Startup screen fuzzy

E

Enfrance

New Member
Sorry about the over techy title but I'm not sure how to describe the problem.

When I turn my computer on the first black screen with information about the American mega something is either split into lines and unreadable or the whole screen is a mass of white and grey. This disappears and the Windows logo appears but it is also fuzzy with strange colours and unreadable text.

After this window goes the normal Windows logon screen appears and I can logon with no problems. If I need to restart my computer later the startup process is fine and these probs do not show. Presumably it has warmed up and feels better (I know the feeling).

I'm using XP.

Is this a dangerous trend and is my computer about to blowup? I checked the voltage this morning - we live in very rural France - and it was 232v but most normally it is around 226v in the mornings. It was suggested that voltage might affect something.

Can anyone help please?
 
I would suspect a bad power supply or video card. Try replacing with a known good power supply. Are you using onboard video or a dedicated card? Could try a new video card as well.
 
Hi John,

I have an ATI Radeon HD3600 thingy which I presume is the video card?

Is there a test I can do to isolate the problem?

Thanks for your quick reply.
 
Yes, that would be the video card. Check device manager under display adapters for exact model number and to see what driver is installed. If the driver date is more than a year old then you should update it. Here is the latest driver for the hd3000 series cards for XP 32bit.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/legacy/Pages/legacy-radeonaiw-xp.aspx

But since the display is fuzzy before windows even starts then it shouldn't be driver related. It's either a bad card or you have an issue with the power supply or possibly motherboard.
 
Cheers, John for that info,

My computer is an Acer and this would be the fourth motherboard if that is the problem! :(

Can I ask you, is this something that means the machine is in danger of suddenly refusing to start? I have all my data etc backed up but perhaps I need to make plans about replacing the machine.

The computer is 5 years old and cost a lot of money. Do you think this can be age related or just normal wear and tear? It is used every day so perhaps it is not unreasonable to expect some problems.
 
Without a proper diagnosis, I can't answer your question. If you know someone that is good with computers have them tell you what the exact issue is. It just takes some proper diagnosing to figure it out.
 
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