Blank Screen after Windows Logo

basilmarket.com forums : Tech Talk | 9 posts archived

thread starter SilentXynh Jul 01 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Hey Basil, I received my order for a Dell Studio XPS8100 this morning. I've managed to connect everything and when I turned it on, the screen went blank after the windows logo where it says "starting Windows" I tried booting it in safe mode, but it says I can't setup Windows using safe mode. I'm pretty sure it's not the black screen of death, because the screen goes completely blank (lit up though) there's no mouse pointer. For sure it's not the monitor that's faulty, because it works just fine with my old CPU. I called Dell's support line and they suggested that I need to reinstall Windows 7, but because they didn't give the CD to me, I'd have to pay $50 in shipping fees to have it delivered to me in 5-7 days. (which is quite ridiculous seeing as I've already waited 2 weeks for this computer) Possible solutions please? Thanks Specs are as follows: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit 1792MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX260 Intel Core i5 650 Processor(3.20GHx, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB Cache) 6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz

My Characters: Aussenritter - 90 Scania Dawn Warrior

BobR 07/01/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Wait- you've NEVER been able to boot the computer, EVER...? It sounds like Dell completely FORGOT to install Windows on this unit... And they're trying to tell you that you need to spend $50 MORE to fix THEIR mistake..? I wouldn't call their tech support people, I'd ask for the supervisor in their Sales department and tell them what's happened and tell that person you want a NEW computer shipped immediately- one WITH Windows installed on it. Tell them what whoever you talked to before told you and tell the supervisor that's NOT ACCEPTABLE. If you have your shipping papers, read them the part where it says the computer COMES WITH WINDOWS 7, and ask them WHERE IS IT? (Be prepared for a long and hard fight to get them to ship Windows to you overnight to complete your order correctly. Sorry- I hate it when this kind of stuff happens to me too.) Second approach- Sit down with the Users Manual and see if it says anything at all about their being a "Recovery Partition" on the hard drive. I wasn't able to determine for sure browsing through Google if that's a normal feature or not. If there IS such a thing, it's possible the Windows installation files are on the hard drive now- assuming they didn't just skip "image copying" your hard drive completely. You might want to check this out before you call them because there's a chance you can fix it yourself. Odd though that their support people didn't suggest trying that when you first talked to them.

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

SilentXynh + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] BobR : Wait- you've NEVER been able to boot the computer, EVER...? It sounds like Dell completely FORGOT to install Windows on this unit... And they're trying to tell you that you need to spend $50 MORE to fix THEIR mistake..? I wouldn't call their tech support people, I'd ask for the supervisor in their Sales department and tell them what's happened and tell that person you want a NEW computer shipped immediately- one WITH Windows installed on it. Tell them what whoever you talked to before told you and tell the supervisor that's NOT ACCEPTABLE. If you have your shipping papers, read them the part where it says the computer COMES WITH WINDOWS 7, and ask them WHERE IS IT? (Be prepared for a long and hard fight to get them to ship Windows to you overnight to complete your order correctly. Sorry- I hate it when this kind of stuff happens to me too.) Second approach- Sit down with the Users Manual and see if it says anything at all about their being a "Recovery Partition" on the hard drive. I wasn't able to determine for sure browsing through Google if that's a normal feature or not. If there IS such a thing, it's possible the Windows installation files are on the hard drive now- assuming they didn't just skip "image copying" your hard drive completely. You might want to check this out before you call them because there's a chance you can fix it yourself. Odd though that their support people didn't suggest trying that when you first talked to them. [/quote] Thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention that the tech support told me to try and do a recovery. No luck though, it said files were missing or corrupt. I've spent a good 5 hours googling for solutions and no luck Off to bed for now I suppose, really not happy. I should really get what I paid for. I doubt they're willing to ship one overnight, considering it took them 2 weeks to ship it here. Not in the mood to argue over the phone right now I suppose haha EDIT: I'd be willing to pay $50 if they could ship it overnight tbh, sick of waiting I never got past the screen that says "starting windows" except for when I tried to boot in safe mode, that comes up with the "preparing setup for first use" or something, but won't work.

My Characters: Aussenritter - 90 Scania Dawn Warrior

BobR 07/01/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

If the Recovery Partition can't be accessed, it really sounds like they installed a BLANK hard drive in your system, or possibly a defective one. In either case, it's their problem to fix and they shouldn't be charging you ANYTHING to remedy THEIR mistake. Sorry to hear about your troubles- I know how it feels opening that new box...

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

SilentXynh 07/06/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

An update: After calling Dell again and again, I finally managed to speak to one of the supervisors and they agreed to send a technician to come over and reinstall windows for me at no cost :D It seems that the problem was with the nvidia driver, because even after installation I still get the same problem. We managed to boot it in safe mode and disable the driver for now and now it 'works'. Better than nothing I suppose :S

My Characters: Aussenritter - 90 Scania Dawn Warrior

BobR 07/07/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

That's pretty amazing, but I can see how that would do it. Good thing they had a tech who could come out and fix it..! So it's working OK now, except for the video driver being disabled..? Did he suggest getting the current nVidia driver package, either from Dell or direct from nVidia and installing it..? (Kind of odd he didn't just fix it right then, but oh well, like you said- better than nothing!)

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

SilentXynh 07/07/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] BobR : That's pretty amazing, but I can see how that would do it. Good thing they had a tech who could come out and fix it..! So it's working OK now, except for the video driver being disabled..? Did he suggest getting the current nVidia driver package, either from Dell or direct from nVidia and installing it..? (Kind of odd he didn't just fix it right then, but oh well, like you said- better than nothing!) [/quote] We tried getting the latest one from Dell and that's the one causing the problem. They said they'd contact me when there's a working one that's available, so it's all good...screen resolution is a bit funky atm, but I'll live :P

My Characters: Aussenritter - 90 Scania Dawn Warrior

codytoad1 07/07/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

attempt to get the driver from the nvidia site, and I was kinda confused as to why they didn't send you a copy of windows 7 with it, they sent me the disc with my alienware I just bought, but then again, it could just be that I bought alienware instead of dell lol

My Characters: MODSatansRev - 50 Bera I/L Wizard

SilentXynh 07/07/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Dell's weird 'policy', they don't give the CD because it's already installed >_> Thanks guys, I downloaded the nvidia driver from the site and it works now :D

My Characters: Aussenritter - 90 Scania Dawn Warrior