Black Screen Before Windows Loads

[metallimoose]

Hello folks, I'm back with another whiny issue.

It's a pretty straightforward problem: the PC will boot just fine, POST beeps and everything, and then it'll come to the screen where it asks if you'd prefer to log into Windows normally, using the Last Known Good Configuration, or in Safe Mode. Choosing either of the first two results in a frozen black screen. Choosing Safe Mode results in a list of white text lines that scroll until the PC freezes. This all happens without fail.

The motherboard is a WinFast 760GXK8MC (less than a month old), and the video card is an Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra (brand spankin' new).

 

[PC eye]

It sounds like a bad install of Windows there. Or you may have goofed Windows up when installing software or been hit with a bug? Make sure the bios settings are for AGP not pci as well as enabling OS2 support. The single beep at post time rules out any hardware problem while not necessarily alerting you to have the bios settings at default on the Socket 754 model there. For a look at the Foxconn specifications on that model go to http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/motherboards_d/Foxconn%20(WinFast)/760GXK8MC-RS+%2528760GXK8MC-S%2529/

 

[metallimoose]

Thanks! Re-installing Windows was definitely helpful, as now we can get in with Safe Mode. Unfortunately, that's all we can do. Choosing anything other than Safe Mode results in the same old black screen problem.

Weird.

 

[PC eye]

I hope you are not seeing a board or another hardware problem afterall. A flaky bios can cause problems. Recently when that happened on a Socket A board here the hard drive at first suddenly wasn't even seen. Upon a total wipe and reinstall of Windows the desktop would freeze right up when reaching it. Memtest saw 573 errors on defect free memory? When lowering the memory timings down a notch the system suddenly ran normal at the slower speed. Time for a build! (I just finished modding a new case here to find some ISP problems have come up.) If you had another build around you could try the video card, memory, and even supply there to rule those out.