Blank screen on boot, fixes it once.

[siggi34]

I was playing a computer game yesterday and it froze up. Music in the background started to sound like a broken record, but kept playing. I rebooted, started playing again, and same thing happened after a few minutes. It freezes again a third time, and when I rebootnow, I don't get the beep, just a blank screen with fans running.

After alot of googling I've tried different things:
Reseating everything, reseting cmos and so on.
If I boot without memory, there is a continuus beep (heard thats a good sign for the motherboard)
I've found that everytime the memory chips ( I have 4) swap places I'm able to boot once.
I can run windows repair, which will reboot and everything still works. Problem is when I boot windows normally, I get through the logo and then a blank screen again. If I force a reboot, the blank screen before boot is back.

I'm guessing it's hardware failure, anyone who can help me recognise which part of my computer is broken?

 

[TVeblen]

Hello siggi34. Welcome to the forum.

Here is the standard diagnostic procedure for this kind of problem:

The Test (power off, power cord unplugged):

• Disconnect everything externally connected except the mouse and keyboard (printers, USB devices, etc). If you are not using a wired mouse and keyboard see if you can borrow one. The wireless device is just another component you have to deal with.
• Disconnect the power and data cables from all the drives inside the computer (Hard drives, DVD/CD drives, etc).
• Remove all the cards installed in the expansion slots (PCI/PCI-e) including the video card. (Be careful handling them and place them on a non conductive surface while testing).
• Remove all the RAM sticks (same rules as above).

Now connect the power cord and turn the PC on.

• The motherboard should start beeping. You should get a beep code that tells you there is no memory. This is good, it means the processor is functioning and the motherboard is good so far.
• Now add one stick of memory in Slot A1 and power on. More beeping: "no video card" beep code. This is good.
• Then add the video card and connect it to the monitor. You should get no beeping and you should see the BIOS start screens, ending with the message that there is no boot device.
• If you get no video then switch the one memory stick installed for another one and test.
• If you do get video then start adding components back, one at a time, until the system fails to boot. The last component you added is then the problem component.

Give that a try and see if it identifies the cause.

 

[siggi34]

The thing is, when I do this everything works fine and I get a blank screen after the windows boot instead. Next time I reboot I'm back to square one.

 

[TVeblen]

I see. So this happens during the Windows startup process.

There are two parts to the Windows Startup:

• A black screen with the coalescing squares: "Starting Windows"
• Then, a blue background: "Welcome".

At which point does the startup fail to black?

 

[siggi34]

When I get pass the initial boot (I get the beep and see bios startup) it happens right after starting windows. I was able to start windows in safemode, so if you know of something to be done there I can try next time I'm able to turn it on.

As for the issue with black screen before bios, it appears to be "fixed" after a cooldown period, and I get the POST beep and a normal startup.
I can't see how these issues are connected as one seems like hardware and one as a fault with windows, but they occured simoltaneously.
Thank you alot for your help so far!

 

[TVeblen]

The first part of the Windows startup is where hardware is initiated and drivers are loaded. So you are right in suspecting hardware.

The first step is to think of any recent changes to hardware or drivers that coincide with the problem behavior.

If you can't think of anything, then the next thing is to start disabling or uninstalling components - one at a time with a test period between each - until you get to the one that causes the problem.