# Dell Inspiron 9400 - Graphics/Startup Black Screen at Boot



## Xander1302 (May 24, 2008)

Hi,

im very close to just throw it out of the window >< 
Ok here is the problem:
During working at my Laptop, after about 8/9hrs of runningtime, while watching a streaming video, there was a bluescreen which said something of a hardware malfunction, please contact your salesman/company bla. .

After that I shut it down and restarted it. When I tried to start the laptop the Dell logo would come on with a weired pattern of green dots in the background, then the usual XP logo would come on, still green dot pattern all over the screen and then the screen would go blank. (see picture links below)

When I start it in safe Mode, everything work fine, there are no screen problems, no dots ..... I already tried the system recovery but I didnt solve the problem.

Im pretty much out of my knowledge and now refer to you guys. I hope someone can help me !

(Ah and I attached an external Monitor, and it shows the same Lines or dots, so its no display malfunction).

Links:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/Xander1302/DSC04875.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/Xander1302/DSC04872.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/Xander1302/DSC04874.jpg


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## peterhuang913 (May 24, 2008)

The graphics card would be messed up.


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## cheap_deal (Jul 10, 2008)

i have exact same problem on my i9400 with the 7900gs graphics card. i did not install any new drivers i dont even play games. 
now windows starts only in safe mode, normal bootup screen is completely blank. tried installing the graphics driver with no luck.
is my card fried?
please help


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## Coreyk58 (Jan 20, 2009)

Hi you guys, I have had the same issue in the past. I have a Dell Inspirion E1705 laptop. Every time I tried to fix the issue thinking it might be something with the software, I couldn't find anything. Finally I talked to Dell support and they sent me a new graphics card which fixed the problem and my computer was up and running normally again. But even so the new graphics card fixed my issue a couple months down the road it happens again. I've replace my graphics card 3 to 4 times now and I'm tired of doing so. I would like to know if someone out there has found a way to fix the issue maybe being a software related issue?, Instead of bad graphics card.


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## techno2009 (Jan 21, 2009)

hello

this problem coms becouse that the fan of the graphicscard is 
jammed with dust , en eventually it overheats en gives little lines
in the display . also if this is in bios mode its never the driver 
becouse it loads after bios . once the card it is over 110 degrees celcius .
it goes dead very soon , the regular processor is protected for this 
and goes off , but graphics isnt , its for the best to clean both fans 
every 1,5 year . you must aprox 25 screws out of the cover .
and 4 connectors , and then you can reach it .
also if the cpu fan runs alot with low use this fan is blocked too .
and due to overheating it automatticly will put the freq lower 
which leads to lower overall performance .

techno2009


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## VulgumPecus (Mar 2, 2009)

I had sort of the same problem as seen on thoses pictures. I started seaching for a replacement 7900gs but could'nt find any at that time. Then, without really believe in what I was doing, I started to search for a way to repair the video, and I find it! It will seem crazy but I find on internet an article where a guy talk about how he repair his video card...by putting it in the oven! In his particular situation it was not a 7900 gs, it was an nvidia 5700 on an acer laptop but whatever, my graphic card doesn't work so I got nothing to lose and I try it anyway. The result is that now I am writing this reply on a fully working dell 9400 with a flawless,like new, 7900gs. I tried a few game, bioshock and titan quest and it work great. It been 3 days that I repaired it.

Here is the recipe to do the same: 
you put the oven at 130 degree C
You open the laptop, took out the graphic card
You will have also to took off the, I don't know how it's called in english, the thing that have for purpose to cool down the graphic card.
You put the graphic card in the oven for 3 minutes on one side then 3 minutes on the other side
You put it back in the laptop, cross your finger and start it, 
if your lucky no more green dots

If you dont know how to open your laptop, I know it exist some documention on internet that explain how to do it step by step, I believe it is on dell website somewhere, not sure, google that.

I'm not an informatician and i know all this seem silly but it worked for me and that the kind of information I would have love to find before, so I post it on some forums where people got the same issue.

I it work for you, share it too.

Here is the website where the idea of the oven come:
http://www.espacerezo.fr/index.php?reparer-une-carte-graphique-en-la-mettant-au-four

It's in french, (in fact i am french, sorry for the so-so english)


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## VulgumPecus (Mar 2, 2009)

Oh and yeah wait a little bit before putting the graphic card back in the laptop, it will be quite hot, let it cool down.


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## michail (May 14, 2009)

I actually did the procedure a couple of hours ago, and amazingly, it worked.
I couldn't believe it. Thanks.
Right now I'm writing this replay from the Dell (Nvidia 7900 Go).
Now the interesting thing is:
VulgumPecus is your Dell still working properly?


