New build video loss

[mofo]

I have an old ShuttlePC box on which I have just installed a clean copy of XP Pro. Everything went smoothly during the install, but on what seemed to be the last re-boot, the video is now gone. I can power on the PC and see the windows boot logo, but after that the monitor goes to power saving mode and blacks out. I tried it with a different monitor with same results.
The video card is a Matrox P75 DVI dual-head, and I don't have any other to test with me at the moment, but it was working fine the last time I used it in another build. The mobo has onboard VGA but I don't have a cable with me to test it.
Seems to me that it's a windows issue, since I can see the display just fine until windows starts up. What else can I try?

[glc]

Have you tried starting in safe mode or VGA mode?

[mofo]

I managed to boot in safe mode, then i went to the device manager and the driver for the matrox 750 card is installed and does not have any issues it seems. What should I try from here? re-install it anyways?

[Khalil]

If it is booting in safe mode I would say for some reason your video card drivers are not initializing with regular mode.
Do you by any chance have any Linux distros on CD you can try booting from to see if the drivers will load that way?

[flanzig1]

It sounds like a video card problem. I have had video cards that would display the BIOS screen and the Windows loading screen but at final boot the screen went blank. The card just couldn't run higher resolutions than the basic 640x480.

[Eggo]

Boot in safe mode and set the video resolution to low and reboot. After that you can set the resolution to normal.

I've seen that many times in my builds.

[mofo]

I have used this PC before with the exact same setup, I know it should work. But I had to re-install XP so it must be the driver acting funny.

[mofo]

ok I was about to try Eggo's suggestion, but now have this message when I push the power button "BIOS ROM checksum error" and "floppy drive A error system halt" and now i can't even get into the bios to do anything, or boot in safe mode anymore.

Could it be the cmos battery is dead on my mobo? I know it has been sitting there for some time.

[glc]

It sure could be.

However, there should be something on the bottom of the screen that tells you to press something to continue or something to enter Setup.

When you get that solved, start it in VGA mode, not safe mode. This will help you in troubleshooting - in VGA mode all Windows drivers are loaded except for the video driver.

[mofo]

ok this problem is anything but standard.

I have removed the cmos battery, cleaned it and re-inserted as I did not have a spare with me. BTW glc there was nothing I could do, press a key or whatever was not an option.

Now computer is booting again but gives me a "floppy disk fail" error but with the option of pressing F1 to continue. After I press F1, windows tries to load up but all I get is a black screen with a blinking cursor.

If I make it boot from CD first, then the cursor is replaced by a bunch of data that looks like IRQ pin assignement for ressources, but doesn't go past that point.

I'm thinking something went bad and I should get a new cmos battery then re-install XP from scratch?

[glc]

You have a hardware issue - possibly bad ram or a failing hard drive. If it will boot from CD, you may be able to run diagnostics.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by glc You have a hardware issue - possibly bad ram or a failing hard drive. If it will boot from CD, you may be able to run diagnostics.

Totally agree, this is either the hard drive or the IDE controller kicking the bucket.

What brand hard drive is in it?

[mofo]

It's a Maxtor. Unable to run in safe mode anymore, think it's time for a new SSD.

[glc]

SeaTools will test a Maxtor. Memtest86+ will test the ram.

SSD? Not in something that old - even if it has a SATA controller it won't do much for you.

[mofo]

lol yeah I was trying to find that info online, it has sata but I don't think ssd's are supported. Too bad 'cause it would really help with airflow, having a smaller drive and especially getting rid of that ribbon cable, it's a hell of a tight fit in there!

I will try those tools for checking my old HD and RAM, thanks for the heads-up.

[glc]

If it has SATA, you could use a 2.5" laptop hard drive.

[mofo]

I'll definitely look for one. thanks again!

[mofo]

Just a quick update for thos who are curious...

After checking my hardware using glc's reccomended softwares, I could not find any issues with the hardware. But after running those tests I was able to boot in VGA mode, and when I tried to change the resolution the monitor went into power saving mode again. So I restarted in VGA mode again and then managed to update the video card driver while in there.

Now I can change the resolution no problem, and the monitor stays on all the time.

Thanks to everyone for the pointers.