Ok guys I know this isn't really relevant to the game. But for me it is. Right now i'm on my Asus laptop because my computer is, well, screwed at the moment. I'll explain.
Last night I installed SWTOR. You know just to check it out, have a look around, and see if maybe I'd be interested in playing. Heard some decent things about it. It was playable. So I was like ok, it's still going to have to download the rest of the game, but the starter planets are available for me to hop in and check it out. So click play. Here is where the problem starts. It goes to start the game on but it black screens, nothing. I know this, I've seen it before. Tends to be a DirectX error. Wait a few to see if it just a lag kind of thing to be sure. Nope, deffinately a video error.
So I do what you normally do in these situations. Ok it's black screened. Lets first off alt+f4... nothing happens. Ok try it again.. again nothing. Ok hmm, alt+tab, nothing. Ctrl+Alt+Del, nothing. I even tried ctrl+alt+del twice to do a reboot... nothing.
This is do the only thing left that you can to get out of a problem like this. Use the power button to manually shut the computer down, which mine comes with a nice reset button I can use for that. the problem here is. It will boot up like normal all the ay to the windows load screen. But as soon as it starts to switch over to the username and password screen, it goes to black screen and does nothing else.
Ok.. now thats a problem. So, best option, start in safe mode. Problem, no matter what I do it won't let me start in safe mode. Doesn't even give me an option to. This is a problem.
Next step, ok with all this, grab the restore disk. It'll read it but doesn't give me the option to restore. Even when I tell it to boot from cd-rom. This is turn in to one hell of a problem now.
My computer will bootup to the windows load screen. Then black screen on the login screen. Meaning I can't get in to any of my setting to fix this.
And now you're thinking it's my computer that's the problem... sadly no.
1TB HDD
Amd Athelon 6 core
Nvidia GT 770 Graphics Card, 2GB Vid Ram
8GB Ram.
Windows 8.1
Right now I'm pondering if I missed a setting somewhere that lets me boot in safe mode or if I should just pull my 770 and replace it with my GTX 550 Ti.
I hate to be the TRIBBLE here but it is your computer. You have windows 8, which is notorious for messing up. I know because I deal with it daily. On a system with those specs I would have gone with 7 because it is entirely more stable then any release of 8 or 8.whatever. If you have another pc (which I have to assume you do as your posing about it here) then get a 4gb pen drive and a copy of windows 8 or 8.1 instal disc iso and use the windows usb/dvd tool to make that pen drive into a portable boot recovery disc, and recover from there. When you get it back up and running save yourself the headache and get 7.
I have seen this issue with Windows 8/8.1 when Windows has installed an updated driver, asks for a reboot but isn't rebooted immediately, then some time later an updated driver is applied manually. This causes Windows to try to apply its own updated files over the manual update at next boot, which can cause conflicts and end up at the black screen upon boot.
Windows 8/8.1 partially speeds up the boot process by reducing the window in which the user can gain access to the boot menu (stupid, I know). Try booting your PC and as soon as the POST has finished, hit F8 or Shift-F8 repeatedly.
If that doesn't work, boot your recovery disc. Go to "Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Windows Startup Settings -> Restart". When the system restarts, it should then present you with a menu where you can select safe mode.
If that fails, simply hard power cycle the PC a few times and Windows should automatically present you with a boot menu.
Once you get into safe mode, check your installed programs in "Programs and Features" and remove anything that has to do with the display driver. In Windows Update go to "Change Settings" and uncheck "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" and "Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows". Next, press Win+Pause/Break to open the system info window, go to "Device Manager", expand the section "Display adapters" then right click your adapter(s) and click "Uninstall".
Reboot. If it you are able to get through to the desktop then that's a good sign. Reboot again to make sure whatever driver Windows has installed is fully in place. Now download your driver from Nvidia and install it. Reboot once more just to be sure that everything took and that you're not getting stuck on boot any more. Make sure you never install any Microsoft recommended drivers and always get them directly from the hardware maker.
This entire process can be temperamental. I struggled for almost an entire day with this exact problem the first time I encountered, only in my case it was compounded by the fact that I was experiencing it on a laptop with Nvidia Optimus, meaning a clean sweep of both graphics drivers.
I hate to be the TRIBBLE here but it is your computer. You have windows 8, which is notorious for messing up. I know because I deal with it daily. On a system with those specs I would have gone with 7 because it is entirely more stable then any release of 8 or 8.whatever. If you have another pc (which I have to assume you do as your posing about it here) then get a 4gb pen drive and a copy of windows 8 or 8.1 instal disc iso and use the windows usb/dvd tool to make that pen drive into a portable boot recovery disc, and recover from there. When you get it back up and running save yourself the headache and get 7.
I know but I didn't have the money to build the PC that I wanted. I bought this one for right at $900, it had the basic setup I was looking for, have Windows 8 here on my Asus laptop. IT works great, not problems. Windows 8.1 on my desktop though... yeah need to get something better for sure.
