[Jonesey]

Hi all.

Recently, when I boot my pc, I can hear it booting up normally but I end up at a blank screen

Switching the monitor on/off a few times and I get to my logon screen.

Sometimes I need to switch it on/off in excess of 20 times before it receives the signal from the pc

I've also swapped the monitor over for another one which is known to work but I get the same problem

I have checked the cables and made sure the graphics card is seated properly.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

All components are less than a year old and probably under warranty (except the monitor)


Thanks in advance,

Jonesey

[Kemasa]

Have you tried different cables? The cable can fail. It could also be a problem with the video card.

Others might also have suggestions.

[phillpower2]

Hi Jonesey
Try a known good power supply if you can, if not get the present PSU tested by a Tech who has the appropriate testing equipment and knowledge.
Meanwhile provide us with the present PSU details, brand and model name or number please.

[Jonesey]

ANTEC TP - 750

I have a couple of cables I can use as substitutes. I'll try that next

Thanks.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the PSU details, a good brand and more than adequate output, they can however still fail, how old is the PSU?
This may also be a Ram issue.

[Jonesey]

Hi phillpower

The entire system was built by me, all components brand new last September, so everything is less than 6 months old.

Now, let me give you an update.

I've swapped the video cable over for one which is known to work and I still get the same problem, which kind of points to the graphics card.

However, last night, when trying to boot the system, I had a post error indicating that no keyboard was present.

The keyboard & mouse were bought the same time as the rest of it. It's a Logitech wireless model, so the first thing I did was to install new batteries in both KB & mouse and rebooted. Same thing, keyboard not present. I hooked up an old wired keyboard/mouse and this worked straight away.

The wireless keyboard works perfectly in my other computer.

So..... apart from the obvious "what the [bleep] is going on here", is this pointing towards a motherboard problem?

I did try several different USB ports for the Logitech, but it steadfastly refused to recognise that a keyboard was in fact plugged in.

All USB ports work as expected when inserting memory sticks etc.


Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on what is becoming an extremely frustrating problem.



Oh yes, the core system, (Motherboard, RAM & CPU) were bought as a bundle, built & tested to eliminate compatibility problems.

Jonesey.

[Jonesey]

One further observation.

When switching the omintor on/off, the screen flickers a couple of times, and behind the flicker I can "see" the Windows logon screen but 9 times out of 10 the screen sort of says, "nope, I'm not going to display that" and flips back to black.

On the 1 time in 10 that it displays properly, I can log in and continue working for as long as the machine is switched on.

I have eliminated the monitor, cable, loose connections.

I have tried to mount the graphics card into a different PCI-E slot but the proximity of motherboard components prevents me from doing this.


Jonesey

[Kemasa]

Have you checked to see what the video settings are? Try dropping the resolution and freq. and see if that makes it work more often. It might be that freq. output is a bit off and so the monitor is not seeing it as a valid signal. This tends to point towards the video board.

Have you tried attaching the USB keyboard after it has booted and see if it notices it?

[phillpower2]

Hi Jonesey
To avoid confusion I will wait until you have replied to the previous post #8 and the suggestions offered by Kemasa before I suggest anything further.

[Jonesey]

Good morning all.

A quick update: last night when I switched the pc off, I decided to leave the monitor in standby mode just to see what happens.

This morning when booting up, the screen was active for a while, it went past the BIOS and the Windows splash screen, but as soon as I got to the User Logon screen it switched to black.

A few on/off toggles of the monitor power switch brought the Logon screen back.

1 - The wireless keyboard & mouse work when inserting after booting is complete
2 - I'm currently running a screen resolution of 1680 x 1050 which is the recommended setting by Acer
3 - Being left handed, the first thing I ever have to do is to switch mouse buttons around which is exactly what I did when I started using my old wired mouse. However, on first boot this morning, it had reverted to the default so I had to change them again.

Just a total stab in the dark here, but could all (or some) of these issues point to a CMOS battery failing?

At this moment in time, nothing wolud give be greater pleasure (short of a huge lottery win) than determining this as the root cause.

Cheers in advance!

Jonesey

[phillpower2]

Quote

This morning when booting up, the screen was active for a while, it went past the BIOS and the Windows splash screen, but as soon as I got to the User Logon screen it switched to black.

I would say that this is a coincidence and that the video signal from the PC to the screen is the issue.

Quote

1 - The wireless keyboard & mouse work when inserting after booting is complete

Go into your BIOS settings and see if the USB ports are enabled on start up.

Quote

Just a total stab in the dark here, but could all (or some) of these issues point to a CMOS battery failing?

Is the RTC (real time clock) on your taskbar showing the correct time and date?

[Jonesey]

Yes, time & date are showing correctly.

I'll check the BIOS and see what's enabled/disabled.

Thanks for your help mate - I have to go out for a couple of hours now but I'll get back on this later.

[phillpower2]

Quote

Yes, time & date are showing correctly.

Suggests that it is not a CMOS problem as the time and date would be incorrect.

Reply when you can, I will be around all day

[Jonesey]

Very quick update:

Assuming this is the correct place to check USB ports (I looked under Integrated Peripherals yes?)

USB Controllers - Enabled
USB Keyboard Function - Enabled
USB Mouse Function - Disabled
USB Storage Function - Enabled

When I get back later, I'll remove the wired keyboard/mouse, reboot & see what happens

[phillpower2]

Jonesey, on 25 February 2012 - 05:15 AM, said:

Very quick update:

Assuming this is the correct place to check USB ports (I looked under Integrated Peripherals yes?) Correct.

USB Controllers - Enabled
USB Keyboard Function - Enabled
USB Mouse Function - Disabled Enable this.
USB Storage Function - Enabled

When I get back later, I'll remove the wired keyboard/mouse, reboot & see what happens

You could also add USB device to your boot sequence ( after the CD/DVD and HDD ) this is normally used for booting from an external HDD or CD/DVD drive but it should ensure your USB ports are enabled on booting up.