Windows 7 Screen goes black (PC does NOT hang) after first stage of installation!

[Onyxx]

Hi everyone,

My problem is that during Windows 7 Ultimate installation (right after the first reboot) the screen goes black! The monitor does not loose the signal because I can still see the green solid LED on it.

I have run into this issue four times with four different PCs with four different configurations. The only common denominator here is the type of video card (I say the type of video card because this has happened with different brands and models of video cards). This has happened only with video cards that have DVI, S-Video and VGA ports, but only on the ones that have the VGA port that PLUGS through a little ribbon cable to the card it self.
I have successfully installed Windows 7 on systems that have video cards with the same ports but the VGA port is solder to the card. WEEEEIIIIRRDDD!!!!!

It seems that after the first reboot and after it displays "Starting Windows", Windows thinks that the active port on the video card is the DVI port and NOT the VGA port that has been using up until that point!
I know this because I have used a DVI to VGA adapter right after the screen goes black and there it is! the setup process waiting for my input (create a user)...

Does anyone know something about this issue? Being that it has happen to me so many times it has to be a known issue but I was not able to find any info on it.

Can anyone point me in the right direction!

 

[Saltgrass]

What type of connection does the monitor have? Is there more than one input? How old is the monitor and have you tried another one?

 

[Onyxx]

Thanks for replying!

The monitor has a VGA connector. The card, as explained in the original post, has three outputs: DVI, S-VIDEO and VGA. The monitor has only one input. No, I have not tried another monitor. From what I explain in the original post ("I know this because I have used a DVI to VGA adapter right after the screen goes black and there it is! the setup process waiting for my input"),
you can pretty much discard the monitor as the culprit!

again... thanks for your replay!

 

[kemical]

Onyxx have you tried pressing F8 whilst booting and accessing the boot options? You'll see a setting for starting the screen/pc in low res of 640x800 or something like that.. A friend of mine couldn't access his monitor until he tried the above.

 

[Onyxx]

Hi Kemical!

Thanks for your suggestion. You know, some times we get so focus on the big picture that we forget to try the simplest things. I had not tried hitting F8 during boot, I did not even think about it until I read your reply!!!!
So I did follow your suggestion and even though it did not work completely, it did get me further in the installation process than b 4. After hitting F8 I selected the option that starts windows in resolution 640x480 and I was able to finish the setup process; creating the user, naming the PC, etc.
But what it does now is that the monitor blinks constantly on and off.

I am in the process of installing and updating ALL the drivers including the vid card. I will let you and all know what happens.... until then....


Thanks Kimical!

 

[Onyxx]

Issue resolved!!!!

Ok after four failed installations on four different computers I have finally resolved the problem thanks to a little suggestion that had escape me every single attempt. THANKS AGAIN KEMICAL!

So here are the steps to solve the problem:
(well, is more a walk around than a solution but hey!)

IF, after the first reboot during the installation you see the "Starting Windows" with the flying around thingies and then the screen goes black but the PC does not hang (you’ll notice because the HD keeps going and the signal LED on the monitor stays on), here’s what you do:

1. Reboot and hit F8 as it comes up. Doing so will prompt you with a boot menu.

2. Select "Start Windows in 640x480 resolution”. You will then be able to see what you were not before, and that is the final steps in the setup process; Create a user name and password, name the computer, etc.

3. If this goes exactly like it did for me, you will have a blinking (on and off) screen, but you still are able (with a little patience) to complete the final steps. At that point, windows is using generic drivers for your video card and changing the resolution at that point will NOT help the blinking issue.

4. Make sure you can connect to the internet (setup NIC) and download the latest drivers for your video card and install them. After that your screen should stop blinking (it did for me).

5. Reboot and continue updating drivers and installing your programs!!!


Once again I like to thank Kimical because if he hadn’t mentioned that simple step, I don’t know if I would’ve thought about it myself... at least not for a while!!!

Ok, one last thing, I have not mention at any moment the specs of the hardware involved in this issue, and the reason for that is that, like I said before, it happened with different systems and different setups.
But, if it helps, the system I was able to resolve this issue on has an MSI - K9N Neo V3 mobo, Athlon 64 X2 CPU, 2GB of RAM and an NX7300LE video card.


See you guys!