PC only starts in safe and diagnostic startup mode

[trailboss004]

My PC was working fine last night, I shut it down for the night and then tried to start it after work today. I start the PC and it does it's thing and when the desktop should come up, all I get is a black screen (thats my background color) and the hour glass in the center of the screen. The keyboard and mouse do nothing. When I push the reset button, I get the startup menu and am able to start it in safe mode. The only other way the computer will start is when I put it in diagnostic startup mode via msconfig. Any ideas what the problem could be? Its running Win98 and I am typing this on it now, but the display is messed up and it wont restart properly in normal startup mode, starting in diagnostic startup mode is the only way I can use it and access the internet.Thanks for any help.

[trailboss004]

Uhh, nevermind. I set it back to normal startup and it started up fine I have shut it down and restarted it a couple times to make sure it doesnt do it again and it hasent. I just kind of fixed itsel I guess...I wish more problems would just fix themselves

[trailboss004]

Aparently the problem didnt go away. It started doing what is described above (black screen/hour glass thing) again. I wasnt able to get it to start in normal startup mode no matter what I tried, so I decided to format the drive. Did that and it was working fine for a while (a day ). I installed all of my necessary drivers and a few programs and it started to do the samething again. I dont think it is any of the programs because the computer was running fine before with everything I have installed now plus some. This problem seemed to start out of the blue. Anyone ever have a problem like this? Where can I start to correct this? Thanks everyone.

Aaron

[andyms18a]

try going to safe moad msconfig and stoping all start up programs then boot and shut down the computer going back in to msconfig and enabling one prog at a time till the problam reappers the last program you enabled my nees updating

[trailboss004]

Tried disabling everything in the startup tab in msconfig and it still does it. I think it may be something in system.ini. It will start fine with Selective startup selected and the process system.ini unchecked. I've tried with just boot, display, and drivers32 checked, but I just get a black screen where I used to get the black screen and the hour glass in the middle. Anyone know what items have to be checked inorder to boot up properly? Thanks again.

[trailboss004]

OK, found the problem. It is in the System.ini tab in msconfig and within the boot file...display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv. How do I go about updating this?

[andyms18a]

have you updated the display drivers latley if so you need to reinstall direct x as the update can cause problams

[trailboss004]

I dunno if I have the most updaed drivers as it took me a while of searching the net to find the proper one. What is the most updated version of direct x? I noticed something else, I'm on a friends PC now and checked her system.ini file. My computer has 4 listings for *DisplayFallback=0, hers only has one. I have also done some searching on the net and found some listings of what your sytem.ini file should look like and on those there was only one listing for *DisplayFallback=0. Thanks for all your help

Aaron

[GaryRouth]

Hi trailboss, Hi andy -

Here are a couple of links about system.ini from the MS Knowledge Base:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1

http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1
_________________

Have you done a complete virus scan yet? (http://housecall.trendmicro.com is very up-to-date, a good way to doublecheck your usual antivius scanner)

Have you scanned for exploits, trojans, spyware? (http://spyware.info has links to such tools as Search & Destroy, and AdAware)

If you get a clean bill of computer health after scanning for pests, try:
1) Boot into Safe Mode
2) From Add/Remove programs, remove any software listed for your video card [such as ATi multimedia centers, etc]
3) From Device Manager, remove any listed Display adapters
4) Try a run of RegClean 4.1(this version was updated for Win98) to clean up your Registry http://download.com.com/3000-2094-88...ml?tag=lst-0-1
5)Reboot
6)Reinstall your video drivers

If you need help finding drivers for your card, post it's make & model & we'll see what's up.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...you could also try a quick over-the-top reinstall http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=70846 . . . but you still might need to reinstall your video drivers]

[trailboss004]

Did a virus scan and came out clean. I tried steps 1-6 and that did not resolve the problem, now I have 2 listings in my system.ini file for display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv. It did the same thing after removing everything and then reinstalling them, black screen with that stinkin hour glass My video card came with the mobo and is a Diamond 8MB S3 Savage4 LT Video Card, I found that by searching with the part number which is 28033520-001. The driver I am using is from here, I am using 8.20.38, the version on the top. I tried 10-15 different drivers that wouldnt work before found that one. Everything worked fine for a while and then this started out of the blue Thanks again for all of your help!