Problem is.. I can't get it up and running. I can't even get to restore from the restore disk that I have in it. Since it seems they were nice enough to put all that as part of the Charms bar that I can't get to.
Here you go this is what I'm dealing with. I've tried everything. Several reset button reboots, powering it off and turning the power supply off. digging around in the F9, F12, Del, and all options.
It will not offer me a safe mode start up.
The only two things I haven't tried it replacing my 770 with my 550 gcard. Or changing it over from PC to HDMI to see if I can jump start it that way.
If you do have a display you can connect via DisplayPort, DVI or VGA, connect it and disconnect the display running over HDMI.
As soon as you see the Windows logo appear, power cycle the system. Do this several times. I don't recall the exact number of times, but I would say anywhere between 3 and 5 times in a row. After that, Windows should pick up that something isn't right and present you with the boot menu.
Are you not able to boot your recovery media or Windows install disc at all? (ie. is the boot order in the BIOS set to boot from HDD first?)
I had problems with SWTOR when I installed it, and it certainly wasn't windont hate point doh (dont use it) or driver update conflicts (auto f**k-up dates disabled).
What it was is EA Games...
Some of their titles over the years have had a tendancy to be a little heavy handed with default graphics settings. In tis case it's the game trying to reconfigure your graphics settings for resolution/refresh rate to match the game, rather than the other way round
I found that the game not only wanted to start in it's preferred screen resoluton but also wanted to set that resoluton as my selected windows desktop size, including refresh rates, even though it's preferences are not supported by my card/monitor combo.
Rebooting in this case is deadly, you restart the pc, it boots up, loads windows and then windows tries to set that 'does not work on your card/monitor combo' graphics preference and black screen.
So you have to do the safe mode startup, and/or recovery options to sort it.
<center><font size="+5"><b>Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day... Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
If you do have a display you can connect via DisplayPort, DVI or VGA, connect it and disconnect the display running over HDMI.
As soon as you see the Windows logo appear, power cycle the system. Do this several times. I don't recall the exact number of times, but I would say anywhere between 3 and 5 times in a row. After that, Windows should pick up that something isn't right and present you with the boot menu.
Are you not able to boot your recovery media or Windows install disc at all? (ie. is the boot order in the BIOS set to boot from HDD first?)
I've set it to boot from HDD, set it to LS120, even set it boot from cd-rom. I'll try the pwoer cycle again.
As far as my restore disk. It's been in my comp for a good 6 hours now. And... nothing.
Nothings working... I don't really know what to do from here.
15 back to back power resets at the windows logo and it doesn't register a problem.
Turn it on, let windont load, let the screen go black...
Then yank the power cable out of the back...
<center><font size="+5"><b>Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day... Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
Nothings working... I don't really know what to do from here.
15 back to back power resets at the windows logo and it doesn't register a problem.
That is odd. Now when you say you have tried the boot order with CD-ROM first and you have the recovery disc in the drive, does it not boot from the disc at all?
Another thing you could try, as you mentioned earlier, is pulling the video card from the system. If you have onboard video or another video card, try that and see if you can get any further.
Failing everything else, a reinstall or factory restore could be in order. That will mean having to restore your personal file from backup or connecting the HDD to another PC to pull your files off.
That is odd. Now when you say you have tried the boot order with CD-ROM first and you have the recovery disc in the drive, does it not boot from the disc at all?
Another thing you could try, as you mentioned earlier, is pulling the video card from the system. If you have onboard video or another video card, try that and see if you can get any further.
Failing everything else, a reinstall or factory restore could be in order. That will mean having to restore your personal file from backup or connecting the HDD to another PC to pull your files off.
Personal files are automatically put on my exterior HDD. I don't keep them on my comp.
Other than that. Only thing on my comp is a few games, Advanced System Care Pro from Iobit, and antivirus.
As far as restoring it. That seems to be a no go. As I said, I've used the bios set to load Cd-rom first, +HDD. It just goed through everything like in the video if I do.
My comp has a Nvidia 770 in it. You can look at the specs for it. hit tigerdirect and look for the iBuypower TD774.
Its a good comp. Windows and apparently SWTOR however seem like my problem chidlren.
I've ran in to this problem with a couple other games. It usually tends to be a DirectX problem.
as far as another vid card. Yeah I have my Nvidia GTX 550 Ti packed away in a box in my closet. I was just hoping to get by the annoyance of testing to see if changing them out helps.
From what I see on your boot issues, something is indeed shutting down the video as Windows initializes and (unless you just did it manually twice yourself, is causing your hardware to reboot.
That indicates something on the MB or video card may have fried, especially if a bootable Windows Recovery CD won't boot even when it's listed as the first boot device. The fact your seeing DOS video at the post doesn't preclude a hardware issue with the card either as it's switching to a different mode to fully load up the graphics drivers.
