Hieroglyphics..... and a black screen

[KurrentEweser]

Here's an excerpt from your owners manual(assuming you have the original hard drive). Of course backup your files first. There's no going back.

To use PC Restore:

1. Turn on the computer.

During the boot process, a blue bar with "www.dell.com" appears at the top of the screen.

2. Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press <Ctrl><F11>.

If you do not press <Ctrl><F11> in time, let the computer finish starting, and then restart the computer again.

 

[KurrentEweser]

F12

my options are:

inforn ?? ( i cant read it because of all the letters jumbling)
CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
Onboard NIC

Bios Setup
Diagnostics

If your letters are jumbling at this point, you have hardware problems. I doubt it if it's your OS that's screwed up.

 

[YeloBlammo]

I ran the diagnostic available when i hit f12:

I got a bunch (not sure of the number since i didn't even finish it yet) of error codes related to the video mode. I'll do it again later since i have to get up early

Most read something like this:

error code 5300.0119
detected a failure while writing and reading video memory.
video mode: 111h (640x480x65536)
address A00FCH, expected to read 0h, but read 80h instead.
Contact a Dell technician to help you solve this problem.

i've had errors at 112h, 114h, 115h, 117h, 118h, 11Ah so far.


seems like the video card?

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Yes this would be your video card. If you can get into Safe Mode try to update your driver with the latest one from the Dell site. If that does nothing then you might have to get the laptop sent in for service as the onboard video might be dead.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[YeloBlammo]

is there something special i'm missing to connect to the web in safe mode?
I enter safe mode w/ networking and can't get on the net.
This is using wireless.
Maybe a hard line is the way to go?

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

It sounds as if it isnt loading your WiFi drivers in Safe Mode. Which could be very well happening. So if you can try hardwired try it.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[YeloBlammo]

Its been a while and I still haven't solved my problem.
I've tried calling Dell and all I get people in India who have such a strong accent the entire conversation we are just repeating over an over....


i'll go over it again.

First Screen: funny letter A's and accents all over...

Next: XP Startup...

Next: Dell boot with plaid all over the background

Next: black screen, nothing else..


More info:

Video Mode errors that come up when I do a self diagnostic.

Will boot in safe mode no problem

No problems found in Device manager. All harware working fine.

My video card is: Nvidia Geforce Go7900Gs


here are some pics..

 

[KurrentEweser]

It's definitely a hardware problem. Not a Windows problem. Get an estimate from Dell to get it fixed.


The 1705 looks just like my XPS M1710.

 

[YeloBlammo]

I would like to but everytime I call dell i get India. Its so frustrating talking. Last time i called it took 10 mins for the guy to get my service tag # correct then he tells me its not in his system so he can't help me. The last guy i talked to before him was able to help. Its such a waste of time calling them. Anyone had a good experience w/ Dell?.. because I haven't...


can the video card be replaced or is it integrated in the motherboard?
Anyone know?

 

[Kharn]

Looks like a mobo failure, most likely a gfx failure of some kind. The only time i saw somthing like that before was when the BIOS / Firmware got messed up but it was on a old windows 2k laptop an the guy only wanted to keep it going as a email machine, I ended up selling him a new one.