[andyms18a]

try the forth driver down on the list the on with certefied by it

[GaryRouth]

Did you already try the 8.20.31 version of that driver? (It's the certified one). . . you could also check for a version at the motherboard makers website, see what they have, in case they've tweaked it a bit (not all that likely).

I'd double-check your bios settings for the video, since it's onboard. If you have your motherboard manual around, go through it's recommended Bios Settings & check them with what you see in your Bios Setup screens. (If you don't have a manual, you can probably find one with a quick Google search).

Unless there's actually something wrong with the hardware, getting the system files in order with a good driver should do it. One of the articles in the earlier post shows how to make a new system.ini - but it's cumbersome, and you end up having to reinstall quite a bit. If the certified driver doesn't help any, try the over-the-top, just to see. It's usually quick and painless. (the howto link is in my earlier post).
. . . Gary

[p.s. Hi andy --> You're typing faster than I am today ]

[andyms18a]

hi gary
yep but my speling sucks as i am dyslexic dident stop me from becoming a computer enginear thow

[trailboss004]

Tried the certified version of the drivers and tried installing Direct X 9.0. I formated the C: drive and reinstalled windows and installed only the display drivers to be sure there wasnt some kind of conflict between any other programs. Still not working properly The video card isnt onboard, it plugs in via a APG Pro slot (not sure if all video cards plug in there) I bought the PC used and was told that the video card was part of the mobo, however there are no display drivers on the mobo CD. Think it could be a problem with the actual video card? I can get a display in 16 colors with display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv unchecked in system.ini in msconfig.

[GaryRouth]

Something isn't matching up, that's for sure. What motherboard is it? And can you check on the video card for any other markings other than that part #? See if it really is a Diamond. Creative also came out with Savage 4 cards. Probably others, too (other OEMs like Pine, etc) -- Post any sticker labels or chip #s you see if you think it might help.

This is a real puzzler
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...OK, I did a little looking around, & if that's the part #, that's probably the Diamond alright. Using orphaned hardware is no fun. That particular card has been orphaned twice - once when Diamond exited the graphics business (went to S3) then S3 abandoned the older cards (and were acquired by Via) Sheesh. Your card should match this one exactly http://app.infopia.com/Shop/Control/...1418/cat/14221 . . . and the drivers from an S3 site match what you found http://ranger.s3graphics.com/swlib/395drv/ . . . Windows 98 probably can't identify it during hardware detection, since that S4 didn't come out until about March of 2000. - All this doesn't help much, though, unless you want to try downloading the certified driver from the S3 site just to see if perhaps the other download wasn't downloading well. If you use a special program "download manager", try disabling it and downloading the file directly from your browser]

Does the motherboard have onboard graphics, too? (even though you might not be using it). If so, perhaps the setting in the Bios that disables it needs to be set again.

[trailboss004]

Yeah, thats the video card I have in that link you posted. Tried downloading drivers from your other link and that didn't work either. I dont understand why the one driver I downloaded worked fine for a week or so, then started acting up, and then wouldnt work at all I'm thinking I should just invest in a new video card but I'm still open for more suggestions Thanks for your help Gary.

[tyoung]

Start machine in safe mode. Go to device manager, uninstall your display adapter.
Restart, video will reinstall automatically.