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## VulgumPecus (Mar 2, 2009)

Well, yes and no...
It is about de sixth time that i put it in the oven. The dysfonction seem to always come back... but at least each and every time that I putted it in the oven it worked all good just after. The longest it last between two trip in the oven was a month and a half and the shortest was three days! So my solution ain't perfect but it still kinda work, like right now im typing on my dell and yeah even after so many being in the oven my 7900Go keep on doing its job!


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## smbcivilpe (Jan 27, 2010)

Re Dell Inpiron 9400 with 7900 go GS..

Thanks to al the people who posted.. I have beeen pulling my air out trying to fix this video crash without having to buy a new $40 video card.. and by the way Dell tech support was not only useless, you guys put them to shame, and I told them that!!!!!!! 

So I did every thing that everyone recommended.. coming short of putting it in the oven!! good idea though....

I did the reset video card.. cleaned everything with 90% alcohol... redid all the heat sinks with thermal paste.. tore it apart about twenty times.... nothing worked!

UNTIL................

So I disabled the Nvidia through the Device Manager in safe mode.. this way it would run in VGA mode..

Installed the I8kfanGUI 3.0 DELL Notebook Fan Control Utility - at first I put the fans on HIGH full override for both....

But when it booted they didn't turn on.. must have missed the check box for autostart ann startup..

Anyways I let my son go on and play a game while I read more about th VGA 945GM that is on the motherboard.. I didn't realinze the fans were not running at all!!!!!!! So the thing just shuts down on him.. I turned it back on and it boots back to a DOS screen stating the the computer shut-down to protect becuase it was overheating....

I booted normally, and just like that all the vertical dots and funy characters went away... The screen looked completely different but normal for VGA.. so I took a chance and Enable the Nvidia 7900 go GS again through hardware manager.. and gritted my teeth with anticipation when the screen flipped.. It worked..!!! The Nvidia was back and fully functional.. I set up the I8kfanGUI to run the fans normally.. with a seperate setting for when it is running the internet and games.. You have to remember to switch this manual.. I may just leave it on high all the time so it doesn't fry and get stupid again.... 

I then flashed the BIOS with Version A10 available off the dell site.. and updated the Nvidia drivers along with the utility tools... So far so good....!!!!!

In a nut shell.. and believe me.. I'm just an engineer that can fix anything, and I am pretty good at computers.. but by far NOT any kind of a computer whiz....

I truley believe that this has nothing to do with the Nvidia Card itself initally anyways.. I think it has something to do with the GPU on the mother board or other mother board control that gets stupid and tell itself that the Video Card is to hot or fried! or and combination of the two.. maybe (hopefully not).. it may fry the video card, but for now I am optomistic.. and have the fans on high with good cooling pad running under it!!!!!!

So if you want to take the chance and turn off the fans completely.. wait for the system to shutdown from overheating.... then boot back up, you might find your Nvida 7900 go GS working again!!.. I take no credit or responsiblity for this find, or your out come if you try it.. but I'm please with my accidental dicovery...

Once again... thanks to all.. your Info and links led me to this discovery!!!!!!!!!!

Best to all of you, I'm registered and in the words of Arnold "I'll Be BACK"

Feel free to email me if you have any questions about what I went through!...


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## cheap_deal (Jul 10, 2008)

i read thru your post. i dont quite understand what exactly you did to overcome the problem. you downloaded the a10 bios then switched off the fans completely? is that your suggestion? or is it to leave the fans on high? 
thanks in advance


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## techno2009 (Jan 21, 2009)

its probably become good working due to the fans were off . the card created lots of heat what reasembles the loose connection in the card .

the oven solution is working on the same way , only heat from the outside is less effectif then from the inside of the videocard , but a next overheat could be the end of the card en it never boots again .

playing a game on your lap and blocking the fan inlet can couse this .
and when the fan's are already blocked its regulating down the cpu frequency
but the videocard goes out with a very high temperature . and 5 times going off due to overheating of the videocard , can couse the pink squares in boot session and its too late then .

you are lucky if a replacement card costs 40$ in the netherlands its costs 250 € and the dollar does ~60 eurocent at this time .

techno2009


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## smbcivilpe (Jan 27, 2010)

OK... I copied my previous post and put what I did in order plus the other things..

Re Dell Inpiron 9400 with 7900 go GS..

I read all the posts here and many more!

I took apart the laptop and cleaned out all the dust and reset video card.. Nothing different. still got the dots on boot up should the WINDOWS startup screen then goes black when it tries to flip to windows logon screen and the video res to the previous setting…

Did the diagnosis said everything was fine… 

Booted to Safe Mode uses VGA.. went into the Device Manager Hardware and disabled the Nvidia.

Booted to Windows normally still with all the dots and vga res.. but it was running..

Took it apart again and cleaned everything with 90% alcohol... redid all the heat sinks with thermal paste.. Still nothing still has the dots on the dos startup and in windows…

Installed the I8kfanGUI 3.0 DELL Notebook Fan Control Utility – 
I put the fans on HIGH full override for both....

