Blank screen on boot up every so often

Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?

Thanks.

snip.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?




Boot sector failing???

Run a complete diagnostic on the harddrive...
Usually a free download from the website of the harddrive's mfg

"Martin" wrote in message ...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?


Bad or intermittent RAM failure.
Test with freeware Memtest86 and/or DocMemory,

HDD failure.
Download and run the HDD OEM diags from their web-site.

Goback.
Uninstall.

Other flaky hardware.
Swap test video card, monitor, PSU, etc...

Typing SYS C: at a normal DOS floppy boot will disable/break GoBack, IIRC -
so it's possible that it's GoBack that's causing your problems.


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Martin" wrote in message
...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and
occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?

Thanks.

I looked at its history and GoBack was still offering the options of
reversion to a time long before the blank screen, so it still seemed to be
o.k. after the sys c: business, but I'll remember to check next time it
happens and disable GoBack and see if that helps. It has been a real
godsend on several occasions and if it came to a choice between the odd
blank screen and GoBack, I'd accept the blank screen - provided of course
that sys c: still gets me out of the fix.

Many thanks for your kind help.


"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Typing SYS C: at a normal DOS floppy boot will disable/break GoBack,
IIRC -
so it's possible that it's GoBack that's causing your problems.


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Martin" wrote in message
...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop
should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and
occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that
doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really
should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing
sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?

Thanks.

Thanks. Interestingly, the laptop consistently shuts down at a certain
point in
Memtest (5% of the way through the random number sequence). (Docmemory
and MS Windows Memory Diagnostic showed nothing abnormal, which vindicates
your advice to use more than one tester.)

Many thanks for your generous help.




"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
"Martin" wrote in message
...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop
should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and
occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that
doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really
should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing
sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?


Bad or intermittent RAM failure.
Test with freeware Memtest86 and/or DocMemory,

HDD failure.
Download and run the HDD OEM diags from their web-site.

Goback.
Uninstall.

Other flaky hardware.
Swap test video card, monitor, PSU, etc...

Yes, there does appear to be some sort of hard drive snag - I tried to run
the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test and some sort of error came up which I have
forwarded to Hitachi to try and make sense of. I have a spare hard drive
which did run the test, which indicates somethings amiss.

I had forgotten completely about such diagnostics, so I appreciate your
input.

Many thanks for taking the time to pass on your helpful advice.



"philo" wrote in message
...

snip.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that
doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really
should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing
sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?




Boot sector failing???

Run a complete diagnostic on the harddrive...
Usually a free download from the website of the harddrive's mfg

Correction: further investigation shows this is temp related. The random
number test must be demanding; improvement to the cooling made sure it
passed all the Memtest86 tests as it did the other utilities.



"Martin" wrote in message
...
Thanks. Interestingly, the laptop consistently shuts down at a certain
point in
Memtest (5% of the way through the random number sequence).
(Docmemory
and MS Windows Memory Diagnostic showed nothing abnormal, which vindicates
your advice to use more than one tester.)

Many thanks for your generous help.




"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
"Martin" wrote in message
...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop
should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and
occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that
doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really
should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but
to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing
sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?


Bad or intermittent RAM failure.
Test with freeware Memtest86 and/or DocMemory,

HDD failure.
Download and run the HDD OEM diags from their web-site.

Goback.
Uninstall.

Other flaky hardware.
Swap test video card, monitor, PSU, etc...

"Martin" wrote in message
...
Yes, there does appear to be some sort of hard drive snag - I tried to run
the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test and some sort of error came up which I have
forwarded to Hitachi to try and make sense of. I have a spare hard
drive
which did run the test, which indicates somethings amiss.

I had forgotten completely about such diagnostics, so I appreciate your
input.

Many thanks for taking the time to pass on your helpful advice.




Hope you get it sorted out...

In theory GoBack is a pretty good idea, but is fairly complex and uses
tons of resources.

For every disk write that the monitored OS does, Goback must do
another in a distant part of the disk. Not to mention the overhead of the
program itself, and the logic of saving "multiple points".

You might want to consider using imaging software instead as a backup
option. You won't miss Goback.




"Martin" wrote in message ...
I looked at its history and GoBack was still offering the options of
reversion to a time long before the blank screen, so it still seemed to be
o.k. after the sys c: business, but I'll remember to check next time it
happens and disable GoBack and see if that helps. It has been a real
godsend on several occasions and if it came to a choice between the odd
blank screen and GoBack, I'd accept the blank screen - provided of course
that sys c: still gets me out of the fix.

Many thanks for your kind help.


"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Typing SYS C: at a normal DOS floppy boot will disable/break GoBack,
IIRC -
so it's possible that it's GoBack that's causing your problems.


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Martin" wrote in message
...
Every few months, on boot up - at about the point where the desktop
should
appear - the screen goes blank, neither pure white or black and
occasionally
refreshes its blankness. To reboot I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
twice
and the desktop appears for a fraction of a second before the reboot.

I have tried using GoBack to an earlier time and surprisingly that
doesn't
help. I have tried updating graphics drivers etc. I really
should
have tried to see what happens in Safe Mode (next time I will) , but to
solve the problem, I boot up using the Windows Startup Disk and typing
sys
c: at the prompt. That solves the problem (for a good few months
anyway).

Any ideas what might conceivably cause this?

Thanks.