Monitor problem

Compaq Presario 5000 5WV254
700mhz AMD Duron
256MB Ram
Windows ME

This post is long. It begins.... I was adding one stick of RAM the
other night to increase from 256 to 512. I was not having any problems.
I know! I know! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

After reconnecting all cables at the back of my computer, connecting the
electricity and powering up, my screen was blank. Thinking that ME had
fully booted but I just couldn't see it (dumb me!) and being pretty sure
my monitor cable wasn't completely plugged in (why didn't I double-check
it before poweing up when I wasn't 100% sure?), I used Ctl-Alt-Del to
try to shutdown by moving my "invisible" cursor to the "Shutdown"
position and hitting Enter. (I know. Pretty stupid.) Nothing
happened. Then I used Ctl-Alt-Del again because I realized I had used
one of the arrow keys (to the left of the numeric keypad) instead of the
Tab key to move my "invisible" cursor. Again nothing happened -
surprise, surprise - so I shutdown using the power key (hard shutdown?).

Powering back up resulted in the Windows ME screen followed by a blank
screen with a blinking cursor briefly and then no cursor. Doing another
hard shutdown/power on took me to the screen that lets you choose how to
bootup. It had Safe Mode selected and the machine booted up there into
Windows Help and Support. (The new RAM was recognized in Safe Mode;
nevertheless I decided to remove it before proceeding further.)

After many frustrating hours, including using System Restore to go back
to a restore point from earlier in the day and going through the steps
in a printout I had of MS article 273738 "How to Troubleshoot Windows
Millennium Edition Startup Problems", I eventually realized I could
access my newsreader program in Safe Mode. After looking through lots
of posts in my archive of the MS Windows ME help newsgroups, I found a
thread from April 2005 in which the recommendation to someone having a
similar problem was to remove all Monitor entries in the Device Manager
(which did not fix my problem) and then suggested removing all Video
Display Adapter entries (which also did not fix my problem).

I got the "detecting new hardware" message the very first time I
rebooted (I'm not sure whether that was after removing the Monitor
entries or the Video Display Adapter entries) but I have not seen that
message in many subsequent reboots.

There are now no Monitor entries present in Device Manager. Whenever I
can do what I call a "semi-successful" boot, it starts with a message
about "PCI VGA compatible display adapter" that goes by so fast I can't
get the whole thing and then a message about nVidia. Then a box appears
with "To finish setting up your new hardware, restart your computer....
Do you wish to restart now?".

If I don't restart, I can get into Windows with 640x480 and 16 colors
(a "semi-successful" boot.) That's where I am now which, fortunately,
allows me to get online to access email, do other work and, most
importantly, do more research on this problem I'm having.

If I choose instead to restart, I get the blank screen scenario again.
I then hard shutdown/power up and let my machine go into Safe Mode where
I remove the nVidia Video Display Adapter entry so I can get another
semi-successful boot.

I've already checked that all cards and cables inside are secure.
I have a feeling I'm going to have to mess with the BIOS and guess I
just want some guidance (reassurance!) before proceeding.

At http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme/r1077150248 it says that
clearing my board's BIOS Plug and Play configuration data (DMI) may do
the trick. although I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Some reading I've done at HP's site indicates that resetting my BIOS
back to its default configuration might fix my problem. Their site does
tell how to do that but I'm not sure I'm ready (call it "scared") since
this is the most complicated problem I've encountered since buying this
machine in Nov. 2000. If necessary, I have the last BIOS update Compaq
provided in 2002 for this computer.

Thanks,
Nevans

P.S. Just for clarification, I did use the appropriate RAM for this
machine. Several years ago I increased my ram from 64 to 256 (by
replacing Compaq's 64MB stick with two 128MB sticks of Kingston
KVR133Q/128R) and this time added one 256MB stick of Kingston
KVR133Q/256R in the last available slot.

Here's the portion of the old thread I mentioned above (which, by the
way, fixed the OP's problem back then although he didn't say which
action(s) actually resulted in success). I can provide more of the
thread if you need it.

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 00:36:08 +0100, Mike M wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsme.hardware
<news:OM1TRiTRFHA.2348@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl>:

> Follow Mart's suggestion and remove all entries in Monitor in the Device
> Manager. If that doesn't fix it then boot back into Safe Mode and remove
> all Video Display Adapter entries.
> --
> Mike Maltby MS-MVP
> mike.maltby.TakeThisOut@gmail.com
>
> KenP <KenP.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>> I forgot to include that if I boot up in the SAFE MODE, the PC does
>> come up. Where do I change the monitor refresh mode, bios or ???

Your (current) problem appears to be due to the video adapter (card) no
longer being offered the correct WinMe driver. Confirm that you have the
correct driver (originally supplied with the pc - on a separate CD perhaps?)
and re-do Mike's and my advice (at the bottom of your post) and reinstall
your video driver.

You MUST remove the old driver(s) in Safe Mode first.

When your PC re-boots (into Normal Mode) it *should* ask you to direct it to
the video driver. Be sure to point it to the correct driver - don't let it
guess and find a default "PCI VGA compatible display adapter". You MUST
direct it to the correct WinMe compatible one, specifically designed for
your card/adapter.

