HELP! Black Screen & wont boot up windows Vista

[Chindia]

Hi my laptop was workig fine last week, I upgraded to internet  9, a few days after this I got a black screen, on 1 occasion I managed to use the laptop but then it has strage coloured lines on the screen. I ran a scan for viruses using malbits & superblaster & found nothing.
I eventually managed to do a restore which hen made the laptop work for a few days but not the screen stays blank & doesnt appear to boot up. I have vista installed & 32 bit version I think, home premieum.

The laptop is a medion 2300, I cant find my orignal discs as the software was pre-loaded when I bought the laptop new, but may have them somewhere.

I also had a message in the taskbar that a driver display nvlddmkn may needs updating.

Im not sure how I'll do this or if this is correct reason for the original problem or if exploror 9 casued the problem? as I cant get online with the laptop, but I can get online with this one abeit its very slow!

Many Thanks or any help!

[JJ 3000]

Tap the F8 key as the computer is starting up. Choose safe mode from the list of options. Can you see anything now?

[Azzaboi]

Did you get Internet Explorer 9 Beta from Microsoft's offical website (Microsoft Test Drive)? There's a number of warez/leaks IE9 out there which is just a retweaked fake of Internet Explorer 8 with malious software builtin (make sure you didn't install any fake version). Also note the Microsoft version isn't final and a bit buggy itself.

nvlddmkn - is a Vista Driver for a nVidia Graphic Card.

Goto the offical nVidia website: http://www.nVidia.com
Under Download Drivers > Download Drivers (tab), pick the latest drivers for your graphics card / OS, download (large ~120MB) and install.

[Chindia]

Hi thanks for your replies, If I start the laptop & press F8 I get lots of coloured lines & somes sometimes in squares & a black strip on the right hand side of the screen that is about 2 inches wide from top to bottom of the screen, the disc drive keeps spinning.

Sometimes If I start the laptop & dont press F8  after about 30 mins or more it asks for the vista installation disc.  (this has only happened once).

Im trying to recover the situation without losing all the info on the laptop.

I cant download the nvidia driver & install it as I cant see the screen the the laptop with the problem as I cant use it to see or do anything, maybe I can download it to this laptop & save it & poss put on a disc & insert in my Medion laptop?

I also have a storage harddrive that I can store the driver on but I'm not sure if my laptop will find the driver without me being able to see the driver on the external/storage hard drive.


Thanks again Dave

[JJ 3000]

Tap F8 repeatedly as the computer is starting up before windows loads. This will take you to the advance startup options. Choose safe mode from that screen. What happens?

[Azzaboi]

If it works sometimes, but not others and is progressively getting worst...
Coloured lines, squares and strips, or a blank screen on startup is a bad sign on laptops normally due to the graphics cable. 

Next time it occur, tap gentle the back of the screen and see if it changes. It's it gets worst or better from leaning the monitor back or forwards, then it's a hardware issue which happens a lot with some laptops (the graphic cable flexing between the monitor and computer when open/closing the lid becomes weakened over time and can get damaged). If that's the case, your other 'software' issues might be cause by unsafe shutdowns. If you can't see what it's doing, could be still booting, etc, and you switch it off and on.

Check the video cable and the LCD screen are not mismatching/damaged - the screen is not getting all the data it needs, or getting them on the wrong pins.

[Chindia]

Hi Thanks for the replies, pressing F8 repeatedly doesnt do anything the screen just has green criss cross lines/patterns.

I still think maybe I need the driver first to get the graphcs working, I dont k what graphic card I have in my laptop other than its a Nvidea.

Can I download it from the Nvidea web site & save it to an external H/D or put it on a CD & then insert it in the CD drive on my Medion Laptop.?

Tapping the back of the screen doesnt change the pattern on the monitor or opening or closing the lid.

Thanks Dave

[Azzaboi]

Curious to known wheither it's hardware, the graphic cable between the lid, or a driver corruption issue.
If it's a virus, it would be a new one to me!

Green Criss Cross Patterns? Have you been toogling around s-video output?

You might be just changing the display mode.
On the keyboard check if your laptop has a 'Fn' function key.
If so check on the F5 key or one of those for something looking like a small screen.
Hold 'Fn' + tap the F5 or other key (it should rotate around screen modes).
Make sure the function key isn't stuck in or something.

This is great if you wanted to connect it to duel monitors and/or to the tv, etc, and toggle between them.
If you don't have them however it might throw it back to your screen. Looks confusing, but easy fix if it's just that.

If not - It's just kinda hard to install the drivers without seeing? They won't boot launch off a disc. Your'll have better hope with the Windows disc / restore to bring back the 'native' dummy drivers.

You will need to know the nVidia series at least for the drivers, your OS and wheither it's 32bit or 64bit to download the correct one from the website. They do come in larges packs - so one drivers could detect and work for multiple graphic cards (just make sure it's at least Vista 32bit and for a laptop in your case if you can't figure what one it is).

[Chindia]

Hi Thanks for your reply, no I havent messed with anything & Im always ver careful opening the lid on my lapop & handle it gently.

I'll try the F5 method just in case.

The operating system is a 32 bit vista home premium.

Ive decided to download a vista recovery software/CD which I'll save on my exeternal H/D & then see if I can burn to a CD/DVD to then run on my problem laptop.

Do you know how I can get all he files & info off the HD of my Medion Laptop (the one with the problem)?

Will the recovery disc wipe my info/data?
 Thanks Dave

Than

[Chindia]

Hi Togalling fn   & F5 doesn't do anything! Sorry.

Dave

[Azzaboi]

Your have to work out what one of the F?? keys will do it or look it up in the manual.
Maybe it's Fn + F8 (toggle screen) for your laptop - since your been using F8 a lot - they are normally all 'picture' labeled on the keys.

[jason2074]

IF your laptop has a port to hook an external monitor, test it. To rule out the blank screen issue on either hardware or software.

[Chindia]

Hi Im pretty sure its F5 which has the screen logo on the button.
Thanks Dave

[Azzaboi]

Ok, do you get anything normal at all on the screen when booting (or trying to boot from the Windows disc) or has it been fully corrupted?

[Chindia]

Hi No I dont ,

I don't think I can find a way to get the driver from Nvidia onto my problem laptop?

Thanks Dave