Graphic Driver Black Screen

Ok where to start? My video card fried, this was the stock card that came with my desktop PC (a Medion) The card was a Nvidea Geforce 8400GS (128mb with fan. I replaced it with a newer version of the same card the 8400GS only this time it has 512mb and NO fan, it has a heatsink. I also updated my power supply at this point from a 300w to 500w.

I removed ALL the nvidea drivers, removed the old card....Installed the new card, used the driver instalation disc that came with the new card and installed the driver.....rebooted the PC....I got the post beeb....The Intel Icon and then the green indication bar.....and nothing else....no windows logo just a blank black screen.

The PC had to be turned off direct from the on/off switch on the case.

If I uninstall the nvidea drivers I can boot up into windows and when I look in device manager it shows Video Controller (VGA Compatable) with the little yellow box and black exclamation mark.

I can use my pc without the Nvidea drivers but NOT with it installed.....any help would be very much appreciated.

I would also like to add that I went directly to the nvidea website and tried to use their automated function that allows them to detect the proper driver for your pc.....and it was unable to detect what driver i should use ( it can't detect my card maybe?) I download the latest driver for my card and operating system windows 32-bit (Vista) manually and tried that....with the same negative results.

When I use CPU-ID it shows no information for my graphic card at all, other than it shows the Nvidea sign in the icon box.

When I tried at one point to reinstall the drivers using windows it gave the following error:

 

In an admin account launch DriveSweeper and delete anything related to Nvida Graphics and also any related to the previous graphics card. Then install this driver.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-32bit-275.33-whql-driver.html

Is this card a PCI-e and if so does it require a plug from the PSU to be connected?

If this computer has an on-board graphics card, make sure it is disabled in BIOS but I am not sure why that would have changed.

Do you have the option to exchange for another card?

 

Hi thnks for helping!

I downloaded driversweeper and removed nvidea drivers. I downloaded from the link provided and installed the driver......when it came to restart the pc It went off, then booted to the Intel logo.....it stayed at the Intel logo for almost five minutes....then it ran the boot up screen then went to a black screen......Where I am now. (I'm typing this on another computer.)

Do you mean do I have an option to exchange this card at the store?...No.

Do I have a card here to try? No, just my old fried one.

I don't know if this pc has an on board graphics card or not....How do I find out? How do i switch it off in the bios if I have one?

Thanks for your assistance thus far my friend.

 

I am wondering if it might not be a motherboard problem since the first card failed. Have you tried pulling the card out and reseating it?

Do you have some kind of power connector on the Graphics card? I do not know if this particular card has one but quite a few PCI-e cards have a power connector that needs to be connected to the PSU. Maybe yours does not have one.

http://static.erodov.com/reviews/guide/pci-e-connector/pci-e-power-connector-1.jpg

Look on the back of the computer. In the I/O plate there should be another graphics connector. If you see one, go into BIOS, usually by tapping the DEL or F1 key. For your computer, it may be something else. There should be something related to Onboard graphics in the Peripherals section.

Here is a graphic showing the Blue VGA connector and white DVI connector

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4330/ASUS%20Visual%20IO.jpg

 

No, there is no six-pin socket like that on my graphics card.

I do have a VGA connection on the I/O plate...but in bios (peripherials) there is no mention of onboard graphics. I could find no mention of onboard graphics anywhere in bios.

With my old card in the screen is covered in small lines of coloured dots and dashes and on boot up the white letters and numbers are all disapearing and reapperaing and there is also dots and dashes all over only these are all white.

With the new card in I do not have this problem at all the graphics are clear only not Nivdia standard, some slight fuzzyness around the edges.

So I am thinking that the card itself is ok, but that for some reason the nvidea drivers are not working with it.

I have now have re-booted into safe mode and it shows in device manager that under display adapters Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS is installed.....But I can't boot into normal mode with this....I would have to go back to last known good configuration.....where the drivers arent installed to have a successfull normal windows boot.

