Can a corrupted BIOS cause degraded video display ? In this case I have a computer that during POST is no longer displaying clear text, but instead is displaying very faint text with low pixel density; also, when the computer goes into Windows, the text and graphics are very blurry. Replacing the monitor makes no difference, and neither does replacing the video card.
Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations strongm on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
Can corrupted BIOS cause degraded display ?
- Thread starter boblight
- Start date
Yes, it could. But the fact that windows, which grabs control of the graphics chip, also has issues would lead me to believe that there is something else going on.
In the boot up process you probably get a splash screen from the video card. What does it look like?
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
In the boot up process you probably get a splash screen from the video card. What does it look like?
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
could also be a shielding issue, where either the cable to the monitor or the grafix card picks up interference from another source...
just got a case similar at work, replaced the GFX card at the customers place, showed funky lines all over the display, colors all wrong... brought it in to the shop and voila no funky lines, colors all correct, nothing wrong at all...
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
just got a case similar at work, replaced the GFX card at the customers place, showed funky lines all over the display, colors all wrong... brought it in to the shop and voila no funky lines, colors all correct, nothing wrong at all...
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
- Thread starter
- #4
Jan. 21, 1749 hrs: Sorry for delay in replying to your messages. I did not get email notification that they had been posted and just happened to look at this page by accident.
Edfair said "In the boot up process you probably get a splash screen from the video card. What does it look like ?"
When POST is disabled, it displays a "Genuine Pentium Inside" graphics logo. When POST is enabled, I'm not getting a splash screen, just the normal POST screen, except with much fainter text than usual.
BadBigBen said: "could... be a shielding issue, where the cable to the monitor or grafix card picks up interference."
I doubt shielding was the problem. Prior to the suspected corruption of BIOS, this monitor had been attached to the same puter, with no display problems either during POST or Windows.
Edfair said "In the boot up process you probably get a splash screen from the video card. What does it look like ?"
When POST is disabled, it displays a "Genuine Pentium Inside" graphics logo. When POST is enabled, I'm not getting a splash screen, just the normal POST screen, except with much fainter text than usual.
BadBigBen said: "could... be a shielding issue, where the cable to the monitor or grafix card picks up interference."
I doubt shielding was the problem. Prior to the suspected corruption of BIOS, this monitor had been attached to the same puter, with no display problems either during POST or Windows.
- Thread starter
- #5
A few possibly relevant notes:
(1) The display was fine until recently I hooked up a used monitor that did very odd things. During POST it displayed no text, just a sequence of brightly colored rectangles, lasting maybe 45 seconds, and it refused to go into BIOS Setup. After POST, it went into Windows, but displaying the desktop very tall and narrow, with half the screen blank. The manual adjustments on the monitor made no difference. When I tried a screen resolution of 640 x 480, the monitor stopped displaying anything at all in Windows, even after repeated reboots.
(2) Something I noticed. The 3.2 Ghz P4 CPU is running very hot, at 70C, even though the fan is reported at high revs (like 3600 rpm).
(1) The display was fine until recently I hooked up a used monitor that did very odd things. During POST it displayed no text, just a sequence of brightly colored rectangles, lasting maybe 45 seconds, and it refused to go into BIOS Setup. After POST, it went into Windows, but displaying the desktop very tall and narrow, with half the screen blank. The manual adjustments on the monitor made no difference. When I tried a screen resolution of 640 x 480, the monitor stopped displaying anything at all in Windows, even after repeated reboots.
(2) Something I noticed. The 3.2 Ghz P4 CPU is running very hot, at 70C, even though the fan is reported at high revs (like 3600 rpm).
point 1 - power feedback could have damaged the graphics card... and the monitor could have been on it's last legs... but these are only conjectures, as I have no way of checking...
point 2 - time to clean out the PC, especially the HeatSink Fan, dust build up can cause high temps, and through these the mainboard tries to compensate in that it ups the RPM's of the fan...
also, usually a corrupt BIOS is noticeable in that the PC will not POST correctly (BIOS from a similar mainboard will do that, this is strictly seen not a corruption but a mis-flash) or not POST at all (wrong BIOS)...
to end the little story above, wrong lines and funky colors, turns out it was a damaged DVI cable...
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
point 2 - time to clean out the PC, especially the HeatSink Fan, dust build up can cause high temps, and through these the mainboard tries to compensate in that it ups the RPM's of the fan...
also, usually a corrupt BIOS is noticeable in that the PC will not POST correctly (BIOS from a similar mainboard will do that, this is strictly seen not a corruption but a mis-flash) or not POST at all (wrong BIOS)...
to end the little story above, wrong lines and funky colors, turns out it was a damaged DVI cable...
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
- Status
Similar threads