[GaryRouth]

Just out of curiousity - take another look at the back of your computer & see if you have two blue VGA monitor connectors, one up by your serial and parallel ports, aligned vertically, and another aligned horizontally (your Diamond in the AGP slot) just above the row of PCI slots. If you do have two, you might just have an onboard chip on your mainboard, that's confusing things. You'd have to disable it in the bios, most likely (sometimes it's more cumbersome than that, though). . . Let us know if you see two blue VGA plugs. [It's a bit of a long shot, but easy to check]

If it turns out the video card has died, the nice thing is that it's replacement shouldn't cost much. Several generations of video chips have come & gone since the Savage 4 came out [they come and go too fast for me to keep track half the time]
. . . Depending on your motherboard, you'll see a nice improvement in the crispness of your graphics responses with any recent card from $50 and up.

The reason I'm thinking the card is probably physically OK, though, is that the problem had the coming and going thing happening for a while. Seems that if the chip was bad, it would just go Kaput and play dead.

Never a dull moment
. . . Gary

[...hmm . . . one more silly thing to try (after doublechecking that an extra VGA from Mars hasn't landed on your motherboard ) What about: 1) as in tyoung's post, boot into Safe Mode. Except instead of removing the display adapter in Device Manager, click on "Update Driver" then choose "show all hardware" then choose "let me select from a list" then choose "Standard Display Types", then choose "Standard VGA", and click Ok to save the change. If you see any other display adapters in Device Manager after making this change, remove them. Then, on reboot, try going back to the driver that was working before this whole crazy business started (look in on it's ReadMe file, if it has one, just before installing it though = see if it needs a Particular Version of Direct X . . . it might be a finicky driver that requires an exact match of a DX version = if so, install that version just before you install the driver] . . . Maybe that will do.

[Markoman01027]

You could have a software problem or a driver problem. You need to take a look at the things that Safe mode does not use compared to normal boot up.

[mike breck]

If it works in Standard VGA mode, then it certainly sounds as though it is a driver problem.

You might also want to download the proper .inf file for your monitor.

How much Ram do you have installed?

Just by way of good practice, take out the AGP card and then reinsert it firmly in the AGP slot. Old cards will can tend to "creep" in slots making faulty connections. I don't think that's your problem, but might as well make sure the foundations are right.

[trailboss004]

The only VGA monitor connector is the Diamond. I looked for a read me file in all of the S3 driver folders I have downloaded. The closest thing I could find was an install file which made no mention of Direct X requirements or any other requirements. I am running 512MB of DDR and the video card is seated firmly, thats one thing I have checked and rechecked. I'm stumped and its making Aaron

Aaron

[trailboss004]

Forgot to mention, one of the drivers I downloaded gives me the BSOD instead of the black screen and the hour glass. Only way to get rid of it is to turn the power off, ctrl+alt+delete doesnt work if I remember correctly. Also, I mentioned before that my background color is black incase the black screen I was getting was my desktop minus the icons. However my background is the default teal now and I do still get a black screen when one of the display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv boxes is checked in system.ini. Dunno if that helps any, probably not, but ya never know.

[GaryRouth]

By Golly, a $65 shipped-to-your-door Ati 9200 w. 64mb DDR memory is starting to sound pretty good. . . (the price with free shipping a NewEgg.com)

Seems like it's got to be either extremely picky drivers, extremely picky hardware, or perhaps something's wrong with the card that simply doesn't show up in Standard VGA, but doesn't function at all in higher color. Try another run of RegClean, then try reinstalling the drivers that worked for the longest amount of time [maybe chanting something with magical powers at the same time ]

I'm crossing my fingers, and my eyes are getting kinda crossed too. . .
. . . Gary

[andyms18a]

just a thort is the monitor refresh rate or screan resalution set to high for your moniter or vid card

[trailboss004]

Well I got things working properly...all it took was a new video card I still dont understand why my origional one would no longer work. Oh well. I got an ECS Xabre 64MB DDR APG video card with the TV out option. I was thinking of giving it a try...anyone have any good or bad experiences they want to share about this card or using the TV out option? Thanks again for all your help guys.