Windows 7 suddenly not able to be logged into

[quakerboy]

Scenario: Computer with windows 7 pro, Acting as a file server for the company as well as my personal work station. Working perfect as of yesterday evening.

This morning, strange lines on the video display. Restart. Looks ok through load up, loads windows, ok.. Gets to when the login screen should pop up, flash of light from the top and bottom of the screen, then screen. But actively blank, the monitor is reading it as video, and does not go into powersave mode.

But its not completely dead. It still works as a fileserver, as long as you only want to access the files via our network. People have been using it for that all day with no difficulty. Indecisive boss means we have gotomyPC and Logmein installed. Neither can log in, both regard it as turned off when viewed from remote computers.

I did get it to log in once in safemode. Worked perfectly. There were a couple recent windows updates, and I figured maybe going back a restore point would make it more useable. Nope. Now I cannot even access safemode. It goes to a Blank black screen with a handshaped pointer. Different than the regular log in, but no more usefull.

Any ideas? Ive got nothing.

[BlueJazz]

1. You should be able to take the install disk and have the Disk (windows 7)

...do a repair on the system files.
Do you have access to the original 7 disk ??

[trotsky]

2. Can you remote desktop into it?

(You need to have enabled that feature ahead of time - although it can be done remotely too if necessary.)

Sure sounds like a video issue, either with your driver or the card itself. Can you try a different video card?

[quakerboy]

5. No

We did not enable the windows remote. And Neither of the programs we use for that, Logmein or GotomyPC are allowing us access.

[RoyGBiv]

3. I suspect hardware ...

This has all the symptoms of a video card that's overheated. It has a few symptoms on top of that, which may suggest that the video issue is secondary, but that's still the first place I think I'd look, at least to rule it out.

[quakerboy]

4. This was the initial thought

Its using onboard Video. There are 3 main things that makes me think this may not be a Video card issue.

During load up, you get all the Dos screens, no problem. And you also get the windows load screen with no problem. It does not go dark until the point it would normally pop up the log in screen.

If I take it into safemode, I get a normal cursor, just with nothing to use it on. Plus, the one time i managed to load into safemode normally, it worked fine.

And finally, if it were the video card, I would think that I should be able to get into it via the remote services we use.

If I had a spare video card, I would pop it in anyway, on the off chance its either the video card or the drivers in some way.

[Egnever]

6. Gonna second this

The fact that it is sill serving files to other machines makes me think the OS is loading, I dont know how it would continue to share files if it were not.

Also the video effects you described definitely sound like an overheating vid card.

[quakerboy]

8. See my new response right below this.

This is a problem I never would have caught other than the way I did, by total accident.

It appears the main problem is the monitor. But we still have another problem, as yet unsolved. Perhaps the vid card.

[quakerboy]

7. NeW development

We pulled a monitor from another computer to try. No luck. But the symptoms changed. Now black screen with a cursor, no mater what we do.

In the mean time, I thought to try the old monitor on the computer we stole the extra one from. EXACT symptom match. This is totally new by me. I always thought a monitor worked or didn't work. And it was pretty easy to tell the difference. But this one works perfectly through loading the OS, and only stops at the point you would get to a log in screen.

Put the borrowed monitor back on the computer it was borrowed from, and viola, we have a working computer again.


However our original problem computer is still not working correctly, even with the addition of a verified working replacement monitor. So... right now we are parachuting in a new monitor, and looking for a video card to see if that miraculously solves the issue.

[Egnever]

9. Interesting

Are you shutting the comuputer down when changing the monitor? It sounds like no. You really shouldnt change out monitors with the machine running you can short the board that way.

I agree that the monitor itself should have no effect whatsoever on the OS it is just a display nothing else.

I would definitely restart the problem system with the new monitor attached as it sounds like the other monitor is shot. As far as I know Monitors can not affect the OS at all.

[quakerboy]

10. Problem solved

I was turning it off while swapping monitors. What my boss did before I arrived, I cannot say.

So, after bringing in a new monitor, I was able to load the windows recovery options, hit a restore point a few days back, and the computer is now working. Life is much less stressful.



I still am baffled by the fact that the old monitor loaded through Dos, Bios, Windows startup functions with perfect picture, then kills the graphics when, and only when, you get to the windows login screen.

[TrogL]

11. It may be using different graphics chips (or parts of the chip)

...through the various stages and one of those circuits is blown.

Put a cheap video card in it so you can swap it out if it breaks.

[RC]

12. That sounds like a corrupt video driver to me.

The fact that it worked till the login screen and in Safe Mode and when you did a Windows recovery, then things worked normally again.
I think your said you were using on board video, so it all fits.

[hobbit709]

13. Ditto on the crapped driver.

I've had this happen in XP and Vista too.

[canetoad]

14. Another vote for video driver nt