No video output - but..........

MouldyOldDough

My Desktop PC has decided to stop displaying windows

It has a blank screen, except not the boot up screen - that still displays

What could be the cause of this anomaly ?

I have just carried out a software rebuild, on a replacement SSD - so I am guessing that it is something related to this..... but what could cause a blank screen once Windows boots up ?

Heedtheadvice

Are you certain that you see the windows boot up screen ant not just a BIOS screen whilst booting?

It would be useful if you would give the PC details, which version  of win you are trying to use and what the steps have been to do your rebuild.

It could be something as simple as the bios not seeing the SSD . Check that initially by booting into BIOS settings often by hitting F2  or similar function key repeatedly immediately after switching on ( getting  the timing right can be a bit tricky so keep doing  it till you get a response!). From there check the BIOS sees the ssd as a drive ensure it is enabled and set as a boot drive. If BIOS does not re ognise a drive ensure power and data cables (if sata drive ) are properly connected.

If that is not an issue it could then the ssd is not set up to boot or has a missing file.

All a bit generic but without further info that has probably exhausted my thought..... :-)

grumpycrab

As above - getting into the BIOS definitely  good start.  F1, F2, DEL, ESC all worth a try.  And I'd add.
- is the disk light still flashing away when screen is blank?
- try Ctrl-Alt-Del at blank screen
- what is your video connection?  HDMI, VGA,...   reseat cable connection, try a different screen (unlikely to be a problem if BIOS appears)
- try increasing screen brightness (which may have been inadvertently turned right down in Windows)

km1500

if you can see anything at all during boot up then my guess is 1. on a memory module failure or 2. a software error ie Windows hasn't installed correctly

obviously if the screen never displays a thing from power up onwards and remains stubbornly black then we are looking at the video side of things

MouldyOldDough

Heedtheadvice said:

Are you certain that you see the windows boot up screen ant not just a BIOS screen whilst booting?

It would be useful if you would give the PC details, which version  of win you are trying to use and what the steps have been to do your rebuild.

It could be something as simple as the bios not seeing the SSD . Check that initially by booting into BIOS settings often by hitting F2  or similar function key repeatedly immediately after switching on ( getting  the timing right can be a bit tricky so keep doing  it till you get a response!). From there check the BIOS sees the ssd as a drive ensure it is enabled and set as a boot drive. If BIOS does not re ognise a drive ensure power and data cables (if sata drive ) are properly connected.

If that is not an issue it could then the ssd is not set up to boot or has a missing file.

All a bit generic but without further info that has probably exhausted my thought..... :-)

PC is an old Medion (12 years old) i7 3770 , 12Gb RAM
10 pro Windows
Replaced ssd with identical one to old one only 1Tb from 256Gb
Initially all went well 

I was able to install windows via rufus - which initially worked fine

rebooted and got this !!

debitcardmayhem

Boot from the usb again and select repair perhaps.

MouldyOldDough

debitcardmayhem said:

Boot from the usb again and select repair perhaps.

As a last resort - yes I can do that

debitcardmayhem

Check the ram is seated correctly, and the ssd

grumpycrab

MouldyOldDough said:

My Desktop PC has decided to stop displaying windows

It has a blank screen, except not the boot up screen - that still displays

What could be the cause of this anomaly ?

Windows brightness has been set to its lowest level.  Find the brightness keys on the keyboard.

booneruk

MouldyOldDough said:

My Desktop PC has decided to stop displaying windows

My word, you've not had much luck with this PC of yours lately!

So I can infer from this that it was booting fine into windows for a while and now suddenly fails. You see the power on BIOS screen, the windows loading whirler thing and then just a blank black screen? 

I'd try waiting a bit once you think windows has completed loading and then press the power button - if windows is actually running it should shut the computer down, if it's crashed then pressing the power button will not result in a shutdown (though holding the power button down for a few seconds will force one).

If it's crashing then it could well be a hardware failure

Paradigm

Sounds like a faulty/corrupt windows install. I doubt it's a hardware problem since it booted from usb & installed windows, now POSTs & tries to boot the OS.

As suggested above, reboot from usb & try repair. Alternatively use the win 10 creation tool from microsoft instead of Rufus & reinstall windows.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10