Video problem

[Mick_D]

Hello, I am working on an emachines desktop that has a display problem for a friend. The system specs are:

Intel Celeron 1.8 GHz
384 mg DDR ram
DVD ROM
CD-RW
Windows XP Home

The Motherboard has built in Video (Intel Extreme Graphics AGP) with no additional AGP slot available.

The problem is when XP boots the screen is broken up into 8 columns and is unreadable. Booting into safe mode the screen is fine. Device manager did not indicate any problems with video in safe mode. I did a system restore and reloaded all the drivers with the restore disks that came with the machine to no avail. Same problem when booting into XP so I'm stuck at this point.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[ski]

See if a software or driver conflict is causing the problem by doing a clean boot:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353

[Mick_D]

I was able to get video by starting XP with the "enable VGA" option and followed the instructions for a clean boot and restarted computer. Seems to work fine. I will now go back and add the process ini, restart etc. and etc. and let you know the results.

Thanks for you prompt reply.

[Mick_D]

However the machine has shut down twice after reloading XP and the drivers.

The initial problem I had with the restore and reload of drivers was I could not complete the XP setup because I could'nt see the screen to answer set up questions. It would not let me boot into safe mode because it said the insallation of XP was incomplete. It was not until I went in under the enable VGA mode that I was able to complete the restore (new install). I went through the clean boot process you posted and everything worked fine. The video now displays fine in normal XP mode.

As I said before it has shut down twice since the successful reload. These occurred while I was searching or installing Windows updates. I'm still not confident everything is right. Before shutdown the screen goes blank and then fans turn off. But PC is still under power.

[ski]

Are there any error messages when the system shuts down?

When you say the "PC is still under power" when it shuts down, do you mean the power-on light is still lit up?

[Mick_D]

Yes, the power light is on, PS fan is on and the hard drive light is on. A minute or two after Windows boots the CPU fan shuts down and video shuts down. I have run with the side off and a fan blowing more air, reseated all connections and ram sticks but it shuts down.

I won't get back to work on it until tonight.

[Mick_D]

I spoke with the owner of this PC and found they had this problem before the video graphics went crazy and they had a new CPU fan installed but it did not fix the CPU fan shut off problem. A small detail they did not tell me about. :rolleyes:

Inspecting the motherboard this evening it looks like the series of capacitors right next to the CPU have been leaking. Do the symptoms I've described fit a mobo problem?

Should I move this question to the Core hardware forum? Thanks.

[Paleo Pete]

Bad Capacitors (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25482) can cause all sorts of weird problems, probably including what you describe. I posted the link so you will have some good info and pictures to go by. If the ones on this machine are bulged on top or bottom or are leaking electrolyte, chances are very good that's the cause of the problem and unless you happen to be really good with a soldering iron, it means replacing the motherboard. By "really good" I mean able to match the original soldering job.

[Mick_D]

Thank you for the link. It confirmed without a doubt the capacitors (mobo) has been the root problems on this machine. Now questions on replacing the mobo I'll ask in the proper forum. Thanks everyone for all your help.