Black screen after BIOS initialize

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cyrax

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Yesterday there was a Windows XP update asking me to restart to install it. I just kept hitting restart later so I continue on with what I was doing. After coming back in the morning I found that my computer would start up, go past the mobo startup screen, but then after that and a screen showing some of the computer configuration, PCI configs and such, the screen just goes black instead of showing Windows loading.

Now I had a few power surges a couple months ago where this happened to me then. I was able to fix it by starting in Safe Mode, then just restarting. However when I try to start in SM now it just freezes after listing some Windows drivers.

I've tried using the Windows repair off the install CD but it just passes that initial blue initiaiting screen of the installer then black screens again. I don't think it's my RAM, but I couldn't be sure as I just tried running with one of my two sticks in, testing either one, with the same result. I'm guessing at this point it's either my PSU or my HDD, but I don't know how I can be sure.

If it's any help, I'm currently running a 550W PSU with a Radeon 4870 1GB, so I was thinking perhaps something dodgy is happening with my power supply and it's not powering my card properly to display anything? Currently away from home but planning on testing the machine with a different video card tonight, just wanting to see if anyone else has had a problem similar to this at all.
 
I had a similar problem. We had a power surge due to a lightning hit nearby. After replacing graphics card, updating drivers and generally messing around inside the box I finally replaced the PSU. Since then everything works OK. Try testing the PSU
 
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