Holy Moley! Do I Need Help!!

[macv68]

Greetings all...

I have a very difficult situation to rectify and I just do not know how to start. Hope someone can help me.

I have recently purchased a Sylvania 32" LCD HDTV and I hooked it up to my PC via my DVI output into my HDMI 1 input on the TV. The TV did not come with any drivers for a PC, but I could get the PC display to show up, by starting the PC with my smaller PC monitor, getting the video display up and then unplugging the smaller monitor from the PC and plugging in the DVI to HDMI cable input on the big TV. The graphics worked then.

Now then, today I did a disk defrag. I ran defrag under normal boot mode and it defragged, but disk looked like it remained a little more scattered than normal. I then put the PC into safe boot to defrag it again thinking I could maybe clean up the last few scattered items. After putting the PC into safe boot mode & re-starting, NEITHER of my monitors would display. Even with the small PC monitor reconnected, and the TV disconnected, and after several restarts, the small monitor says NO SIGNAL although it is connected.

Okay, so we know I likely corrupted my driver for the monitor, but how do I update, or fix this machine when I can't see any display?!

Is there a boot disk for a monitor? I tried booting with the PC recovery CD, and it still says NO SIGNAL.

Any help would greatly be appreciated! :rolleyes: I feel just like the IDIOT that I am for trying to reboot in safe mode.

Thanks in advance.

PRA

[Whyzman]

Welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums!

Worst case scenario is that "hot swapping" the monitors took your video card out... If something shorted during the process...a pin touching where it should not have...ouch! :(

If you've a floppy drive , you might want to try your harddrive diagnostics...these are self booting and should be able to access your video card if still available.

[macv68]

Unfortunately I do not have a floppy disk drive.

Anyone know how to return your PC to normal boot mode manually? (Can't see any screen to do it via msconfig panel). Is there a keystroke during boot that might rest things to a prior working state?

Thanks!

[macv68]

OKay, somehow I was able to get the TV to get a signal via the HDMI outlet on the PC. While booting I hit F11 which gets me to the Windows XP Load screen, (the one with the four colored square logo, and when the Logo goes off like it is going to start my desktop, nothing happens. Eventually, the TV screen shows the input HDMI 1 in the upper right hand corner as if the signal was again lost.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I think it is still in Safe mode, but I can't get to the desktop to change it back to load all drivers.

$500 reward for return of working computer! (JK - I just wanted to see if anyone was listening)

Thanks much

[Sylvander]

1. You could load a distro of Linux from a "live" optical disk...
That [if it works just fine] would prove there to be nothing wrong with your hardware [HDD excluded because not being used to load an OS].

2. The FREE bootable Emergency Boot CD = EBCD (http://ebcd.pcministry.com/) [use the PRO version] includes the Drive Fitness Test Utility that can scan your HDD to see if all's well there.
Bootable Utility CD's (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1813)

3. Defragmenting without first scanning the file system [NTFS?] may have caused the loss of some files [video drivers?] or configuration settings.
I'm inclined to think it's a Windows software problem.

4. Do you have any image backups you can restore?

5. Can you get to a Windows restore point?

6. Last resort [almost] is to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm).
Remember to Slipstream Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp).