Laptop Problem

[Billy's Little Trip]

My wife's laptop has a new problem. It starts up ok, the black screen with the windows XP screen comes on, but when the welcome screen is supposed to come on, the screen is blank. The sound telling me that it logged on to the user's desktop sounds, and the sound saying that the wireless card is active. I can even access everything on her computer from other computers on the network. It's like there is a graphic card issue, or something. I'm still learning about computers, so I may be using the wrong terms.

Set up:
IBM Think Pad
2.00 Pentium 4 processor
Windows XP pro


Any help would be great, before I just reload the XP disc. Thanks

[Kill Me Sarah]

You might find a solution here. Try Googling "blank screen laptop after windows splash"

[Billy's Little Trip]

Thanks for the link, KMS. I was hoping to hear from people I trust here before I started sloshing around the Interswamp.
That link had some things I can try, but it definitely sounds like a graphic card or driver issue.

[Märk]

Start the computer, and repeatedly press [F8] before the Windows splash screen comes up. This should get you an interactive screen (Safe Mode, VGA Mode, Normal, etc)

Try VGA mode first (if it's there) and see if it boots properly. If it does, change the resolution to what you *know* the LCD can handle, then reboot.

If that doesn't work, [F8] again, start in safe mode. When it gets to the desktop, go to device manager and completely remove the device under 'Display Adapters'. Reboot, and let it re-install it.

Hope this helps.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Thanks Mark.
I can F8, but when I try to start in safe mode, it just goes to a screen with lines saying something like,
multi something0/bla bla bla/something something0/bla bla bla/DRIVER.interwebz
That's not "exactly" what it says, but it fills the whole screen from top to bottom.

I think I've tried starting from every option from the F8 page. I'll try the VGA thing again to make sure.

[Kill Me Sarah]

I think this is more likely to be a graphics driver problem than a problem with the card itself. The suggestion about the BIOS fix seemed the most promising candidate as I read through those. In my experience, a bad graphics card means NO graphics, not some and then none, but others may have different experiences.

[Billy's Little Trip]

The only reason I thought that it might be a graphics card, is because I remember hearing that the splash screen isn't from the graphics card, which is why it doesn't look as perfect as the graphics on the desktop, vids pics, etc. I could be wrong, but that's the direction my trouble shooting brain is taking me.

[Märk]

I just thought of something. Thinkpads have s-video out on them, try hooking it up to your TV and see if it displays video on there. Someone may have inadvertantly set it to display through the TV-out and not switched it back.

Also, try to function key combos to enable/disable the display (I have a Thinkpad, but it's not here atm, so I can't tell you what the key combo is... Fn+F7, I think?)

[Billy's Little Trip]

I just thought of something. Thinkpads have s-video out on them, try hooking it up to your TV and see if it displays video on there. Someone may have inadvertantly set it to display through the TV-out and not switched it back.

Also, try to function key combos to enable/disable the display (I have a Thinkpad, but it's not here atm, so I can't tell you what the key combo is... Fn+F7, I think?)

No WAY, I'm too ascareded! Fn+F7 could stop someones pace maker. That's like voodoo. Are you the devil?

[Märk]

You know, I was actually going to put a disclaimer at the bottom of my post which said:
"*(Unless, of course, you're too ascareded)"

I thought that would be dickish of me, though, so I didn't.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I think it would have been solid advice. But I did it anyway, because I too, like to live dangerously.
It makes the screen turn on and off, coolerz! I tried all of the F buttons with the fn just to see if they did anything. The fn+F2 makes it go to sleep. But I woke it back up accidentally when I shook it. It looks like an etch-a-sketch without the knobs.