Good luck

Mart



"Nevans" <nevansc DeleteThis @gmail.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:174z52fpcicqx$.dlg@N152468.user.x-privat.org...
> Compaq Presario 5000 5WV254
> 700mhz AMD Duron
> 256MB Ram
> Windows ME
>
> This post is long. It begins.... I was adding one stick of RAM the
> other night to increase from 256 to 512. I was not having any problems.
> I know! I know! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
>
> After reconnecting all cables at the back of my computer, connecting the
> electricity and powering up, my screen was blank. Thinking that ME had
> fully booted but I just couldn't see it (dumb me!) and being pretty sure
> my monitor cable wasn't completely plugged in (why didn't I double-check
> it before poweing up when I wasn't 100% sure?), I used Ctl-Alt-Del to
> try to shutdown by moving my "invisible" cursor to the "Shutdown"
> position and hitting Enter. (I know. Pretty stupid.) Nothing
> happened. Then I used Ctl-Alt-Del again because I realized I had used
> one of the arrow keys (to the left of the numeric keypad) instead of the
> Tab key to move my "invisible" cursor. Again nothing happened -
> surprise, surprise - so I shutdown using the power key (hard shutdown?).
>
> Powering back up resulted in the Windows ME screen followed by a blank
> screen with a blinking cursor briefly and then no cursor. Doing another
> hard shutdown/power on took me to the screen that lets you choose how to
> bootup. It had Safe Mode selected and the machine booted up there into
> Windows Help and Support. (The new RAM was recognized in Safe Mode;
> nevertheless I decided to remove it before proceeding further.)
>
> After many frustrating hours, including using System Restore to go back
> to a restore point from earlier in the day and going through the steps
> in a printout I had of MS article 273738 "How to Troubleshoot Windows
> Millennium Edition Startup Problems", I eventually realized I could
> access my newsreader program in Safe Mode. After looking through lots
> of posts in my archive of the MS Windows ME help newsgroups, I found a
> thread from April 2005 in which the recommendation to someone having a
> similar problem was to remove all Monitor entries in the Device Manager
> (which did not fix my problem) and then suggested removing all Video
> Display Adapter entries (which also did not fix my problem).
>
> I got the "detecting new hardware" message the very first time I
> rebooted (I'm not sure whether that was after removing the Monitor
> entries or the Video Display Adapter entries) but I have not seen that
> message in many subsequent reboots.
>
> There are now no Monitor entries present in Device Manager. Whenever I
> can do what I call a "semi-successful" boot, it starts with a message
> about "PCI VGA compatible display adapter" that goes by so fast I can't
> get the whole thing and then a message about nVidia. Then a box appears
> with "To finish setting up your new hardware, restart your computer....
> Do you wish to restart now?".
>
> If I don't restart, I can get into Windows with 640x480 and 16 colors
> (a "semi-successful" boot.) That's where I am now which, fortunately,
> allows me to get online to access email, do other work and, most
> importantly, do more research on this problem I'm having.
>
> If I choose instead to restart, I get the blank screen scenario again.
> I then hard shutdown/power up and let my machine go into Safe Mode where
> I remove the nVidia Video Display Adapter entry so I can get another
> semi-successful boot.
>
> I've already checked that all cards and cables inside are secure.
> I have a feeling I'm going to have to mess with the BIOS and guess I
> just want some guidance (reassurance!) before proceeding.
>
> At http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme/r1077150248 it says that
> clearing my board's BIOS Plug and Play configuration data (DMI) may do
> the trick. although I'm not quite sure how to do that.
>
> Some reading I've done at HP's site indicates that resetting my BIOS
> back to its default configuration might fix my problem. Their site does
> tell how to do that but I'm not sure I'm ready (call it "scared") since
> this is the most complicated problem I've encountered since buying this
> machine in Nov. 2000. If necessary, I have the last BIOS update Compaq
> provided in 2002 for this computer.
>
> Thanks,
> Nevans
>
> P.S. Just for clarification, I did use the appropriate RAM for this
> machine. Several years ago I increased my ram from 64 to 256 (by
> replacing Compaq's 64MB stick with two 128MB sticks of Kingston
> KVR133Q/128R) and this time added one 256MB stick of Kingston
> KVR133Q/256R in the last available slot.
>
> Here's the portion of the old thread I mentioned above (which, by the
> way, fixed the OP's problem back then although he didn't say which
> action(s) actually resulted in success). I can provide more of the
> thread if you need it.
>
> On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 00:36:08 +0100, Mike M wrote in
> microsoft.public.windowsme.hardware
> <news:OM1TRiTRFHA.2348@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl>:
>
>> Follow Mart's suggestion and remove all entries in Monitor in the Device
>> Manager. If that doesn't fix it then boot back into Safe Mode and remove
>> all Video Display Adapter entries.
>> --
>> Mike Maltby MS-MVP
>> mike.maltby DeleteThis @gmail.com
>>
>> KenP <KenP DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I forgot to include that if I boot up in the SAFE MODE, the PC does
>>> come up. Where do I change the monitor refresh mode, bios or ???