Monitor Stopped Getting Signal After Windows 7 Install Disc Inserted

[JMcCormick]

Hey everyone,

I just finished my first build, and it started up fine, monitor was displaying MoBo options and CMOS properly. I put in a Windows Vista OEM disc, it went until the language selection screen where I realized I had an unused Windows 7 disc/key I could use. So I restarted, and inserted the Windows 7 Install Disc, but after the "Windows Files are Opening" white bar finished, my monitor went into No Signal/Sleep mode. I figured it might have crashed, so I restarted it again, and no matter how many times I do, it doesn't display anything. No MoBo options, nothing. I even took out my monitors HDMI cable and hooked a DVI->VGA adapter instead and tried displaying it on my TV, same thing. No signal. I'm not sure if it's a driver problem, or what, but I can't seem to find a conclusive answer what might cause this.

Specs:

Case: Rosewill Challenger
CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 440
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4870 (x1)
Monitor: Haans-G HZ201 20" 5 ms LCD
MoBo: Asus M4A87TD Evo

Monitor is HDMI, was using DVI-> HDMI to hook up monitor (which initially displayed fine) and DVI -> VGA to try on TV. Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Remove your video card, pull the CMOS battery out, and pull the power cable from your power supply. Plug all of them back in after about 3 minutes and power the system on.

 

[JMcCormick]

Remove your video card, pull the CMOS battery out, and pull the power cable from your power supply. Plug all of them back in after about 3 minutes and power the system on.

That seemed to work. It displays fine now, thank you. =)

Although, it revealed a problem I didn't realize before...upon installing Windows, it seems to freeze while it's installing . I thought the graphics card might have not been working again, but after restarting it it displays fine and freezes again when I install. Any suggestions where to look to figure out why?

Thanks a lot. =)

 

[daship]

Maybe you realized you had a pirated bogus win7 and key laying around. Key word pirated.

 

[JMcCormick]

Maybe you realized you had a pirated bogus win7 and key laying around. Key word pirated.

Actually, no. What I realized is that instead of needing to install Vista and then use a Microsoft-downloaded update for Windows 7, I had a clean install of 7 available. I don't pirate OS's.

 

[The_Prophecy]

If the whole machine is locking up, perhaps you have a RAM problem, or a failing hard drive?

Grab a copy of MemTest86+ and test your ram first. If it checks out ok, try installing 7 on another hard drive if you have one available. If not, see if any of your friend's has one you can use temporarily.

Edit: Another possibility is that the Windows 7 install media is faulty. Try installing Windows 7 from a flash drive if possible. Minimum 4GB flash drive is required. See number 18 in the post I linked to.

 

[JMcCormick]

If the whole machine is locking up, perhaps you have a RAM problem, or a failing hard drive?

Grab a copy of MemTest86+ and test your ram first. If it checks out ok, try installing 7 on another hard drive if you have one available. If not, see if any of your friend's has one you can use temporarily.

Edit: Another possibility is that the Windows 7 install media is faulty. Try installing Windows 7 from a flash drive if possible. Minimum 4GB flash drive is required. See number 18 in the post I linked to.

Thanks, that was really helpful. MemTest said my RAM had no errors after a bunch of runs, and I tried multiple OS install discs for both Vista and 7 that were known to work (both lock at approximately the same spot). I'm running Samsung's ESTool to Low Level Format the drive and see if I can get a conclusive result that the HDD was DOA.

Thanks again. =)

 

[The_Prophecy]

In case anyone else reading this gets the wrong idea, I should point out that that utility does not actually low level format the hard drive, and that if one was actually able to somehow perform one on a modern hard drive, that they would render the drive completely useless.

That being said, I would also take a look at Seagate's SeaTools as a second opinion for your drive. SeaTools is not manufacturer specific (not designed solely to run on Seagate hard drives). It will work on any modern drive.

 

[JMcCormick]

In case anyone else reading this gets the wrong idea, I should point out that that utility does not actually low level format the hard drive, and that if one was actually able to somehow perform one on a modern hard drive, that they would render the drive completely useless.

That being said, I would also take a look at Seagate's SeaTools as a second opinion for your drive. SeaTools is not manufacturer specific (not designed solely to run on Seagate hard drives). It will work on any modern drive.

After the "Low Level Format" scan I ran came back that the hard drive was fine, I decided to try installing Ubuntu 9.04 from CD, to see if it was Windows causing the problem or the actual data of loading an OS. I was able to install Ubuntu to the HDD, but only after freezing after the language selection screen a few times, then freezing on the boot after installing. I figured I would try to change options to Removable, take out the Ubuntu disc, and try Method 2 from your thread and install Windows from a flash drive, but it got to

"Boot from (hd0,0) ext3 (random numbers)
Starting up...
_"

before it locked up with a flickering _ symbol. Tried booting again from flash drive, and it got to that screen, and loaded back to Ubuntu successfully (which is theoretically successfully installed on my HDD)


I am becoming very confused as to what's going on. I can't ever load any version of Windows, can't load a bootable OS from flash, and can run Ubuntu 33% of the time from HDD. Grrrrr...


Edit: When writing the flash drive, does the write method matter (ie, USB-HDD+, USB-HDD, USB-ZIP+)? It defaulted on USB-HDD...

 

[JMcCormick]

After using a friend's PC to install Windows 7 onto the HDD (which worked fine), I put it back into my desktop, which now loads the OS okay but freezes after a few minutes of inactivity, or the second another is installed from CD. I also tried switching the SATA port and cable of the HDD based on another forum's thread of someone's similar issue, no luck.

 

[JMcCormick]

Best answer selected by jmccormick.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey