitor (2007FPW) gives me a message. It says that the computer isn’t broadcasting a signal. What can I do?

Message Edited by MADB7 on 03-14-2007 11:55 AM

Greg46a · Answer

Just to round off my story and hope it will be helpful to others.  After 2 one-hour plus sessions on the phone to DEL - both of which involved running the computer with the cover open and removing and replacing cables - we gave up and employed, yes actually paid an engineer to help. It is not entirely clear what he did as he just tried various things such as changing USBs from the display to the tower but, in the end, he got the computer working and, figers crossed, it still is.  The one thing I can say he did was that he changed the connection from the tower to the display from the (white) digital cable to the (blue) analogue one.   Needless to say I will think long and hard before buying another Dell

MADB7 · Answer

So you suggest to call Dell? I heard that they always treat you like you know nothing about computers here (I live in the Netherlands), so calling them may take a while. I really hope changing the DVI cable to a VGA cable isn't the only solution, because of the difference in image quality.

I also have a problem with my monitor (sort of). The image looks like the whole screen is covered with very small water drops. You can hardly notice, but if the monitor isn’t working properly, I have to call them for the monitor too. I believe that my old monitor did the same thing when it was new, but I’m not sure anymore. Can anyone confirm it should fade away after a few weeks?

MADB7 · Answer

It does not work. I was just lucky. I called Dell and they told me to switch some cables inside the computer. Unfortunately it still doesn't work, so Dell will send someone to fix it.

Message Edited by MADB7 on 03-17-2007 09:03 AM

penguinspenguin · Answer

They came up with a fix for the Sonic issue a few weeks ago. If you would have mentioned the words 'Sonic DLA' in a previous post, I'm certain someone would've directed you towards it.   If you go to support.dell.com and search 'Sonic DLA' the fix comes up as a highlighted result.

Windows General

New to Vista and having start-up problems

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