Windows Vista won't Boot. Black Screen only.

[Knight69]

Hello,

Last night I needed to shut down my HP Pavilion(a6077c) PC. When I did, Windows began either installing or downloading updates (I assume installing, but I'm not 100%). At the time, we were disconnecting my wife's iMac to move to the living room and I disconnected the modem, not thinking it would interfer with the shut down of my PC.

I didn't monitor my PCs shut down, but I assume everything went ok as it was shut down when we came back into the room several hours later. I reconnected her iMac, the modem etc and started up both computers. Hers rebooted with no problems, however, mine turns on, fan is going, monitor is on etc but I only get a black screen.

I've tried getting into safe mode with no luck either. I do not have a Vista CD as it was installed on the PC from the Manufacturer. I removed the graphics card and reconnected it, still just black screen on start up.

I'm positive the problem has to do with the Window's Updates. Possibly a update to the graphics card that was interrupted?

I'm out of ideas and find it hard to believe it would be some kind of hardware issue when everything was working just fine before.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[Knight69]

Sorry, I should add that I tried another monitor and still had the same issue.
I've also unplugged and replugged everything into the PC and did the same with all power cords.

As I said it is an HP Pavilion PC running Windows Vista with a Samsung Sync Master 151v monitor.
I can try to give more specs if needed. The graphic card is the original.
The computer is not even 1 year old.

[JJ 3000]

Do you get any image on the screen at all when you turn it on? You should be able to see the HP screen that comes up when you start the computer before windows loads. If you cant, then it is most likely a hardware problem. Do you hear any beeps? Have you tried a different monitor?

[Knight69]

Nothing at all comes up. No logo, no safe mode, no windows
Yes, I tried another monitor that works fine on a different PC.

Comp turns on just fine, fan runs, lights are all on as they should be.
Just can't get anything to display.

[Broni]

Do you have dedicated video card, or on-board video?

[Knight69]

Hmmm, not really sure what you mean. I did take out what I believe is the video card and plugged it back into the motherboard. I also read somewhere to disconnect the hard drive, then reconnect, so I did that as well.
We have 2 other computers that we don't use, so I tried seeing if the video cards from either of those could go in this PC, but they don't look like they would fit properly.

The only other thing I can think of to do is try either and emergency boot disc (which I don't have) or a Vista/XP disc (which I also don't have) that will run automatically. I might lose all my files, but at least I'd have a computer again.

Still looking for any thoughts or ideas.

Thanks.

[Broni]

Remove video card altogether. On-board video should kick in.

[Knight69]

A friend of mine did some research and found out that my particular HP computer is supposed to have on-board video. I can't find it anywhere however. I can easily remove the video card, but once I do that, I have no place to plug in the monitor at all.

My friend also gave me a linux disc to try (Ubuntu), but that doesn't bring up anything either.

I thought for sure it was just the video drivers, but now I'm wondering if the video card is indeed garbage now.

Any other ideas? I'm thinking the only other thing to do is try formatting

[Accessless]

Any other ideas? I'm thinking the only other thing to do is try formatting

So you can see the opening firmware (i.e. BIOS, RAM check, Drive check)? How are you planning to format the pc?

Do you have a spare graphics card to replace the one in question (even an old one), or another pc to test the graphics card in?

[Knight69]

No, as I mentioned, I can't see anything. The computer starts up but I'm unable to see anything at all. I also tried another monitor and it did the same thing (but it works fine on another computer).

I'm almost out of ideas now. LOL

[Broni]

I can easily remove the video card, but once I do that, I have no place to plug in the monitor at all.

I just checked your manual, and in fact, there is no on-board video, since the computer comes originally with regular video card: GeForce 7500LE
I'm not hardware guy, but from what I can read on the internet, the card has pretty bad press.
Also, your card comes with two ports, DVI, and VGA, which port are you using? Did you try second port?
If still nothing, I believe, the card is dead.

[fgdn17]

Hello,

Last night I needed to shut down my HP Pavilion(a6077c) PC. When I did, Windows began either installing or downloading updates (I assume installing, but I'm not 100%). At the time, we were disconnecting my wife's iMac to move to the living room and I disconnected the modem, not thinking it would interfer with the shut down of my PC.

I didn't monitor my PCs shut down, but I assume everything went ok as it was shut down when we came back into the room several hours later. I reconnected her iMac, the modem etc and started up both computers. Hers rebooted with no problems, however, mine turns on, fan is going, monitor is on etc but I only get a black screen.

I've tried getting into safe mode with no luck either. I do not have a Vista CD as it was installed on the PC from the Manufacturer. I removed the graphics card and reconnected it, still just black screen on start up.

I'm positive the problem has to do with the Window's Updates. Possibly a update to the graphics card that was interrupted?

I'm out of ideas and find it hard to believe it would be some kind of hardware issue when everything was working just fine before.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

try the following:

Press the space bar or move the mouse to make the screen display visible
again.

press the Esc key on the
keyboard to resume from sleep mode

from your product specs, it has onboard video:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00864946&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3401269

can you get into your bios on boot by pressing F1 and/or F10??

[Broni]

from your product specs, it has onboard video

VGA port is disabled, because the sound card takes the slot: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00880853&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3401269

[attachment deleted by admin]

[fgdn17]

from your product specs, it has onboard video

VGA port is disabled, because the sound card takes the slot: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00880853&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3401269

good find...but think it said graphics card installed disables it...but on the right track..!!!

strange thing is I though he said no place to plug in a monitor if he removed the graphics card...musta read too fast...LOL

[Broni]

I can't see the computer, but if I understand correctly, they removed VGA port (not on-board video) to make space for the sound card.
Sounds pretty idiotic to me, but...