Can't complete boot into Windows 2000 Pro- screen goes gray

[rshepherd]

My Sony laptop suddenly won't boot; it seems Ok and then when the screen would normally color up it goes gray to black. I am able to get to safe mode, but can't figure this one out. Could this be failing memory?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Take a look at this thread www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[rshepherd]

I had looked at that thread previously, and have tried to run Microsoft's memory diagnostic. Unfortunately, it loads on a boot disk, and we end up at the gray going to black screen. (Can't see anything to diagnose the problem.) I can still boot into Safe mode, however. If I could find a utility to check memory that could be run from Safe mode I might learn something.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Download and run memtest86+ from www.memtest.org

let it run for at least seven passes.

Regards Howard

 

[RealBlackStuff]

In safe mode, you could try to uninstall the graphics drivers and revert back to standard VGA mode. Then reboot in normal mode. If it now works, your drivers were at fault. Look for an update on the web.

 

[rshepherd]

Thanks, I tried that to no avail; this must be the bug from hell. It appears to be a virus, not a hardware issue. I have run Memtest 86, disk diagnostics, etc., yet no clear answer. Time has run out, and therefore it is time to format the harddrive and move on. Thanks to everyone for offering assistance.