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I was just working on my PC and it suddenly flicked onto the old Blue Screen of Death, in its full 'beginning dump of physical memory' glory. It tried to restart, but there were virtical lines down the screen at both the Compaq welcome screen and the windows startup screen. Then the screen just goes black and it doesn't go any further.
It is a Compaq PC about a year old, running Windows Vista Premium with SP1 (or whatever the one released a couple of months back was). I have installed a few program updates lately, but none no brand new programs and nothing that I would consider 'dodgy'. I have never had any serious problems with the PC in the past.
I let the Windows auto-fix run and it tried to do a rollback, which didn't work. It then said it couldn't fix the problem. I then went into the startup menu and did a manual rollback to an update about 5 days back, which completeled successfully, but still didn't solve the problem. I also took of the case and removed any dust with an airgun and reseated the memory sticks, but still no joy. I guess the problem could be hardware given the failure fof the rollback, so I posted it here, but I'm not discounting a software problem.
Anybody have any things I could try, or at least an idea of what the problem might be? I have a backup of my files a few weeks old, but would like to avoid a complete rebuild if I can.
Thanks in advance.
Are the lines present in the start up screens before Vista starts?
If not, then it is either a graphics driver or graphic chip.
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Yes. They are present on both the Compaq screen (the one where you pres Fx for the boot menu) and the following screen with the green scrolly bar. Vista never actually starts.
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Does the computer run OK other than the presence of the lines?
Is the computer still under warranty?
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No. After it gets to the Vista startup screen where you get the green scrolly bar, it just goes to a black screen and hangs.
Computer is not still under warranty, it's about 16 months old.
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Have you tried booting into safe mode or last good configuration? If you can get into safe mode copy your personal files and then try to perform a system restore.
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Don't seem to have a Safe mode or LNG option. It's not in the boot menu and I can't find it in the BIOS. Interestingly though, the virtical lines are still present in the BIOS.
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Do you have a different monitor to try? Or you can try that monitor somewhere else? That will eliminate the monitor/cable as the cause.
Try tapping F8 at start up for safe mode.
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If it's not the monitor, it's most likely the graphics adapter. If it's a card, try reseating it.
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Definitely not the monitor as that wouldn't cause it to Bluescreen. Tried removing the wireless network card and that didn't work. Neither did reseating the graphics card.
Is the graphics card the best guess for a problem?
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If its got lines during bootup and in the BIOS Safe mode isnt gonna do much. This is most likely a Graphics card problem or possibly a RAM problem. Use another computer to make a memtest x86 boot CD and let the test run for 4hrs or more. If it dosent find an error in the first 4hrs I doubt its RAM causing the problem. If you have a spare graphics card to test with try that or borrow a card from another computer.
Mattwizz3
Super PIII
1.49GHz 141FSB
768MB PC133
2x 80GB HDDs
AGP 4x X1650Pro
XP Pro SP3
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I do have a spare graphics card, but annoyingly it is an AGP card and the PC has no AGP slot, only PCI and PCI Express and there is no onboard graphics on the motherboard. I don't think it's a RAM problem as I have two sticks and I have tried each one on its own.
Guess I might have to buy another graphics card :(
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You've narrowed it down then, definitely sounds like a graphics card. What sort of card is in there at the moment?
Mattwizz3
Super PIII
1.49GHz 141FSB
768MB PC133
2x 80GB HDDs
AGP 4x X1650Pro
XP Pro SP3
0
Some good news at this end.
It was bugging me why the motherboard didn't have any onboard graphics so I got a torch out and started explring the case a little more. Turns out there is an onboard graphics card, but it is in a corner and hidden behind a sealed panel on the case. I did a bit of 'DIY' on the case and plugged into the onboard graphics card, and the PC worked again.
So now not only do I know what the problem is, but I have a temporary solution. Thanks for all your help guys.
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hahah, fantastic. I actually had a system a while ago from HP that had USB slots hidden behind a blank spot on the back I/O panel, no idea why they did it. Thats very odd to have hidden onboard graphics though. Good to hear its sorted
Mattwizz3
Super PIII
1.49GHz 141FSB
768MB PC133
2x 80GB HDDs
AGP 4x X1650Pro
XP Pro SP3
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 no beep sound on boot
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pc is saving to d: disk n...
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