Member Avatar for Coyboss

Hi Everybody,

I have a "whitebox" desktop with an Intel DG31PR Motherboard, 2GB DDR2 ram, an Intel E5200 CPU (2.6GHz) and BIOS Version PGF3110H.86A.0065.2009.0421.1559 (guessing its an intel bios).
The issue is that when I boot the machine up I can get into the BIOS and see the screen, however if I let it go past the BIOS and continue to boot, the display goes away and there is nothing on the screen. I have tried using different monitors 2 different Flat Panels, still no joy, I also tried installing a PCI graphics card just to see if the display (onboard) was corrupted, still no joy.
It seems to be something to do with the display processing through to the monitor once it finishes the BIOS checks. Not sure what could be csusing this issue.

Machine was brought to me because they though they had viruses, but not sure that is the issue here.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

COY

  • 3 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
  • 394 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Brief, practical workflow to confirm whether the drive is truly the culprit, recover data safely, and try non-destructive repairs. was correct to use external boot media to isolate the problem, and 's reinstall idea is a valid rescue path — but imaging the suspect disk first avoids accidental data loss.

  1. Quick health checks: attach the suspect SATA drive as a secondary on a working PC (or use a USB-SATA adapter) and read SMART attributes with a simple utility. Run the vendor's short/long diagnostics (Seagate/WD tools or similar). Reallocated sectors, pending sectors, or failed self-tests are a clear sign to replace the drive and recover data first.

  2. Make an image before attempting repairs. Use a read-only cloning tool so all recovery attempts are performed on an image, not the original disk. Example ddrescue commands (run from a Linux rescue environment):

ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /mnt/backup/disk.img /mnt/backup/disk.log
ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /mnt/backup/disk.img /mnt/backup/disk.log
  1. If SMART and imaging look OK, try non-destructive Windows repairs from Recovery Console. From the Windows recovery command prompt:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
chkdsk C: /f /r

Also verify BIOS SATA mode (IDE/AHCI) matches what Windows expects — a mismatch can cause boot failures that look like a black screen.

  1. If imaging fails or diagnostics show physical problems, stop further write attempts and pursue file recovery from the image (PhotoRec/TestDisk or commercial services). If diagnostics confirm failure, replace the drive and restore from the image/backup; then a clean reinstall (as @caperjack suggested) is appropriate.

Cautions: avoid initializing or formatting the suspect disk, avoid repeated power cycles on a dying drive, and always work from an image or copy when attempting repairs.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for Rik_

Try pressing F8 just after the bios screen and see if you can access safe mode.

Member Avatar for Coyboss

Hi RIck,

I should have mentioned this earlier,

I can press F8 and still get no display after the BIOS POST.

Not sure what is causing this unless its a MOBO Issue, but then why would it show
the POST and let me in the BIOS if it was MOBO related??

Like I said, its a wierd issue!!

COY

Member Avatar for Rik_

It looks to be a hardware issue. The first thing to try is ram. If you have more than one stick, try them one at a time in each slot and see if there is an improvement.

If not, I have a few more suggestions for another day (am off to bed now).

Member Avatar for Coyboss

OK RIk,

I only have 1 stick of 2GB DDR Ram,
I did try switching slots to no avail, if I Left it out I of course got the memory error beeps.

Any other ideas will be appreciated.


COY

Member Avatar for Rik_

Download and burn Ubuntu Live CD then try booting with it. Select the "try" option on it and it will boot entirely from cd without putting any files on your hard drive at all. Ubuntu can be found here - http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

If it works fine then it narrows things down to the fault being with your hard drive or your windows install.
If it doesn't work then you have a hardware problem.

Member Avatar for Coyboss

Hi Rik,

Thanks for your advice!!

It appears to be the hard drive is faulty.
I can boot to other HDD's with or without an OS installed,
but when I put theirs back in it gives me the blank screen after going past
POST.

I think I will see how much a new SATA 160GB drive is and see about replacing it.

I'll let U know how it works.

COY

Member Avatar for Rik_

Looks like a new hdd is the way to go then!

Member Avatar for caperjack

Hi Rik,

Thanks for your advice!!

It appears to be the hard drive is faulty.
I can boot to other HDD's with or without an OS installed,
but when I put theirs back in it gives me the blank screen after going past
POST.

I think I will see how much a new SATA 160GB drive is and see about replacing it.

I'll let U know how it works.

COY

that might only mean its a bad windows install/device driver conflict ,did you try reinstalling windows

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.