But when it booted they didn't turn on.. must have missed the check box for autostart on startup..

Anyways I let my son go on and play a game while I read more in the forums

The laptop just shuts down!. I turned it back on and it boots back to a DOS screen stating the computer shut-down to protect because it was overheating....

I hooked up the cooling plate for the laptop and made sure it was on high!

I booted normally, and just like that all the vertical dots and funny characters went away...

It was in normal VGA mode 

I took a chance and Enable the Nvidia 7900 go GS again through hardware manager.

Nvidia was back and fully functional..

I set up the I8kfanGUI to run the fans on high all the time so it doesn't fry and get stupid again.... 

I then flashed the BIOS with Version A10 available off the dell site.. and updated the Nvidia drivers along with the utility tools... So far so good....!!!!!

It runs at 21°C normally and around 29° with WWW running. Although I have to log off WWW to see what the temp is… it’s still around 30° or so..

So if you want to take the chance and turn off the fans completely.. wait for the system to shutdown from overheating.... then boot back up, you might find your Nvidia 7900 go GS working again!!.. I take no credit or responsibility for this find, or your out come if you try it.. but I'm please with my accidental discovery...

Once again.. I don’t know 1/3 of what most these guys know, and it may fry again, but if it did “FRY”.. why did it all the sudden work again.. after over heating.. I think once again it’s a setting on the motherboard that tells it that I can run because it gets stupid and when its overheated it “resets itself” and allows the Nvidia it OK.. 

Sounds stupid and some of you guys are probably having a chuckle, but it’s still running..

PS my bad.. the video card is $400 .. not $40… type-“o”


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## Kharm (Jan 24, 2010)

"still got the dots on boot up should the WINDOWS startup screen then goes black when it tries to flip to windows logon screen and the video res to the previous setting…"

Bad video chip


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## smbcivilpe (Jan 27, 2010)

I did it again!!!!!!!! 

Son left it on WOW without the chiller pad....

the video crashed and had the DOTS on it again.

I did the same thing as the previous post!

Turned off the fans.... ran a game or two until it overheated and shut down..

Booted to safe mode disabled the Nvidia.. rebooted and the video came back .. 

I enabled the Nvidia then rebooted again I came right back to normal!

I set the FANS to automatic on and HIGH! I booted again.

It's back to normal... yee haa I'll do this forever if it stays and saves me buying a video card!

Of course I DUCT TAPED the chiller pad on it so my son doesn't forget it!

Hope this works for someone else!


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## catfood2 (Aug 10, 2010)

that's right, smbcivilpe!

I had been using my computer in VGA mode for a half year, and I was about to buy a new graphic card. But fortunately I found this forum!

Now I overheated my computer as well, and at 64 °C it turned off. The lines disapeared, and I could turn on my graphic card. Though after windows login I got a blue screen saying:

Harware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
The system has halted

but I restarted again and since then there has been no problem. (It was 2 days ago, and my computer is running all the time)

I'm quite sure that the problem originally was not that my graphics card fried. 64 °C is not enough for it to happen.


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## Maco88 (Sep 24, 2010)

smbcivilpe said:


> OK... I copied my previous post and put what I did in order plus the other things..
> 
> Re Dell Inpiron 9400 with 7900 go GS..
> 
> ...



How did you turn the Fans OFF. Did you use the I8FanGui program to turn them off??

I disabled the fans through the "OPTIONS -- TEMPERATURE CONTROLS - settings but i can still hear the fans working.


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## Maco88 (Sep 24, 2010)

Not sure if this I8Fangui works anyway.

I can see my temperature fluctuating from 49 degrees to 58 degrees within seconds.

Temperature don't move in this fashion, period


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## Maco88 (Sep 24, 2010)

And how did you manage to play a game like WoW with only VGA drivers to make it over heat?


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## davydee (Apr 26, 2011)

Having this problem on my Dell XPS M170 laptop.

I downloaded I8Fangui but its not reading any temperature for my GPU.

Don't know what to do. Any advice?


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## davydee (Apr 26, 2011)

got it reading the temp now. shall i try overheat the laptop and follow the instructions?


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## techno2009 (Jan 21, 2009)

the grapics card dies from overheating due to too much dust which blocks the heatpipe of the cpu and gpu . when you clean this , the temperature of the gpu goes lower and the fan becomes silent when the laptop is idle .

looks like this ; a dust blanket blocks the heatpipe en the fan runs at high rpm almost all the time .


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2011)

Where to download this from : I8kfanGUI 3.0 DELL Notebook Fan Control Utility ??


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## davydee (Apr 26, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> Where to download this from : I8kfanGUI 3.0 DELL Notebook Fan Control Utility ??


I8kfanGUI 3.0 – DELL Notebook Fan Control Utility » SoftSift

i ran that program and let my gpu temperature reach 98 degress by wrapping the laptop in a blanket. I then switched off and switched on the laptop and the problem was fixed!!


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