ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Blank Screen

sniedermeyer

I'm doing a fresh install on a Dell Inspiron 8500. The system info says it has ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics so have installed the Dell provided drivers. Also look for more current ones online and haven't found any. When no display adapter driver is installed, the screen will support up to 1024x768. However, once I install the ATI driver and reboot, it shows the Windows logo, and then the screen goes blank. The laptop is logging in successfully as I can here the successful logon sound. However, unless I start Windows up in VGA mode, it won't show anything after the Windows logo splash screen just before logon. Does anyone have ideas as to why this would be occurring? This laptop was working a few weeks ago. It currently has a fresh install of Windows XP Home on it (I tried installing SP2 before reinstalling but that didn't affect it). Almost forgot, the hardware device manager says it's detecting 4 monitors attached to the laptop which isn't the case. It's like the graphics card is telling the OS there are 4 monitors. Tried switching between LCD/CRT but that was the fix (darn). Anyone have an idea of how to fix?

DFTPUB

Sounds like a stuck reed switch. (I know. I never heard of one either until I had this same problem on this exact model Dell. 8 hours of Google-Fu and a lucky poke by the user and....)

Above the keyboard to the left power switch is a little hole with a thin platic rod that pops up when the lid is open and pushed in when the lid is shut. If the little rod is stuck in, the laptop thinks the lid is always down and will push all output to the external video port or dockstation port. If you boot in Safe mode or VGA mode, this switch is ignored.

The 4 monitors in the device manager are for the 4 possible displays - LCD, CRT, DFP, and TV. They show here whether they are plugged in or not.

RogueJD

I've had some problems with dell shipping the wrong install discs before. Example... You order a dell Inspiron XXX, you upgrade this, pay extra for that, etc... they still give you the restore discs and driver discs for the base model.

I'd reccomend verifying exactly what kind of chipset is on that computer, and downloading the appropriate drivers for it. I'd also reccomend not using the drivers from ATI. Get 'em from the dell website for compatibility reasons.

-Edit-

Additional info... Have you messed with your MSCONFIG, or startup procedures?? Someone help me on this, I'm not too sure if this is right, but maybe you are in some kind of selective startup, one that's not loading the drivers upon startup... Try going into VGA mode, go to start, then run, type MSCONFIG, press enter, Make sure that you are in normal startup mode, and make sure all the boxes in the respective tabs are checked. It's a longshot, but worth a try. You said that you just reformatted your system, so there should be no conflicting system applications, but just in case, go to the systems tab, disable everything that is not from microsoft (ex, Norton antivirus, Printer applications, etc...) then reboot with the changes in effect. (An even farther longshot). Again, I may not be right on this but it's worth a shot. You can't hurt anything by doing what I mentioned. Just be sure to re-enable everything after you've tested this theory.

metaltian

I have the exact same problem!!! Suddenly my computer stops getting past the splash screen and then gives up unless i use safe mode.....

any solutions?!?!

rodneyb388

You saved the day! My daughter's Inspiron 8500 experienced the symptons described here. I removed the center control cover by following the Dell Inspiron 8500 service manual found at the link below and found that the reed component was crooked and would not go up and down. I adjusted it and now all is well. My daughter will return to college with a fully functioning computer thatnks to you!

[color=white]http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8500/en/8500/sm/keyboard.htm#1110270[/color]

kryptonite

Computer: Dell Inspiron 9100
Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
Operating system: Windows XP SP 2

Symptom: Black/blank screen after windows logon screen
Cause: Dust (most likely reason in my situation) and/or video card needing to be set in place
Solution: Dusting the graphics card and motherboard and connectors

*IMPORTANT- first, check black pin before trying my solution. Link section below has two links to Reed Switch (black pin).

