White Screen During Startup

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  • #8486
    distemper
    Spectator

    A while back, I posted about this problem I was having when I turned my computer on or woke it up from Sleep mode. A whitish gray, flickering screen would appear for around 3-5 seconds, then disappear. This time, I have pictures, in case my description was failing:

     

    Quote:

    0128000316.jpg

     

    0128001331.jpg

     

    This would also happen when I watch a full screen video(like, making a youtube video fullscreen), but once I shook the mouse, it would usually disappear. Not sure if moving the mouse has anything to do with it, since it could have just been a really quick one.

     

    I’m not sure if its a problem with the GPU or the screen, since the above listed are literally the ONLY times this ever happens. I can play an extremely demanding game for this computer, say, GTA4, and it won’t happen. I’ve recently been playing lots of Mass Effect 2, and the computer’s been on for a long time for that as well. I get a smooth 30 fps on that, so, I’m pretty confused regarding what’s going on.

     

    So, again, my system specs:

     

    HP Pavilion dv5-1010us

    4gb RAM

    nVidia GeForce 9200M GS 256mb, Total GPU 2gb

    Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium

    Intel Core Duo P7350 @2.00gHz

     

    If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it.

    #96892
    MasterP
    Spectator

    Call HP asap before your warranty runs out and have them replace the systemboard.

    #96936
    distemper
    Spectator

    Huh? What?

     

    Thanks for the info… but, can you elaborate? What’s a systemboard?

     

    I can’t get it replaced immediately, since this is the only computer I have at the moment… again, this only happens during startup and watching full screen video for a few seconds.

     

    Finally, is there anything I shouldn’t be doing while this is still a problem, like, play a game, etc…?

    #96947
    MasterP
    Spectator

    The systemboard is a large, $400 circuit board that won’t be getting replaced once you’re out of warranty.

     

    It doesn’t matter that the problem isn’t major, they always start off small.

    #96949
    distemper
    Spectator

    Alright, I’ll contact them as soon as possible…

     

    Do I need to back up any data, or will that not be affected?

     

    Also, wait, is system board=motherboard? Cause that might alleviate A LOT of my confusion…

    #97541
    Falcon
    Spectator

    system board does = motherboard. and I’d say if you’re able to easily (if you already own an external HDD, etc.), go ahead and back it up. ‘specially if they want that thing shipped in for repair…

     

    also, have you updated your video drivers recently? or ran windows update?

    #97581
    distemper
    Spectator

    Falcon, you got it right again.

     

    I contacted HP, and the guy was able to give me a hand, even though my warranty expired. According to them, it’s not my systems board/motherboard, but rather, the fact that I have Windows 7 and a newer graphics driver installed.

     

    I was originally going to wait it out after being skeptical about what MasterP said, but then I got scared when more problems started happening, such as these faint horizontal gray bars(kinda like what you see on CRT screens when they’re filmed, except more of them) moving from the top of the screen towards the bottom. So, I called HP. Basically, I had installed this new graphics driver(released this past december) for my video card, the nVidia 9200M GS, and lots of games I was playing, such as GTA4, Mass Effect 2, etc… were running a lot better. Turns out that my PC, built in late 2007, doesn’t support that driver. I installed the driver I was supposed to have(released in 2008), and the games ran slower, but the bars disappeared. Also, I had installed Windows 7 around December, and in retrospect, I think this is when the problems started. I still deal with an occasional white screen, but I can’t get vista again, since I don’t have a recovery disk.

     

    Also, I had a crapload of dust in my fan, and I couldn’t hear the screwed up sound of the fan running because I use a fanned cooling pad(the noise blocks out the sound of the built in fan), and my computer was nowhere near overheating because of it.

    #97584
    MasterP
    Spectator

    If you’re running Windows7 you can’t be using a driver released in 2008…

     

    As for HP, they’ll help you at any point, in or out of warranty, but if you need something replaced it gets really expensive, really fast. Not really their fault though, all manufacturers are that way.

    #97585
    Nickname
    Spectator

    MasterP said:

    If you’re running Windows7 you can’t be using a driver released in 2008…

    unless he is using a vista driver.

     

    My old laptop (HP dv2000z) with its geforce go6150 wouldn’t work right unless I used a vista driver from back in 2007; even the windows update driver would cause issues.

    #97586
    MasterP
    Spectator

    Nickname said:

    MasterP said:

    If you’re running Windows7 you can’t be using a driver released in 2008…

    unless he is using a vista driver.

     

    My old laptop (HP dv2000z) with its geforce go6150 wouldn’t work right unless I used a vista driver from back in 2007; even the windows update driver would cause issues.

    The HP DV series has working Win7 video drivers.

    #97610
    distemper
    Spectator

    Actually, this is kind of the problem.

     

    I am running Windows 7, but I’m not supposed to be running Windows 7 on this computer. According to the tech support guy, I should be running vista on this computer and all the 2008 drivers. Yes, the dv series has Windows 7 drivers, but apparently, not this one. Microsoft’s software check approved my computer to run Win7, but the guy told me that if I was running Win7 on this computer, even if I had an extended warranty, they would not do anything for me unless I reverted my system back to Vista, since I was in breach of the warranty by changing the OS.

     

    Well, the flashing screens and the suddenly “white-outs” are starting to happen again. I’m not exactly sure what is the cause exactly, but I’m going to play it safe and get a external HD to back up my data asap.

     

    Thanks for the help, guys.

    #97611
    MasterP
    Spectator

    What is the exact model number off the bottom sticker?

    Nvm I can’t read.

     

    Start search: device manager

    Under display adapters open the only video card listed

    Go to Details tab, click the scroll down menu and select Hardware IDs

    The top listing should be PCI\VEN_XXXX&DEV_XXXX……..(etc)

     

    Please give me the VEN and DEV ids that are listed.

     

    Also, by “2008 driver” I assume you mean the one listed here:

    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-67044-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=4063&product=3753629

    #97616
    Nickname
    Spectator

    well really at this point though you need to go back to vista with the full system restore and see if the problem is still there. If it is, its a hardware problem that HP needs to fix, if not then you need to figure out wtf the problem is.

    #97670
    distemper
    Spectator

    Hey MasterP,

     

    That is the right driver. The driver I was using before this was the 9200M GS driver downloaded from the nVidia website: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.62_whql.html

     

    The thing is, under supported products, my card is listed under 9M Series.

     

    As for the Hardware IDs,

     

    I found them, and there are a few:

     

    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E8&SUBSYS_3603103C&REV_A1

    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E8&SUBSYS_3603103C

    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E8&CC_030000

    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E8&CC_0300

     

    Thanks again for helping.

     

    @ Nickname:

     

    Quote:

    well really at this point though you need to go back to vista with the full system restore and see if the problem is still there. If it is, its a hardware problem that HP needs to fix, if not then you need to figure out wtf the problem is.

     

    Yeah, but I don’t have the Vista recovery disk on me or an External HD to back up my stuff in case of a crash yet. I’m going to try every available option before turning to that.

    #97692
    Nickname
    Spectator

    just saying they will blame windows 7 left and right until you can tell them the problem exists in vista…

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