Monitor goes black after Windows 7 loading screen

thatoneguy · 09 Jul 2015

Hello. I am having trouble with my Dell XPS 630i lately. It has served me well all these years and I would like to squeeze a few more months out of it (if possible) while I wait on the second gen 5k iMac refresh this year, (hopefully).

So here is my problem. My monitor goes black after booting up past the windows loading screen, and the fans slow down soon after (power save mode?). The only way I have been able to get past this is to power off and remove a stick of ram so that the computer recognizes a change on the next startup; only then will it move past the loading screen and work flawlessly. But now, that doesn’t seem to work anymore either. So I am back to a black screen after the Windows loading screen.

The monitor is new, and I should mention that my computer does not beep on startup, although I’m not sure what that signifies, or if it is important at all. I am hoping that since my computer is so old, it might need the motherboard lithium battery replaced, but I have not been able to extract it on my own without taking out other components that are in the way.

So, before I dig in and manually destroy my computer trying to take out the lithium battery, I thought I’d ask first, in hopes that there’s some easy fix I am missing.

Any leads or help would be appreciated, thanks.

GokAy · 09 Jul 2015

Edit: Some of these are for black screen after login, you can still try them (if applicable)

To be honest I have no idea why this is happening. You can search for "black screen of death" in forums, there are countless threads about the subject.
Some solutions:
- Boot with Last Known Good Configuration (F8 menu)
- Restore to a prior date (System Restore) - System Restore
- Scan for malware (Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free)
- Try a clean startup Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup
- Check if explorer.exe is running and start from CTRL+ALT+DEL (task manager - new task)
- Verify in registry: HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsot\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon to make sure 'shell = explorer.exe'
- Follow SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker
- Try loading defaults in BIOS

thatoneguy · 10 Jul 2015

Thanks for the response, I was able to get the cmos battery out and replaced, it seems to turn on now each time, but my bios looks strange, windows loads fine but everything is really low res. I have tried loading the default bios setting in the bios and even updated the bios from the dell website, but Im not sure how to fix this, will reinstalling windows 7 from scratch fix this or is this bios thing something entirely different? If so, how can i get it back to the way it was?

Ive read about a hard reset, to clear the bios, but im not sure if thats something i should do before asking. I am currently running some dell diagnostic from the website, not sure what this will tell me, but i guess its worth a shot. I've run it once before taking out the battery, and everything was a pass, so maybe this is a software issue? ...ugh, I need to learn more about this stuff.

Thanks again.

Ohmster · 10 Jul 2015

Low Res? I have a suggestion and advice. I have been fixing PC's for quite a number of years but primarily a home electronics technician. So I know about component failure occurs and what to look for.

First, the bad news. Computers are essentially a large motherboard, CPU, Graphics Chip or Card, Memory, and Hard Drive. Other stuff too, like sound card or chip, keyboard, etc. The electrolytic capacitors on a motherboard go bad, with age and become faulty, and once that happens, the motherboard is bad and so is the whole computer since replacing the motherboard is never worth it for a manufacturer PC like a Dell. My mom's computer died this way and as an electronic tech, I squeezed another year out of it by replacing a few of the capacitors that were visibly bad, a few at a time. The third time, I could not get away with it anymore and that Windows 7 Dell desktop, as nice as it was, was finally down for good. The electrolytic capacitors are the only "solid state" part that is not 100% "solid state" as they contain a corrosive gel that leaks out or dries up. You pull the side of the PC off, get a flashlight, and look at the electrolytic capacitors and you will find the bad ones. They are not totally flat on top, the top is now bulging up, black gook oozes out the bottom and you see the corrosive stain on the circuit board below them. In severe cases the capacitor top will split open. Once this happens, the thing is done. Let me see if I can find a picture to see what it looks like. Okay, these pictures will help. You see the "good capacitors" that are perfectly clean and 100% flat on top? And you see the bad ones that are puffy, bulging, split open, and are visibly leaking.

A whole bunch more you can see here:
Google Image Search Bad Capacitors

If you see any of this stuff, forget it. You cannot fix this and the PC is done. Stick a fork in it. The capacitors will begin to fail at 5 years and up. So if the computer is close to this old or older, get ready to expect it.

Now, the "maybe good news". You said working but low res. That for sure sounds like you blew out your graphic drivers. Right click Computer, Manage, Device Manager. See if everything is in a tight row or if anything is showing a yellow mark on it with tree expanded, under "Display Adapters". That driver is probably bad if you cannot set the resolution higher by right clicking desktop and clicking "Screen Resolution" and get that resolution up high, 1200 or higher. If it "won't go" or "won't stick", download the correct video driver from the Dell site for that computer and reinstall the drivers. All Dell computers have an accelerated graphics chip or card. It could be nVidia, ATI, Intel, or something else. Only the right drivers from the Dell site will work.

That is where your low res video is coming from, not BIOS or anything else. But it could also be bad caps in the video driver circuit or just causing overall failure. They strike everywhere. Voltage regulator circuit, memory circuit, anywhere. You will see the tall or squat cylinder with two wires out the bottom on the board. ALL of them must be perfectly flat and clean on top, NOT bulging or split open. No corrosive black goo on the board where it leaked out the bottom. And they also fail when the internal dielectric gel dries out near warm parts.

I am giving you the electronics technician point of view from experience. Get a flashlight and look for "puffy caps". If you see them, it is "game over". Otherwise, get a working set of video drivers in the PC so that you can scale up the resolution. Good luck!