Windows won't load and the screen goes black

[tonysolomon]

When I turned the computer on I saw the ME start up screen, but then the screen went black. I tried rebooting a few times, but I kept getting the same thing. I could boot into safe mode, but not normal mode. One time I just waited and the black screen went away and Windows loaded properly. I tried my backup 30GB drive and it worked. It had a few problems of it's own, so I reinstalled Windows ME on it and used the 120GB drive to hold data. I deleted all of the Windows and program files from the 120GB drive backed it up and thought I was good to go.

I'm not sure why the screen turns black, but it's done it on both the 30GB and the 120GB drive. When it happens I have to reboot into safe mode and run scandisk. Then when I reboot it works. I will also say that safe mode even shows the black screen for a few extra seconds before loading Windows. Thank you for any help.

[Budfred]

First thing I would look at is the video drivers. Check in Device Manager from Safe Mode and see if there are any problems, like duplicate drivers...

[gwallen4]

Also, please tell us your system specs - motherboard, CPU, RAM type and size, video card.

Did this happen on a computer that was working well before? Did you recently make any hardware or software changes (before the problem first started)?

[tonysolomon]

I think I just remembered something. I'm almost positive that this problem started when I had my cable modem unplugged and I foolishly plugged it back in when the pc was booting up.

[gwallen4]

Hmmm. It doesn't seem likely to me that plugging your cable modem in has anything to do with this problem. Tell us the details of what you did, but also send us the specs of your computer.

[tonysolomon]

I just added my specs to my signature.

I had the power cable, ethernet cable and the co-axial cable unplugged, from the cable modem, and I was plugging them back in, while the PC was booting up.

[tonysolomon]

This morning I turned the PC on and I got the screen that says that Windows didn't finish loading. I chose safe mode. I get this screen on almost all startups, since this problem started.

When safe mode was loading the Windows help center froze up. I hit the restart button, but got no beep and nothing but a black screen and the noise of the fans. I held the power button in to turn the PC off. After the power was off I waited a few seconds and turned the PC back on.

I just woke up so I'm not sure if I'm puttin all of this in the right order. I mean I'm not sure which boot up gave which error. I just wanted to type it in as soon as possible.

When the PC got power it took an extra long time to hear the beep and I heard one beep that sounded longer than usual. I saw the menu screen to choose safe or normal mode . I chose normal mode and and didn't let scandisk finish. Windows loaded normally. That's when I came to the forum.

I don't know if my PC battery has anything to do with any of the problems, but I keep readjusting my PC clock. I'm sure it's low. It's about 3 years old.

Does anybody have a suggestion?

[mjc]

Yes, I would change the battery, it may not be the source of the problem, but it can't be helping.

[ski]

Connecting/disconnecting the power cable and/or the coaxial cable to the cable modem during startup should not affect anything.
However, connecting/disconnecting the ethernet cable during startup can cause damage to the NIC(or in your case to the MB since the NIC is onboard).
And since there is an inconsistent pattern to Windows successfully loading in normal mode, then it's likely to be a hardware problem.

Go into BIOS, and see if the NIC can be disabled there. If it can, then make sure to save the change before exiting BIOS.
If it cannot be disabled in BIOS, then start in Safe mode, open Device Manager, click on the + next to 'Network Adapters', double click your NIC, uncheck the box for "Enable in all hardware profiles', check the box for 'Disable in this hardware profile', click OK, and restart the computer.
If the above fixes things, then install a PCI NIC card.
If it does not fix things, then your MB may be damaged.

[gwallen4]

I've never had a problem hotplugging a network cable, but maybe I have just been lucky. However, some component in your computer has gone bad.

Disabling the LAN card in bios is a start, to see if that is the bad component.

Next, I would start by disconnecting the power and data cables for all of your drives - floppy, CD-Rom, and any hard drive except your boot drive. Also remove any PCI cards (you probably don't have any). Then see if your computer will boot properly. This minimal boot will narrow the search for a defective component.

If it still doesn't boot correctly, disconnect your HD, connect the floppy drive and try to boot with a Windows StartUp disk.

If still no luck. you have narrowed the search to MB, memory, power supply, and CPU.

[tonysolomon]

I went into BIOS and disabled the onboard LAN. I hit F10 to save and exit. Windows loaded just fine. I rebooted two more times and each time Windows loaded correctly. I shut down the PC and waited about 30 seconds before I turned the PC back on. Windows loaded correctly along with all of my programs.

I'm pretty sure that the LAN was the problem and it was caused by connecting the cable modem during startup.

I went back into BIOS and enabled the onboard LAN. I hit F10 to save and exit. Windows loaded just fine. It seemed like everything was back to normal, so just to be sure I shut down the PC and waited about 30 seconds before I turned the PC back on. Windows loaded correctly along with all of my programs.

I don't know how long it will last, but it sure would be nice if that fixed the problem. I guess it would be like switching a circuit breaker off and on.

I also installed a new battery.

[gwallen4]

Good work. Sounds like you are back in business.

[tonysolomon]

Thank you all for the advice. I can always count on this forum to help me out. Have a good day. :)

[ski]

You are welcome, tonysolomon.
And thanks for posting back with the solution(s).

[tonysolomon]

I'm sad to say that that didn't fix the problem. I'm wondering, if I disable the onboard LAN and install a new NIC will that fix the problem.

Sometimes, when I turn the PC on it stalls at the page that says searching for boot record. Then it loads windows. Other times it goes to the black screen. When that happens I reboot into safe mode and run scandisk and reboot into normal mode. That doesn't always work. In that case, I have to disable the onboard LAN, run safe mode, run scandisk, enable the onboard LAN, and then reboot into normal mode.

[gwallen4]

Yes. Disable the onboard LAN and get a new card.

[tonysolomon]

Thanks. I just needed a second opinion. Do you have any ideas what might be happening?

[gwallen4]

I'm not sure what goes wrong, but I have seen similar problems twice with LAN cards and 2-3 times with Cd-Rom/CD-RW's. It may have to do with an errant IRQ once the card is initialized.

Anyway, you should be able to find a LAN card for $10.

[tonysolomon]

I tried a suggestion from another board. If this doesn't fix it I'll get a new NIC.

I disabled the onboard LAN, booted into safe mode, went to the device manager, removed the SIS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter and let the computer restart. I then rebooted, enabled the LAN, and let windows find the new hardware. It asked me for one file, which I had on the motherboard CD. I let Windows restart and then I got onto the Internet.

I hope that this works. Ever since the problem started, I have noticed that when the PC boots up and says that it's looking for the boot record in IDE-0 that it takes about 7 seconds. It used to take about 2 or 3 seconds. This is only if I don't get that black screen. I hope that I don't see that black screen again.

However, if that's the only problem that shows up, from this point, I will be happy.

Thanks for the help.

[tonysolomon]

I just realized that when the screen goes blank, sometimes if I wait it will load Windows correctly. It wouldn't load normal mode, so I tried rebooting a few times. Then I booted to the Win ME boot floppy and ran scandisk. It was saying the size of the drive was being incorrectly reported. It fixed it. It also said that drive D: had lost clusters. It fixed those. Then I rebooted and it loaded just fine. I'm going to buy the NIC, just in case, because I'm going to be networking this PC and I want it to go smoothly.

[tonysolomon]

I figured it out. I disabled the onboard LAN and was about to install a new NIC, but then I saw an NAV error, so I wondered what would happen if I re-installed NIS. I did and now everything works great! :D

I'm going to use the NIC for the other PC and network them when I get the router and cat 5, next week. Thanks for the help, everyone.