Calling all tech support

Sha8doW's picture

Howdy gang, im looking for some advice, ideas, experiance and am thanking in advance!

am at my inlaws at the moment (Their PC) and have brought my laptop like always, not connected to the net like always, i play some of the very few single player games which i have on my machine.

im playing Age of Empires 3, everything is hunky dory when, blue screen of death. trying to remember the error in the WTF haze im sure it was somthing like.
critical hardware error, partial memory, system shutting down. then the computer restarted.
OMG.. worst thing that can happen on a laptop… lines accross the screen that wont go away appeared!
then as normal windows loads, but when its supposed to go into the regular windows screen, the screen turns black and NOTHING… not even the OMG lines anymore (i know windows has loaded cause i hear all the nomal sounds like skype, macafee, trillian and other programs starting etc. I just cant see anything)

i plugged my laptop into the monitor here at my inlaws and restarted the system, same thing happens, but the monitor comes up with “no signal, switching off”

so i tried safe mode… watched the OMG lines again… then when i selected safe mode BAM, all is good, no lines working normally, no problems at all.
ok, try normal mode…
Arrrrgh same black screen.

so in safe mode i then tried a system restore – no change
right now i’ll go and try to see if its a driver problem.
at the moment i think its hardware and unless i can get it close to working monday moring its going back to manufacture…. (they can enjoy my pajorno… lol)

any advice?

Comments

n0mad's picture

Linux to the rescue

Have you got a live linux cd lying around, um I’ve got about 30 :)
Boot off the CDrom and if all goes well yall have a system to work with.
And as always my advise is Mandriva 2008.1 supports all laptops……

This will confirm if it’s Hardware or a Software issue as Safemode will not
run in full res and if it is Hardware it won’t show up the problem.

n0mad
M08.1

Hashy's picture

I didn’t do it!

I didn’t do it!

Fuzz's picture

Windows CD

I feel your pain, had a BSOD the other day on a work computer. I spent a while doing this

………………..,-~*’`¯lllllll`*~,
…………..,-~*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll¯`*-,
………,-~*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*-,
……,-*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.
….;*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll,-~*~-,llllllllllllllllllll
…..lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/………;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,
…...lllllllllllllllllllll,-*………..`~-~-,…(.(¯`*,`,
…….llllllllllll,-~*…………………)_-..*`*;..)
……..,-*`¯,*`)…………,-~*`~.………….../
……...|/.../…/~,…...-~*,-~*`;……………./.
……../.../…/…/..,-,..*~,.`*~*…………….*...
…….|.../…/…/.*`......……………………)….)¯`~,
…….|./…/…./…….)……,.)`*~-,……….../….|..)…`~-,
……/./.../…,*`-,…..`-,…*`….,---…...…./…../..|……...¯```*~-
…...(……….)`*~-,….`*`.,-~*.,-*……|…/.…/…/…………
…….*-,…….`*-,...`~,..``.,,,-*……….|.,*...,*…|…...
……….*,………`-,…)-,…………..,-*`...,-*….(`-,…

Ideas though - if no live cd, could try the Windows CD - I've had great success with their repair mode before. Might be worth trying to boot into safe mode before resorting to that though.

Robag's picture

RE:Calling all tech support

What brand of laptop is it shad

ltmon's picture

That sounds like....

Video card borkage :(

A live CD (you can get them for windows as well http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/, but a linux one is just as good for our purposes) will let you know pretty quickly if the hardware is completely lost, or if you just need a reinstall.

At very least, you can probably back up to a usb hdd if you use a live cd.

L.

Robag's picture

Ultimate Boot CD

this one has always been good to use

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Sha8doW's picture

DELL

yes, its a dell, but so far ive loved it and its unstoppable! till now
when i return to ACT i’ll try the windows CD dealie and try that idea. Im not convinced its that simple tho cause windows is working behind the black screen.
i think its hardware… ie the lines on the screen like the screens broken… but then they go when im in BIOS or safemode
so then i think its drivers… but they havent updated in months and ive even rolled them back!

chipper's picture

What i find works...

If in doubt use a bigger hammer. I’m thinking you will need at least a 5kg sledge for this job. I can link you if you want?

HarassmentPanda's picture

External Moitor

you haven’t by chance plugged one in recently have you?

If not try it and see if its ok on the monitor.

Sha8doW's picture

Woot for Dell

1 day after notification they swapped my graphics card.

Great service

HarassmentPanda's picture

That is the best I have heard of

Support, best support

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