PC boot up problem

Glebee

Hi guys,

Having a problem with a Dell Inspiron 530 at boot up. I suppose pc is 5 years old at this stage.

Just developed this boot up problem suddenly. Screen is also distorted

It will boot up as normal and then give me option to start normally or start using safe mode. If I start normally it will reboot to this screen again after a while.
I have continued using safe mode and tried a system restore but with no change.

Anybody got any ideas?

MoodeRator

I would always try updating the BIOS myself.

Glebee

Now when I boot up via safe mode im just getting a black screen with a few white pixels and my curser on it. Although the screen saver comes up after a while.
Any ideas?

sundodger5

reseat the graphics card, if it has one.

Glebee

Reseated graphics card. Same problem.

Technoi

Sounds like the video card has given up the ghost. Had a similar issue on my dell M90. Wouldn't start up but got it into safe mode so realised all was ok just the video card went bad.
Could only source refurbished cards for nearly 200 Euro (machine is 06) so I took a chance and removed the video card and baked it. 200 degrees in a preheated oven for 10 mins for mine. Check out youtube for instructions, it re-flows the solder.
My machine is running fine now but eventually it may go again.
So if you can definitely narrow it down to the video/grapics card, take it out and bake it, you've got nothing to lose as you'll have to replace it anyway.

Best of luck!

Glebee

Swapped around with graphics cards so I can defo rule out problem with card. Original card working ok on second pc.

Graphic distortion on both pc monitors has disappeared

Swapped card is still leading me to black screen with cursor in safe mode start up.

Normal start up leads me to same black screen with cursor.

Glebee

Still having no luck getting this working.
Any other suggestions guys

Technoi

Hi Glebee,
If it was bad ram etc the machine probably wouldn't even boot and if its not the video card then maybe its an issue with the bios as suggested above.
The only thing I could suggest is to disconnect all the various drives and ram and add them back in one by one on start up to see if anything improves.
The process of elimination finding the bad part or if that's not helping maybe its the bios after all. My grasp of tech beyond that is tenuous at best so at this point I'm out, hope you find a solution.

Cheers!

PapaSierra

Best way to check is it hardware or software related is to boot your PC from any bootable CD containing either Windows, Linux or just anything that can start in graphic mode.

I recommend use another computer to download and burn Ubuntu.
It's really easy and there are tutorials showing step by step how to burn it on CD or install on pendrive.

Then just start your computer with Ubuntu CD or USB pendrive inserted and go to BIOS settings to change boot order priority so that BIOS will first look for a system on CD or USB.

If Ubuntu will start in graphical mode without any problem that means there is something wrong with your Windows or graphic card driver.

Glebee

Cheers for advice guys,

I have tried reinserting devices one by one to try to see where the problem lies but with no luck. Everything leads me to black screen with white cursor.

I have also tried that Ubantu disk and its the same think, black screen with white cursor.

johnnybmac

Have you tried a windows startup repair? Maybe the master boot record has been corrupted. Depending on your OS there are various things you can try...

The first thing (and simplest) that i would try is to remove the battery and power lead and hold down the power button for 30 seconds to clear residual power from the capacitors, then try switching it on again...

else, google fixing the mbr...

PapaSierra

Are you sure that Ubuntu actually started? Did you check boot device priority in BIOS?

If Ubuntu really started and the result was the same as in Windows then imho it has nothing to do with master boot record nor with your Windows. That would leave us with hardware failure (relatively rare nowadays) as the only possible reason.

Now I would swap a GPU with another one to see if that helps. If you don't have one I would recommend to call in to the nearest computer repair shop and ask them to check it for you. I repair computers myself and I charge people 10 euros for inspection/estimate on it's own as it usually takes only few minutes and if they want to go ahead with the repair then inspection is free. I think that's a fair deal and if you go to any repair shop with 'reasonable prices' that's what you can expect. Just make sure you ask them for a price first to avoid surprise

Glebee

Thanks for all your help guys but nothing I tried seemed to work.

Anyway ive found my old Vista disks and done a fresh install and that has work perfectly. Did not have to work about loosing data as really only use this pc for internet and dowloading with external drive back up.
Again thanks for the help.