stonesmasher Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Computer Dell4700-Operating System Windows XP-Home-While tweeking the display of a second hand monitor hooked up to the computer I made changes to the display settings under the settings/advanced tab. Now the system will not display anything other than a black screen after the windows blue bar finishes. The monitor was swapped with a good tested one and the same. I Tried to F8 the hard drive is good - computer is good. I just cant see anything to click on. I tried F8 last known good....nothing same blank screen after the bluebar. No login or welcome screen. F8 safe mode....list of files on the screen then freezes. F8 safe mode with command prompt...same thing. How can I reverse the harmful changes I made to the display settings now that the monitor will not light up in windows. It does light up for setup screen...shows windows icon and dell...then nothing else. Im wondering if anyone knows how to restore the origonal settings I had in my restore points and how I can access them without a graphic interface? Quote
Thrill Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Have you tried Last Known Good Configuration on the F8 menu? Does safe mode work? If not, you should try those Welcome to Geeksoup.net! Quote
Shaunno Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Yea you should try holding F8 then going into safe mode, when you say it freezes how far does it get? You've probably changed the settings in windows to something that the monitor cant handle, however that shouldn't cause windows safe mode to crash. There is also another option called low resolution 800x600 you could try loading windows in that way to see if it boots normally. Also when you load safe mode and all the drivers and windows files are loading (the white text) when it gets to the last one it can sometimes take a few minutes to load into windows depending on the speed of the machine. Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 12, 2011 Author Posted February 12, 2011 About the safe mode. Thanks but I ran it and waited an hour and the machine did not run windows, it just showed the frozen white text. Is there any other way to handle this? Quote
Thrill Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Hi, Did you try last known good configuration? Quote
Shaunno Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Well you could try hooking up another display, preferably a bigger one then lower the resolution to 800x600 just to be on the safe side, also turn the refresh rate down, then turn off the machine and hook up your original monitor. Also as I said in the previous post you can go into low resolution mode which turns the resolution down to 800x600, just hold F8 like you would if you were going into safe mode. GL, and post back on your progress Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 12, 2011 Author Posted February 12, 2011 Well, I let the machine sit for a while and when I turned it on today and the thing did not load up. I have a green, green, green, yellow light in the back. Code reads in manual "Some other problem". LOL I suppose I will check the connections inside. I have no windows software with the computer and it is kinda old. Anyway I backed up documents onto hard drive but didnt get to do the drivers. Should I ask Dell for a new hard drive? Ill buy it and put it in if it can come loaded with windows and drivers. If it doesn't come that way then what can I do? Why was no software provided when it was bought. It was running great for me a week ago when I hooked it up to my newer computer's monitor. Now nothing is seen on the screen at all. Too bad I can't fix it for my young daughter to use. She is too young to use my office stuff, but this one would be good for her. Can I fix it with a new HD? Do I need a new HD? Quote
Shaunno Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 I dont think replacing your HDD will remedy the problem mate, have you got another monitor lying around that you can hook up? Quote
Thrill Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 I agree with shaun, replacing your hard drive won't help. Find another monitor and try it Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 13, 2011 Author Posted February 13, 2011 Swapped monitors, Same black screen with one row of white letters on top. Nothing going on. Good monitor with bad computer. Where do you think I stand and do you have any more suggestions? Quote
Shaunno Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 White letters? What do they say? Could you possibly take a picture of it and upload it? Thanks Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 14, 2011 Author Posted February 14, 2011 Thanks, the letters say "SE 128MB BIOS P/N 113-A33406-100". Nothing like the safe mode boot screen we were talking about with many letters just one row. No key entries accepted whatsoever that I know of. No visible splash screen or boot sequence. AND a trouble code in back reads ABCD green green green yellow!. Only silence and unresponsiveness. I have located the OS and Driver discs. The drives will not read or respond to them when I put them in either. Very Strange. I am close to about to order a new HDD and put it in but you say otherwise. Please ellaborate or offer a plan B if you have one in mind. Thanks buddies. Quote
Shaunno Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Mate have a run through this forum http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f24/solved-x300-in-a-dell-dimension-4700-problem-243999.html See if the issues go away when you try some of the solutions posted on there. I believe it is the same computer as yours. Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 15, 2011 Author Posted February 15, 2011 I Pulled out memory and then began booting first with 512k memory stick one in one- message went away, but still a black screen after windows splash. Then filled slot 3 with the other 512k origonal memory stick- same, then 2 and 4 slots with the other pair of 1 MBer upgrades. All scenarios led me to the same thing . The frozen text in bios is gone and I can access f2-f8-or f11, but when I try to run windows all I get is a black screen again, on any monitor. All the lights have returned to green in the back of the PC! Boot disc for windows freezes at the step where I can "f3" to exir or "r" to repair or "enter" to continue. At that point I can not enter anything or get any response with any keyboard. You guys are very helpful, but I am sorry to report my problems are not solved yet. I am back to the black screen after windows blubar and a page full of frozen white letters and numbers in boot to safe mode. Last known config. does the same thing. Boot windows from D Drive is not working either. I will try installing only the 1 meg pair of memory. Until later can you imagine what is going on and what I else I can try to get a display when I run windows, and/ or how to access the display settings some other way, and/ or how to restore from partition or ghost image restore point, or simply reinstall windows to clear out my bad settings I selected? Heres a picture of the screen after boot safe mode with command prompt. Thanks Quote
