Flaky splash screen - word jumble and exclamation marks

Question

I have an Inspiron 8200 that recently began exhibiting strange stuff in the display when booting- the first splash screen has all exclamation marks, then the next has exclamation marks with the text (I think it usually says 'Hit F3 to change', etc.) being unreadable, the letters are jumbled (different leaders, like a word scramble!). Then on the Windows XP screen, there are vertical black lines on the page. But after going to the login page, everything is fine, no lines, no other weird symptoms. So I can use the unit just fine. It's just if I were to try to modify anything in the bios (I can still hit F3 to go to the bios screen, and it looks almost normal except for all the words appearing as if in an unreadable language) I can't read what I would be changing (so would have to have screenshots, etc. to work from), but all the function keys, enter, up/down all work in the bios.   So i'm unsure if my video card has the issue (but this would seem unlikely, as it works fine for other things) or if it's the bios chip, another chip, or a bios software issue. I'm hesitant to attempt to reload bios for fear I may completely disable what I have if this 'scrambling' were to persist through it.   My other thought is virus, but have upgraded to Norton 2005, scanned, and keep a copy of spy sweeper running as well (on top of Zone Alarm Pro). So i've tried to eliminate that possibility.   The only other issues with this unit are a non-functional CD drive in the fixed bay (coinciding approx. with this) and more recently burned out the power supply and had the problem of the power light (3rd light) blinking alternately yellow and green, rapidly. (does this mean new battery time as well? I still use the original, 2 yrs. old and a 2nd battery, 1 yr. old- the original doesn't seem to hold much charge these days).   What are your thoughts?   Paul   Lothary@sbcglobal.net

leduke30 · Answer

Does this happen if hooked up to an external monitor and on its screen? If not, I would try changing out the LCD cable

johnallg · Answer

To me it sounds like your video card is having a problem - needs to warm up to work properly. What happens if you boot to the BIOS and let it sit there for 15/20 minutes - does it clear up? Have you tried hooking an external monitor up, hitting Fn+F8 to enable it, and booting up to see if it also displays weird on that monitor? If it did it would immediately point to the video card.

I would not reflash the BIOS until you have this sorted out. It could be the BIOS chip is having problems (failing), the data it is supposed to hold has changed and thus shows up as giberish, but I do not think so because it would not only affect the displayed video but also the area tat holds the wakeup program also so you wouldn't be able to boot.

I would look at the video card, the video cable (but it would only clear if you moved the display more open or closed, not with time as it is), or maybe even the lcd, but that only shows what it is being told to show so that is a slim chance.

savagemyth · Answer

The only other possibility is that the HD has a bad sector or two in the boot area, which would account for the first WinXP splash screen, but not the bios (I beleive?) splash screens and post menus.

savagemyth · Answer

That's what so puzzling, it acts like the video card but doesn't. Like I said, as soon as it gets to the WinXP login screen, no artifacts, no lines, no flicker, nothing. and never after bios splash screens go away.   I'll try the external, but I don't recall that being that way either.   Incidentally, my batteries stopped accepting a charge with the new 120w slimline Targus charger I just got- frustrating!   I guess i'll need to replace my old power supply with an OEM, my old one had a plug that shorted (wish I could just splice on a replacement)   thanks guys

johnallg · Answer

If it is the same connector as the earlier PA-6 power adapters, then it is the Hirose RP34 connector. http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/EU042/0096.pdf    HR170ND connector and 3 of contact part HR175ND

savagemyth · Answer

This sounds like good info- keep in mind that all of the bios menus are corrupted and unreadable as well- it's like looking at something in russian. Some letters are the right letter in the right spot and words are the same length, others are "switched". I've never heard of NVRAM, is this flashable?

Or is it a chip that is dead i.e. MB replacement?

Mandrake99 · Answer

This sounds like a corruption in the NVRAM area where the splash screen is stored. I'm not sure if your system is compatable with the splash utility, but if it is I would maybe attempt to reinstall the splash screen. from a DOS prompt " splash XXXXX.bmp " where the x's are the filename you are using as a splash. Also the BMP file has to be a certain size and color depth. 640 X 480 and 16 bit color depth. about 151K. Or you could just turn it off with the " splash 0ff " command.

mandrake99

Mandrake99 · Answer

savagemyth,

I'm making an educated guess here about the causes of your screen problem as that is all any of us can do, some more educated than others but you will have to weed them for yourself. The NVRAM is a memory chip that also holds the BIOS screens. NV = Non volatile RAM or it doesn't erase when the power is removed. It sounds like this area for the BIOS screens and the splash screen has either been damaged or corrupted. A complete BIOS flash may solve this problem, but of course it could also amplify it or make it a nice paper weight. I think this is a classic sign of corruption. I have seen this problem on production PLC's etc... If you still have warranty call it in to DELL, if not; as long as I could use the laptop I would and as a last resort I would try a flash from a floppy disk. Everything else is too risky.

** These are just my opinions, as a video card, lcd or cable problem would also effect everything else too ie Windows and every other screen, which you stated are fine after the machine boots up. As I understand you; it is only during POST and BIOS that the screen is scrambled.

*****************************************************************

Edit Here:
After re-reading the post it could be a problem with the frame buffer as this is also involved with displaying the initial windows screen which is not stored in NVRAM ( The one that has the black lines running through it ). If I get some time I will research this problem some more and post back here. Right now I would lean more towards a frame buffer issue.

mandrake99

Message Edited by Mandrake99 on 01-19-2005 08:26 AM

savagemyth · Answer

Thanks you guys are the bomb- Roger on the leave it alone unless you have to mess with it: been there, done that one before! My main fear is booting to a floppy and end up with something I can't fix because it'd be unreadable. If I hear you right this is a soldered chip on the board, so a MB replacement might be the cleanest. I'll hang by to see what you find out, thanks everyone for your input, good ideas out there and thanks to Dell for putting this board here, most companies don't have the cojones to keep them going after the first time they get flamed.

savagemyth · Answer

{snip} Message Edited by savagemyth on 01-19-200508:31 AM Message Edited by savagemyth on 01-19-2005 08:31 AM

Appsolut · Answer

I am actually having a similar problem, but mine is not only doing it in the bios and on the splash screen, it is also doing it once Windows boots up.  It also does this on an external monitor as well.  I have the Radeon 9000 M in mine and I am going to replace both the motherboard and the video card.  Currently, one of those items (the tech couldn't tell me which one) is on backorder, supposed to be in this week, so i'll let you know which one fixes the problem.

leduke30 · Answer

Has anyone looked at Start/Settings/Control Panel/Regional and Language settings, to make sure it is set for English/United States?

savagemyth · Answer

yep, it's not a foreign language- unless there's some language i'm unaware of that consists of 75% exclamation marks! i'm assuming it's the video card or the MBR, since it only happens in the bios screens and the splash screens. If it were only the splash, that would mean... just the splash screens. But it's the bios too, which I tried reflashing to recrify this, to no avail (predictably). So it could have something to do with my daughter dropping my inspiron and shorting out one of the PC cardbus slots (and the cd drive).... hummm...

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