Acer 5810TZG been running ok for last 3 years. Today what happens is:- Press Power switch; Word "Acer" shows; Shows "Starting Windows"; Shows "Please Wait"; I then log on. It says "Welcome"; Screen goes to Black; After 5 seconds a tone is heard (I guess that is the normal tone to indicate that the desktop is now populated). However; the screen remains black. I have tried several restarts but no change. Any ideas please?
Hi saint,
1. Have you tried plugging in an External monitor to your laptops VGA port?
2. Does the computer start inSafe-mode with no black screen?
1) Switch on the Laptop.
2) Continuously press the F8 key until you get into advanced boot up options screen
3) Choose safe mode from the options.
4) If successful, once booted into desktop, Click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools> System restore
5) Click restore my computer to an earlier time
6) Choose a bold highlighted date that was time before this issue occurred
7) Click next and allow the restore to complete.
3. A PSU is a Power Supply Unit btw
4. Did the installed RAM (3GB) come with the machine or have you
added/removed any modules.
cheers
Dave
Good Afternoon Northernsoul55
Thanks for replying.
No, I have not used the VGA for some months.
Yes I tried safe mode it was okay. I choose words similar to "Go to last known good settings", As soon as I entered that the screen went black and did not change from that. When the screen does go black (from any situation) I usually have to give a brief press on the power button to effect a turn off. However; sometimes, the only way to turn it off is to hold turn the power key for several seconds. Then another press to get a start again. I did try a system restore to a couple of days ago. That seems to have been accomplished and then a restart went correctly. However; it was then bedtime so I turned it off the night. Before turning off it installed a new update - probably one that had been "killed" by the restore (there was a Windows one the previous day).
So, in case that update is causing the problem I can consider stopping updates going in automatically, and then do another system restore to that same date as before. I googled my problem and found what seems good advice - hold down Ctrl and Alt and press Del. This is supposed to get the task manager, where corrective action can be taken. Sadly, although that method of accessing the task manager is ok for me if I already have something on display; nothing happens if I already have a black screen.
I have not installed any more Ram since purchase.
Good Afternoon B4YouGo
Thanks for that. However; as you indicated; if you cannot see anything (including a cursor) it is probably impossible to achieve
I suggest trying an external monitor first, to test the screen issue.
Then attempt a system restore again.
Cheers
Dave
Boot into safe mode. The way you got there was by holding down f8 before windows starts to load. Then choose just safe mode. Then follow these directions and let us know if you can boot normally after restarting.
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup
Thank you Dave & Andrew,
What I did this evening was to do another system restore (via F8). At the first attempt it did not work and I got an error message 0x8000ffff. I googled that on another PC. Windows has a hotfix for it but it looks too daunting for me. So I tried for the System Restore again. This time it worked. In case the problem was caused by the latest Windows update; I have instructed that updates are not to installed without me giving permission. Then, if all is still well in a couple of days; I will allow them to install again.
Good news, I would
cheers
Dave
Good Morning Dave,
Your suggestion is excellent. However; events since I last wrote have changed things.
Before I went to bed I intended to leave the laptop running a routine full scan using my program "Tune up Utilities 2013" (it takes an hour or so) The initial part is that a "restart" is needed. When it tried to do that, the infamous black screen appeared. So the scan never happened and the fault had not been fully fixed.
Now the good news. It is that, before I first installed the new Windows update on 7th August, I had installed a Buffalo Air Navigator 9 (Wifi amp). After the installation I had installed that Windows update. What seems to have happened is that the install of the Buffalo corrupted graphics driver "ATI Mobility Radeon 4300". Windows noticed that, and their update was a new 4300 driver. However; the Buffalo was at that stage still installed so still causing a problem. The system restore I did yesterday evening did hopefully remove the Buffalo - as well as the Windows update. Today, I allowed the Windows update and after the install all appears well. By the way; I don't want to imply that the Buffalo is a bad bit of hardware. I used it with great success on my old XP laptop. It is probably not compatible with W7
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