Shaunno Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 Is there any chance you can remove the HDD in your PC and try it in someone else's? With what your saying it sounds like the Windows installation has corrupted. Also am I right in thinking when you put your Windows installation disk in you cant access setup? Do you get as far as this in the XP setup? Also if you want to try and completly re-install Windows use this: http://www.killdisk.com/ it completely erases any data on your HDD. You will need a working PC to burn the iso file to a bootable CD as kill disk runs as a little program with DOS. http://www.killdisk.com/bootablecd.htm This is a guide on how to create a bootable CD. Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 15, 2011 Author Posted February 15, 2011 Good Day, I am currently running windows set up from the disc by f12 boot to CDROM and pressed enter, after the loading files is complete a blue welcome to set up screen arrives and pressed enter right away. When I type enter it opens up the windows setup program only if I do not wait to long before typing. I then tried typing R to run a repair installation. When I press R the computer asks, which windows istall do you like to log on and lists 1: c:\WINDOWS. I press 1 and the computer asks for the Administrator password. I went that direction with the Windows Reinstall Disc. The setup program ran through as expected from the second blue welcome screen in Windows but when the repair program lists the message your computer will reboot in a few seconds, and the machine reboots I see nothing on the monitor yet again. I suppose I can try to reinstall a complete copy of the Os software next? What do you think? or Rather should I put the HDD in another computer and see if I can interface with windows that way to repair settings and confirm a currupt Operating system? Did I possible destroy thr video card? Quote
Thrill Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 I don't think it's an operating system issue, to be honest. It sounds more cable/monitor related. Have you tried changing the VGA/DVI cable that connects the PC to the monitor? This could be faulty. Does the computer POST? (Does it beep?) If it beeps once, then that means the POST has succeeded and all the hardware is good. If it doesn't beep once, then please tell us how it beeps. This is important. I look forward to your reply Quote
Shaunno Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 It cant be the monitor, cables or the graphics card otherwise nothing would appear on screen. I think your best bet is to either put your HDD in another PC and see if that works, or completely wipe your HDD and perform a clean install. GL Quote
Thrill Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 It cant be the monitor, cables or the graphics card otherwise nothing would appear on screen. I think your best bet is to either put your HDD in another PC and see if that works, or completely wipe your HDD and perform a clean install. GL Ah yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about. I should read more times Quote
Henrawr Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 I won't go into how a problematic cable or graphics card could cause problems, whilst still showing something on screen. It seems as though your BIOS display configuration needs to be reset/reconfigured. Quote
stonesmasher Posted February 16, 2011 Author Posted February 16, 2011 Good news. I have reinstalled the operating system successfully. Problem solved. Removed older pair of memory from slot 1 and 3 and moved newer memory from 2 and 4 slot in its place. Then things started coming together. Got rid of old monitor completely and replaced it with a better one from the thrift store. Its working but a little bit lame. The computer is running slick now with a fresh install. Im glad I backed up my documents files before I started playing around with the display. You loose the display and how do you access the machine software, lesson learned. Now I am connecting to the internet with no luck, but my daughter has a nice computer of her own now she can use without screwing up mine, as long as I don't screw it up again. Lol. I will call the Server about whats up with the cable modem Im trying to connect with. Now I got my hands on a wireless router and will get what I need to make a wireless connection to the 4700. What do I need for that? A wireless adaptor that plugs in USB or an installable on board chip of some kind. I can ask Dell but would rather just go pick one up. Then I can get some more memory to upgrade all sticks to one gig and max out at 4 GB. Is that correct? Will that make it faster? And then I will enable hyperthreading and put another monitor to it and upgrade to a one TB HDD. Probably not, but Im learning the possibilities if your not afraid of technology. You guys dont get enough credit because you really helped me out alot and I didnt have to buy anything when I thought I would buy parts to fix it. Thanks alot. Quote
Thrill Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 Stonemasher, it would be easier if you opened up a new topic in the relevant section. Would avoid a lot of confusion It's fine, we're here to help! Don't forget to tell your friends about us! Quote
Shaunno Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 Hi stonemaster glad to hear you fixed the problem mate, regarding wireless I would buy a USB wireless stick. Also with your memory, do you have a 32 bit operating system or 64? Becasue if you install 4GB on 32 bit OS the computer will only see about 3.4 GB, so if you only have a 32 bit operating system just install 3GB mate To find out whether your OS is 32 or 64 it, go to control pannel the double clcik on system and on the first window it should say post back when you know. Quote
Brad Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 If youre using a expansion graphics card then try using your on board graphics card instead or if you have a DVI slot as well as a VGA slot try a different signal, because if you use something different then the computer automatically sets the default settings. Quote
Shaunno Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 If youre using a expansion graphics card then try using your on board graphics card instead or if you have a DVI slot as well as a VGA slot try a different signal, because if you use something different then the computer automatically sets the default settings. He has sorted that part mate Quote
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