BSOD on Win7 and safe mode but HD works on other PC.

I am trying to get a friends PC to work again that had originally been taken to Best Buys geeks squad (bad idea I know).

Here is the problem described to the best of my ability. (please feel free to ask for more info and I can run diagnostics based on your recommendation.)

The computer looks like a Gateway rebuild. It has a graphics card with 2 DVI ports and an S-Video that doesnt look standard. For some reason the onboard graphics adapters (VGA and HDMI) don't work... Other I/O's such as USB etc do work. Even after removing the PCI card, it still won't use the onboard graphics.

Everytime the computer starts up whether I try to load the Win 7 OS normally or safe mode (or any other option), BSOD!! I figured it was a hardware problem so I tested the RAM, POST says its good. Put the HDD in another computer and voila, it works fine and boots up. Now the issue is possibly somewhere else on the MOBO or could it possibly be a virus only affecting a certain hardware set up?

Any advice would be appreciated and I will respond very quickly today.

Thanks in advance!

 

* Download Malware Bytes (http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756) and install it on a working PC. Using a drive enclosure, hook the suspect drive up to the working PC (as an external drive) and do a Full Scan w/ Malware Bytes. This will give you a reading on if it's a virus/malware issue - and, if so, how bad.

* If you have removed the graphics card, go into the BIOS at startup and be sure the graphics setting is either "onboard" or "automatic". If the onboard graphics still don't work, try to find a spare video card (even an old 32MB will do), install it and see if it solves the issue - if so, the BSOD is likely an issue with the old graphics card.

* What was the original OS on the PC? This is rare; however, if it was an old XP machine it's possible the BIOS isn't playing nice w/ Win 7. In this case, go to Gateway's support/download page and see if there is a BIOS update available for the board.

Hope this helps.

 

It is definitely not Malware/Virus related because I reinstalled the OS.

It has onboard HDMI and VGA ports (which don't work) and a graphics card with DVI inputs that work. I really want the other ports to work because I don't have a DVI cord or monitor so I can troubleshoot it at work but not at home.

Everytime it gets to the Windows (loading OS) screen, it just restarts. Do you think the Video Card or related drivers could be causing this? I can hook it up to a PC at work via DVI and then try to mess around with the drivers or I can take the HDD out and put it in as a slave and mess with anything on the drive (this can be done now via VGA) but what good is that if I am troubleshooting hardware on the machine that doesn't work.

The original OS was Vista which I thought 7 was going to be causing problems as well but when I went to use the Vista Product Key it was invalid. (Maybe Best Buy jacked it after selling them Win 7 lo)

This is where i'm at now though.

 

I suspect either the onboard GPU is disabled in BIOS or the onboard GPU is dead and that is causing the BSOD.

 

So after finding this it is confirmed that Gateway used an Nvidia MOBO but put an ATI GPU in this particular model. http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1015334R/1015334Rcl5.shtml

I'm assuming they disable the onboard upon shipping? But that is strange because why would you want something to think they can't use a VGA monitor?

Anyways I just realized I have a DVI-HMDI adapater so when I get home I'm going to hook it up to my bigscreen via HDMI and mess with the BIOS. I didn't see a graphics option but as soon as I do this step I will reply today or tomorrow with the outcome of my endeavour.

Thanks for your input. I'm not a noob but I'm sure you agree 2 heads is better than 1 when diagnosing problems, especially with hardware.