Monitor won't switch ona fter defragging

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jul
  • Start date Start date
J

Jul

I was on a wesite and it suggested that I defragged my hard disk,
soion after I started defragging at round about 2% gthe computer
crashed, when I rebooted the monitor would just flash but nothing
would be shown on the monitor it has done this one and off within the
4 years

I have had the comp it usually solves itself if I leave the comp
switched off for a few hours but it has been two days now and it still
does the same flashing of the monitor, I changed monitors and I had a
1 sec screen then that monitor went off into a flashing only mode, it
looks like something in the comp is being opverheated the fan is
working ok I opened it up could defragging a 54MB hard disk cause the
comp to overheat?

and since it defragged only 2% and crashed are all my hard disk files
corrupted and unrecoverable?

I have a 412 MB ram 54 Gig hard disk celeron 1500MHz athlon processor
from time computers.
 
Jul said:
I was on a wesite and it suggested that I defragged my hard disk,
soion after I started defragging at round about 2% gthe computer
crashed, when I rebooted the monitor would just flash but nothing
would be shown on the monitor it has done this one and off within
the 4 years
Click to expand...

Unless you have ECC memory bad memory or soft-memory errors have
probably caught up with you. First test your memory thoroughly.
Then repartition and format your hard disk. Then reinstall
everything from the CD's or other original media. If possible
replace your memory with ECC memory and enable it.
 
Unless you have ECC memory bad memory or soft-memory errors have
probably caught up with you. First test your memory thoroughly.
Then repartition and format your hard disk. Then reinstall
everything from the CD's or other original media. If possible
replace your memory with ECC memory and enable it.
Click to expand...


i'd advise *against* repartitioning and formatting if there's data on the
drive that's needed.
of course, if there is a ram problem it should be corrected

first thing to do for a win9x system is run scandisk C: from a bootfloppy

or chkdsk /f from the repair console if win2k /XP

if the data is still there but windows is inoperative
an install over should do the job
 
Jul said:
I was on a wesite and it suggested that I defragged my hard disk,
soion after I started defragging at round about 2% gthe computer
crashed, when I rebooted the monitor would just flash but nothing
would be shown on the monitor it has done this one and off within the
4 years
Click to expand...

Do you get anything when you switch it on? Do you see the BIOS screen/memory
count, etc.? If not, you've got a hardware failure and it's 99% coincidence
that it happened during a defrag.

If you get the boot screen, mem count, etc. but the Windows screen never
appears try starting in safe mode (tap the F8 key during the setartup memory
count and don't stop until you see the start menu). Might have just messed
up the display settings and once in safe mode you can correct them.

You didn't mention OS, so troubleshooting from there would vary - DOS boot
disk if you HDD is FAT (Win9x or ME) to see if files are still there.
 
philo wrote: (and removed attributions - don't do that)
i'd advise *against* repartitioning and formatting if there's data
on the drive that's needed.
of course, if there is a ram problem it should be corrected

first thing to do for a win9x system is run scandisk C: from a
bootfloppy or chkdsk /f from the repair console if win2k /XP

if the data is still there but windows is inoperative
an install over should do the job
Click to expand...

The point is that (assuming the memory fault) after any copying,
and especially any defragging, the data on that disk is extremely
likely to be faulty. Repartitioning and formatting will get rid
of it all. I wouldn't save anything that is not in text form, so
I can easily inspect it.

I would only make an exception for files protected with my
validate program, or the equivalent. Again, such protection is
too late now, as are any backups made after the memory first
faulted. validate can be found on
<http://cbfalconer.home.att.net/download/>
 
The point is that (assuming the memory fault) after any copying,
and especially any defragging, the data on that disk is extremely
likely to be faulty. Repartitioning and formatting will get rid
of it all. I wouldn't save anything that is not in text form, so
I can easily inspect it.
Click to expand...

<portions snipped>

i've worked on a few machines where the memory had failed

if the memory was replaced prior to any attempt to 'repair' the system...
most of the data was still good

OTOH: if 'repairs' were attempted with the bad memory still in the machine
then there were usually major problems...

so in light of that it seems it best to run a memory test *first*
 
philo said:
<portions snipped>

i've worked on a few machines where the memory had failed

if the memory was replaced prior to any attempt to 'repair' the
system... most of the data was still good

OTOH: if 'repairs' were attempted with the bad memory still in
the machine then there were usually major problems...

so in light of that it seems it best to run a memory test *first*
Click to expand...

If you look at the original posting, the visible symptoms had
appeared before, and the total deadness appeared in the midst of a
defrag. I wouldn't trust that machine with your 10 foot pole.
Yes, the memtest comes first, if he is capable of it. He probably
doesn't even have a floppy prepared for it.
 
If you look at the original posting, the visible symptoms had
appeared before, and the total deadness appeared in the midst of a
defrag. I wouldn't trust that machine with your 10 foot pole.
Yes, the memtest comes first, if he is capable of it. He probably
doesn't even have a floppy prepared for it.
Click to expand...

since the OP posted from a working machine there's a chance


at any rate...a bootdisk can be found at www.bootdisk.com
they also have a link to the memtest utility IIRC it's called memtest86
 
Noozer said:
Do you get anything when you switch it on? Do you see the BIOS screen/memory
count, etc.? If not, you've got a hardware failure and it's 99% coincidence
that it happened during a defrag.

If you get the boot screen, mem count, etc. but the Windows screen never
appears try starting in safe mode (tap the F8 key during the setartup memory
count and don't stop until you see the start menu). Might have just messed
up the display settings and once in safe mode you can correct them.

You didn't mention OS, so troubleshooting from there would vary - DOS boot
disk if you HDD is FAT (Win9x or ME) to see if files are still there.
Click to expand...


It is a hardware problem, the monitor comes on a split second when I
switch the comp and then the monitor goes off, I have changed the
monitor and it does the exact same thing so I suspect it is a hardware
problem, it has however been doing this on and off for the last 4
years, I usually just let the computer be for few hours and then the
monitor works when it is switched on again, notably the fan makes a
slightly different sound after this.

I am on winxp 54gig hard drive 512 MB ram 1500mhz celeron processsor,
I am unable to load a boot disk or have access to any files on the
comp as the monitor will not switch on it flashes for a second and
then goes off flashing on some monitor makes and just stays off on
others so I don;t think it's a software problem
 
It could be a bad hard drive.

It could also be overheating the CPU. If a CPU runs hot OK normally
it will only give up when the computer is made to work harder like
during a Defrag or some other intensive operation. You were given
warning signs and you chose to ignore them! Too bad you were too
stupid to get a new hard drive.
 
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