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descriptionStartup fails - lights on but no display EmptyStartup fails - lights on but no display

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Short story: when I press the power button, lights go on and the fans spin but the display remains black (dark grey really so it's not a hardware issue with the display) and the computer doesn't start up.

Long story: this is a tragic story of stupidity. I erased my old Nvidia drivers, restarted fine, installed old Nvidia drivers in the hopes of fixing the Nvlddmkm.sys error, and attempted to restart the computer. Here's where the trouble really started. When shutting down to finalize the installation of the 197.16 drivers, the screen hung at "shutting down" for a very long time. I gave it a good chance and then manually shut it down with the power button. When I started it up I was given the option to run the startup repair utility. I accidentally (promise) selected it...I would have cancelled it but it literally told me I couldn't. So after it finished scanning it restarted. That's where the blank screen appeared and never disappeared.

Let me be specific: I NEVER see any kind of screen where I can input anything. No loading screens or anything. No boot options.
I tried to press some key combinations when booting - nothing.
I tried taking out the battery and that whole method - nothing.
Tried a OS reinstall/repair disc - of course it didn't work becuase I can't get to boot options.

I run Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. My laptop is a Gateway P-6860 FX. Any help would be appreciated.

UPDATE: okay all I had to do was be patient. If I hold down the power button long enough when there is no power and then plug the laptop back in, it starts up. However, throughout the startup process there is significant artifacting. When it booted up the desktop had blue lines all over it and was in 640x480. Of course this is probably because teh drivers didn't install right since I manually shut it down after installing them. I went to device manager and uninstalled the drivers from my 8800m gts and checked the option to delete files. So then I tried to install the newest drivers, 257.xx...and the setup told me I didn't have the hardware to install the drivers! My computer recognized my card just shortly before; I don't think my card got fried. Help?

When I again shut my computer down (this time properly), I had the same problem of not being able to boot. Every time I want to boot I have to detach all power sources and use taht whole method..
Oh, btw, I can't boot in safe mode since the only option I am given when I start up is to start windows normally or use startup repair.

Last edited by BeardedPeaches on 8th July 2010, 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : new development)

descriptionStartup fails - lights on but no display EmptyRe: Startup fails - lights on but no display

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bump

Last edited by BeardedPeaches on 11th July 2010, 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : caps lock)
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