Video card (or something) malfunctioning

[Skele Drew]

I'm having an issue where my computer VDU (not the monitor) just stopped working. Everything was working fine and then my system got hung (I suspect Teamviewer; this is the second time [1]) and I had to do a hard reboot. Thing is, after the reboot, my monitor (an LCD) was showing the standby light as if there was a blank screensaver running. Rebooted again and this time I saw the BIOS progress bar, but the screen was blank as in MSDOS and the OS choices menu didn't come. Did another reboot when I figured the system HAD actually started successfully the first time, and got the standby light again, but this time I timed it and was able to login (could tell by the sounds).

Switched the monitor to my other system and connected with UltraVNC to find that I was only getting a 640x480 res (and UVNC server froze up too). Got the same res with Teamviewer (but it didn't freeze). Then finally to top things off, I got a found new hardware screen (last time I changed any hardware was a couple months back when I got my LCD):

Following the wizard, even after I gave it the i386 folder, it still couldn't find the files. Now this issue is really puzzling me. What could have happened? It's not malware, I haven't installed anything a while now; all I was doing was streaming a video (from a site I've been using for weeks). Any ideas on what happened and/or how to fix (replacing any h/w is a no-no; everything's on the mobo)?

[Aldayne]

Are you able to boot in VGA or safemode? Don't direct to the i386 folder for the drivers, instead try download the vga drivers and latest chipset drivers if available. Uninstall the existing vga drivers from device manager before installing new ones.

[mike876]

Try re-sinking ur memory (take out an put in back)

[Skele Drew]

Are you able to boot in VGA or safemode? Don't direct to the i386 folder for the drivers, instead try download the vga drivers and latest chipset drivers if available. Uninstall the existing vga drivers from device manager before installing new ones.

I presume that I'll be able to enter those modes, however as I said, the screen is blank from the moment the system is powered on. So I can't even see the BIOS progress bar, let alone the OS menu.

Try re-sinking ur memory (take out an put in back)

I really doubt it's a memory problem, as I'm using the system perfectly fine now, except I'm using it from my other system via the Teamviewer RAT.

[Skele Drew]

System now working normally again, thanks Aldayne. I googled the device driver and installed it. System was OK after a restart. I did notice a bunch of warning icons in device manager under display adapter (badly configured device or something) and many under "other" devices; now they're all gone, along with those "other" devices. BTW, there wasn't any display driver to uninstall and the system was always OK before. Still wondering what might've happened...

[Skele Drew]

It's happened again. Once again I can't use my system properly as the display is busted. And it's the same cause as the last time, though I hadn't known what it was then. My work system froze for some reason, and since I couldn't connect to see what it was, I transferred the VGA cable to it. But I noticed that as soon as I unscrewed it (hadn't even removed it so the picture was still showing, and it looked OK) Winamp stopped playing.

Restarted the work system, and when I switched back again I found that it was actual frozen stiff. Did a hard reboot only to find that the video is gone... again (not even the BIOS progress shows). As if the monitor isn't plugged in. The only way I can use it is with TeamViewer (UltraVNC malfunctioning for some reason). Also, the res is at 800x600 instead of 640x480 as the last time. Device manager shows the display adapter and monitor working normally...

[Skele Drew]

Got a BSoD when I woke the system (from hibernation) not too long saying the file "vga" got stuck in an infinite loop, etc. But at least it's working again, for now. So it seems the onboard VGA card is malfunctioning. Is it possible to use a PCI card and remove the old one (to prevent the issues)? Expansion room is really limited though...

[Bramovik]

Try re-sinking ur memory (take out an put in back)

that will do the trick or reset cmos if possible

[khat17]

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...?ProductID=797

Get that and set it up.

Before or after doing so, do a CHKDSK /R on your drive. Also do a scan for spyware/virus.

If your Windows is straight, you could employ SFC to check the system files to ensure they're all fine. If it not straight, you could still use it, but know which files are jacked and which are fine. Post your results when done.

[Skele Drew]

System now working normally again, thanks Aldayne. I googled the device driver and installed it. System was OK after a restart. I did notice a bunch of warning icons in device manager under display adapter (badly configured device or something) and many under "other" devices; now they're all gone, along with those "other" devices. BTW, there wasn't any display driver to uninstall and the system was always OK before. Still wondering what might've happened...

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...?ProductID=797

Get that and set it up.

Before or after doing so, do a CHKDSK /R on your drive. Also do a scan for spyware/virus.

If your Windows is straight, you could employ SFC to check the system files to ensure they're all fine. If it not straight, you could still use it, but know which files are jacked and which are fine. Post your results when done.

I already did that setup ^...
Chkdsk did find and fix a couple inconsistencies ...
No malware on my drive (well, not running malware )...
SFC giving an error, and I can't find the right process (if that's really the issue; and I'm using a transformation pack, so the results would probably be useless anyway) .

I'm still inclined to believe it's a hardware issue, since when the problem kicks in and I restart, it doesn't show ANYTHING at all as if the monitor's signal cable is unplugged.