I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop with a Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics card. After a futile search of over 200 websites and forums, all being inconclusive, I determined to resolve this problem myself. It is a recurring black screen/freeze after windows logon issue that seems a problem commonly associated with Inspirons and ATI mobility cards. Since my hard drive was overheating, I dusted the three fans at bottom of the laptop. Dust must have lodged into the graphics card from cleaning because this is when the real problem began. Upon booting the computer, after the windows logon screen there was a blank screen. There seemed to be a background running because of light flickering.
I restarted, pressed F8, went into Safe Mode, went into Device Manager, opened “Display Adapters” and disabled ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (make sure the drivers are the normal ones, not changed by any other mod like Omega drivers. Driver Cleaner can help delete all ATI drivers that the ATI uninstall program doesn’t do).
I went into normal Windows in VGA mode, which Windows automatically detects after the Radeon graphics card (adapter) has been disabled. Did excessive research and tested everything in Windows for two days with the Mobility Radeon adapter at times enabled or disabled. Finally I left the Radeon adapter enabled with its original drivers and restarted.
Then, as I knew would happen, the blank screen after the windows splash screen came on so I tried a TV tuner to see if a secondary monitor would show the background. Nothing showed up on my TV. But I left the Radeon adapter enabled with original drivers before what I was about to do.
I shut down the laptop and let it cool down for a hour on its back. Be warned: doing the following steps can break your warranty, so do so at your own risk. Anyway, I made sure I was grounded by touching the metal parts at back of the laptop before disassembling the laptop.
Many laptops do not have removable video cards like Inspirons do. Other laptops may have unremovable video cards permanently etched into the motherboard. But I disassembled all the way to the video card, removed the video card on my Inspiron 9100. Inspected for damage and burn on both top and bottom sides... none. I’ve never overclocked the video card or flashed the bios so a “dead card” was unlikely.
The video card had some dust on it, so did the motherboard near the fans. I used normal kleenex (twisting the edge to reach tight places with dust can help) and blew off dust from the video card and motherboard. Checked connectors for dust. Blew on them too. I closely inspected every area of the video card and motherboard and other parts of the laptop to make sure it was thoroughly dusted. That being done, I put everything back in place gently and firmly.
Then on the next restart the video card worked perfectly. The blank screen was gone.


Instructions:
Step#1: check to see if there’s dim background showing desktop icons, etc behind blank screen (using something like a flashlight). If there is a dim background showing stuff, it might be a backlight problem in the monitor.
Step#2: read the Links Section below for information on other things that may be causing your problem
Step#3: think about whether you have a warranty before taking apart the laptop
Step#4: be sure you’re using the original Radeon drivers not Omega drivers (or other mods) before disassembling the laptop (if you choose to)
Step#5: read Dell safety instructions especially about grounding yourself so electricity does not jolt you. Do not ever take apart the monitor itself, it has stored electricity that can kill someone. If the monitor is the problem, have an expert do it.
Step#6: look at black pin first when disassembling computer
Step#7: remember where all the screws and parts belong
Step#8: check video card carefully and dust carefully where needed
Step#9: put everything back in place
Step#10: restart and see what happens


Observations while troubleshooting:
IMPORTANT-Some people experience issues with the black pin directly under the plastic peg on Inspiron systems. It can cause Windows to go into permanent standby/blank screen after windows logon screen. This was not the cause of my problem—but check into the black pin first before taking on my solution. How to check the black pin (reed switch) can be found in the links section I have included near the end of this post.
-entering dxdiag while radeon adapter is enabled caused blank screen with a flashing hyphen at top left of screen then the hyphen freezes. green and purple kaleioscopic colors form before screen blackens out.
-trying to change resolution with radeon adapter enabled brought a blank screen
-using “resolution/refresh forcing” freeware didn’t work
-tried Fn+F8 at bootup to toggle CRT/LCD on exterior monitor, got blank screen (some people may get a secondary monitor to work but dust may be lodged elsewhere inside, so this may cause differing symptoms)
-I never got any error messages when the blank screen happened
-I could not see anything behind the blank screen (but if you do, then you may have a dim screen, which may be a backlight issue with your monitor)
-noticed five default monitors in display properties > settings > advanced > monitor

Observations made after my fix:
-tried installing radeon omega drivers v.3.8.231, but caused problem after bootup with BSOD error: ati2dvag.dll which might be the Infinite Loop error. Had to enter Safe mode, uninstall omega drivers, then let windows install normal Radeon drivers again after normal bootup. If you have Infinite Loop error, look for Infinite Loop Fix in links section I provide below.
-five “default monitors” are still listed in display properties, so let me know if a fix is found for this.


LINKS SECTION
Different causes of blank screen after windows logon screen as following:
Reed switch (black pin):
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Blank Screen
http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthrea...744#post270744
Windows XP hanging while loading agp440.sys:
http://ianwij.com/weblog/archive/200...agp440sys.aspx
Infinite Loop Fix (related to ati2dvag.dll reboot errors):
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic15393.html


MISC LINKS
Disassembling Inspiron 9100:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/sm/index.htm
Discussion at Dell for more comments related to blank screen:
http://forum.us.dell.com/supportforu...sage.id=135922
Troubleshooting a Video Adapter and Computer Monitor:
http://www.fonerbooks.com/video.htm


Hope this helps.

sorrydaijin

This fixed my wife's laptop in about 10 minutes (7 of which were googling and reading this thread)

on of the plastic parts holding the pin in place was broken and the pin remained depressed as a result, meaning the the PC thought the lid was shut.

I used the link mentioned earlier (http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...rd.htm#1110270) to open up the top of the keyboard and then removed the offending pin (a little + shaped gray plastic thing)

many many thanks to those who contributed to the thread for sovling this for me