 

Is there anything in BIOS referencing PCI-e? Median has a support page that provides manuals. They might have some info regarding this.

http://www.medionusa.com/

Edit: When you get the black screen, are you able use the mouse?

 

No nothing mentioning PCI-e in bios.

I viewed the manual online at medion (UK) If you go there Medion/UK and enter 10010568 where it says MSN number you can view the manual online You may find something I didn't...at least you will know about my pc. although you hit the download link you don't actually download it on to your pc so don't worry it just opens up a window that allows you to see the manual.

No I cannot see the curser when the black screen is there.

Thanks for hanging in there with me tgell.....I really appreciate it my friend.

 

I did not see anything that jumped out at me looking at the manual. Do you have another monitor that can be connected.

At the black screen, if you press Ctl+Alt+DEL, do you get a Task Manager Window?

 

No I don't have another monitor available to me. I use a 19" LCD TV as a monitor, I always have used the same one since I owned the pc.

No. I cannot access The task manager window at all when I have the blank/black screen.

 

Are you using a DVI cable or a regular analog cable (VGA) to attach the monitor? This was the same cable as you have always been using.

In safe mode right click on the desktop. Can you select Nvidia Control Panel? If not go to control panel and see if you have the Nvidia Icon. You might have to set Control Panel to classic mode. Open the Nvidia control panel and set the resolution to something smaller. Make sure the refresh rate is set to 60Hz. See if that will solve the issue. There may also be a setting on the LCD monitor that will auto adjust the setting to the graphics card.

 

Hello again! I am using a VGA cable, the same cable I have always used with this setup.

When I click on the Nvidia controller I get the folowing message.

"NVIDIA DISPLAY SETTINGS ARE NOT AVAILABLE - you are not currently using a display attached to a nvidia CPU"

 

How old is the motherboard. If it is older than 2007, there may be an issue with the chipset even though technically PCI-e 2.0 is supposed to work will the earlier PCI-e 1.0 and 1.1 standard.

Sorry, I have pretty much run out of ideas as to why this is happening. You may have more luck posting over in the Nvidia forum regarding your card. It seems a person had a similar problem regarding the 8800 card.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=216415

Another person with a similar problem with the 8400 but with a DVI connection.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-124635.html

One last option is to uninstall your Nvidia Drivers in Add/Remove programs, then use DriveSweeper to uninstall all graphics drives.

Download and install this driver
http://www.omegadrivers.net/index.p...ategory&id=5:windows-7-vista-32-bit&Itemid=96

It is unsupported by Nvidia but it may work for you. I would create a restore point and also create a Vista Recovery Disk before you download and install.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/141820-create-recovery-disc.html

When you open up the computer, is there any model number shown on the motherboard?

 

Hi, The motherboard is MS 7255, CPU Intel Core DuoE4300, Bios Phonix Ver. 6.00PG (date 6/22/2007 )

Thanks for your help and your links here.
If I thought a different brand of Graphics card would do the trick.....Asus or something? I would bite the bullet and buy one, hoping I wouldn't have the same problem with the drivers....What are your thoughts on this?

I know you must be sick of this.....I'm on the verge of taking a hammer to to it myself! (lol)

 

Here is the specs for your motherboard.

http://www.pcparts.com.my/msip4m900...0-ethernet-lan-serial-ata-raid-usb-p-497.html

This motherboard has the VIA P4M900 chipset which arrived in 2006. So, It probably does not support PCI-e 2.0 which arrived in 2007.

You could try updating your chipset driver and see if that helps but I doubt it would solve the issue.

http://majorgeeks.com/VIA_HyperionPro_4in1_Driver_d1618.html

I am not sure what card would be good for your computer but make sure you can exchange it before you buy it.

I am going to try and find a motherboard manual. Maybe I will find something regarding the onboard video.

Edit here is the manual in the download section.

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P4M900M2-L.html#/?div=Manual

 

On page 3-14 of the manual it explains the setting for onboard graphics. Make sure PCI-e is set first. I do not know why it would change. It's under PNP/PCI configuration.

This graphics card you puchased is PCI-e, and not a PCI, correct?