display problem...please help

[ebbs40]

any assistance would be greatly appreciated:

using dell inspiron 8600, computer will run in safe mode and vga mode at minimum resolution. if the display settings are changed, or on normal bootup the screen turns black. tried a few things, including reinstalling video driver and still nothing has changed. any ideas? does this sound like a hardware failure?

thanks a lot,
ebbs

 

[mastronaut]

There could be many reasons for this behavior, what OS are you running?
Go to control panel/system/hardware/device manager/display adapters right click on it and remove, reboot and let Windows (if that's your OS) find it. Hopefully it will show a message (new hardware found). Try that and see what happens...

 

[OpTiMuSpRiMe]

if it is a dell and you haven't deleted the dell diagnostics partition on the hard drive then you should be able to push F12 at the begining of post at the dell logo ( where you would normally press F2 do enter the Bios) then a boot prompt screen will come up and you can chose to boot to the utility partition then run the express test.. keep in mind though this is a 16bit test running on a x86 system so i might not catch all problems but it will catch most.. run that and if you don't see any issues then run the exteneded and see if that catches anything... also if you do not have a windows cd or the dell driver and utilities cd in the cd rom when it goes the test the drive it will error out no big deal though just continue testing. and a nother thing if you have a video card agp or pci then take it out and try the onboard video and see if that works when changing the resolution.. you might have to enable the onboard graphics if you have an agp or pci card cause you would have turned that off when installing the card.

 

[ebbs40]

thanks for the quick replies.

M:
I am running windows xp home edition.
the video driver is a mobility radeon 9000.

i uninstalled it, rebooted, windows did open up, but w/ a warning msg about no ati driver. the hardware wizard also popped up and reloaded the video driver. however, it then still went black if i changed the display settings and also on the following reboot.

O:
I went through both diagnostics tests (express and extended) it didn't appear to find anything wrong (i.e. no error messages other than the incompatible cd you mentioned).


there are a couple other things that i have noticed that seem odd:
1. in the control panel/display/settings window it says "(multiple monitors) on Mobility Radeon 9000"
2. it also says i have 4 monitors all "default monitor" on the monitor tab after hitting advanced in the above window.

thanks again for the replies as the help is very much appreciated.
ebbs

 

[OpTiMuSpRiMe]

well for one you need to uninstall all of the extended monitors in the device manager..( right click my computer>left click manage>then chose the device manager icon from the list on the left) then reboot... IMPORTANT when you get back into windows it will look like crap no worries though.. ALSO do not let the Found new Hardware wizard install a windows default generic driver either that won't help the situation just close that window.. then install the updated graphics driver from Http://www.support.dell.com and possibly a bios revision as well in case it needs it.. you might also want to hook and external monitor up to it to see if the same problem occurs and if it does then you have a bad controller and need a new system board (planar) mobo, however you want me to put it.. let me know if that help.

 

[rockordie]

There could be many reasons for this behavior, what OS are you running?
Go to control panel/system/hardware/device manager/display adapters right click on it and remove, reboot and let Windows (if that's your OS) find it. Hopefully it will show a message (new hardware found). Try that and see what happens...

Hi,first think...I dont know speak english ,but I have a problem with graphic card,I have a game-Black&White 2 and Ihave a good computer,my graphic card is slow I know geForce 4200TI but they ..in shop..sat that it will be O.K and it isnt...I can not configured some custom details like watter or flowers or grass...how can i set it...please help meee

 

[rockordie]

well for one you need to uninstall all of the extended monitors in the device manager..( right click my computer>left click manage>then chose the device manager icon from the list on the left) then reboot... IMPORTANT when you get back into windows it will look like crap no worries though.. ALSO do not let the Found new Hardware wizard install a windows default generic driver either that won't help the situation just close that window.. then install the updated graphics driver from Http://www.support.dell.com and possibly a bios revision as well in case it needs it.. you might also want to hook and external monitor up to it to see if the same problem occurs and if it does then you have a bad controller and need a new system board (planar) mobo, however you want me to put it.. let me know if that help.

hi please I have a gama black&white 2 and I have a good computer but i have a slow graphic card geforce 4200TI 128mb and they -in shop-sad that it willk be O.K but I cant configured settings like watter or flowers WHY????!!!!please help meee :suspiciou

 

[SCHUMIinSA]

Rockordie stop hijacking someone else's topic with your problem. I posted a suggestion in your original topic, go back there.

It's bad manners to hijack someone else's topic even if one is not getting any help.

 

[ebbs40]

solution!!!

thanks for the help guys... i have found the problem and am posting the solution in case someone else gets stumped with the same problem:

dell chat correspondent said he was 100% sure it was a bad lcd screen, which equals approx. $500 fix. i still worked on the problem for another day, got frustrated and sent a message on the dell forum. a guy there said to make sure that the suspend switch isn' stuck. sure enough, the "reed" switch as it is called, was pushed down and slightly crooked. upon popping off the plastic piece where it is located i saw there was a tiny piece of plastic that was broken. apparently, the suspend feature is not active in safe mode and vga mode so my screen worked fine, but in a normal boot, the suspend mode would kick in turning my monitor black. anyway, it would still be $200 min. charge to send it to dell so i just took out the reed switch and now my computer works great.

anyway, thanks for all the help,
ebbs40

 

[Mr Olivier]

I have the same problem

Ebbs what is the reed and where is it located?

I even went as far as re installed windows and now my system will only run in VGA mode but with 1024X768 at 32 bit so it says? My RADEON 9000 is disabled? When I re-install the ATI adaptor the screen is back to blank...


thanks!

 

[Bdono]

Im getting the same problem with a Mitsubishi 62" DLP television and i dont see a "reed" switch for the TV. Anybody have suggestions?