As others have suggested, I would see if you can boot from a bootable USB device and run some diags (saying this as you have access to a second PC and can create something there. Again, the fact a bootable CD won't even bring anything up on screen for you leads me to believe it's more a hardware issue then a gliched/borked video config file or setting.
I wish you luck (and I've had plenty of weird hardware failures over the years myself, and the ones that don't outright give a conclusive message or error code are the worst to troubleshoot.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
From what I see on your boot issues, something is indeed shutting down the video as Windows initializes and (unless you just did it manually twice yourself, is causing your hardware to reboot.
That indicates something on the MB or video card may have fried, especially if a bootable Windows Recovery CD won't boot even when it's listed as the first boot device. The fact your seeing DOS video at the post doesn't preclude a hardware issue with the card either as it's switching to a different mode to fully load up the graphics drivers.
As others have suggested, I would see if you can boot from a bootable USB device and run some diags (saying this as you have access to a second PC and can create something there. Again, the fact a bootable CD won't even bring anything up on screen for you leads me to believe it's more a hardware issue then a gliched/borked video config file or setting.
I wish you luck (and I've had plenty of weird hardware failures over the years myself, and the ones that don't outright give a conclusive message or error code are the worst to troubleshoot.
Ohh this would be awesome if it is the problem. I only got the comp back in Dec... means... wooohooo FREE FIX under warranty.
But for now as I have been dealing with it all day. Think I'll just let it stay powered down until tomorrow. And deal with it then. For now I'll use my laptop... or I'll just need a new computer, again. Because this one will meet a pretty bad fate at the end of a sledgehammer if I keep working at it now.
Huh.. insteresting. Just out of curiousity I hooked my comp up with HDMI... and.. it works.
Like I said, SWTOR, has set default resolution AND refresh rate to some combo your regular monitor setup cannot handle, hence black screen, the HDMI can handle it.
If you can't boot of the install dvd, despite setting dvd first in the bios boot priority, it might be that either your install disk is scrathed etc., and no longer bootable, or that the dvd drive is faulty, try the bootable usb drive suggestion, or try swapping out the dvd drive for another one.
<center><font size="+5"><b>Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day... Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
Comments
Windows 8/8.1 partially speeds up the boot process by reducing the window in which the user can gain access to the boot menu (stupid, I know). Try booting your PC and as soon as the POST has finished, hit F8 or Shift-F8 repeatedly.
If that doesn't work, boot your recovery disc. Go to "Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Windows Startup Settings -> Restart". When the system restarts, it should then present you with a menu where you can select safe mode.
If that fails, simply hard power cycle the PC a few times and Windows should automatically present you with a boot menu.
Once you get into safe mode, check your installed programs in "Programs and Features" and remove anything that has to do with the display driver. In Windows Update go to "Change Settings" and uncheck "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" and "Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows". Next, press Win+Pause/Break to open the system info window, go to "Device Manager", expand the section "Display adapters" then right click your adapter(s) and click "Uninstall".
Reboot. If it you are able to get through to the desktop then that's a good sign. Reboot again to make sure whatever driver Windows has installed is fully in place. Now download your driver from Nvidia and install it. Reboot once more just to be sure that everything took and that you're not getting stuck on boot any more. Make sure you never install any Microsoft recommended drivers and always get them directly from the hardware maker.
This entire process can be temperamental. I struggled for almost an entire day with this exact problem the first time I encountered, only in my case it was compounded by the fact that I was experiencing it on a laptop with Nvidia Optimus, meaning a clean sweep of both graphics drivers.
I know but I didn't have the money to build the PC that I wanted. I bought this one for right at $900, it had the basic setup I was looking for, have Windows 8 here on my Asus laptop. IT works great, not problems. Windows 8.1 on my desktop though... yeah need to get something better for sure.
Problem is.. I can't get it up and running. I can't even get to restore from the restore disk that I have in it. Since it seems they were nice enough to put all that as part of the Charms bar that I can't get to.
Windows 8.1, Because Vista happens, again.
It will not offer me a safe mode start up.
The only two things I haven't tried it replacing my 770 with my 550 gcard. Or changing it over from PC to HDMI to see if I can jump start it that way.
http://youtu.be/82hwqU5ZOJI
As soon as you see the Windows logo appear, power cycle the system. Do this several times. I don't recall the exact number of times, but I would say anywhere between 3 and 5 times in a row. After that, Windows should pick up that something isn't right and present you with the boot menu.
Are you not able to boot your recovery media or Windows install disc at all? (ie. is the boot order in the BIOS set to boot from HDD first?)
What it was is EA Games...
Some of their titles over the years have had a tendancy to be a little heavy handed with default graphics settings. In tis case it's the game trying to reconfigure your graphics settings for resolution/refresh rate to match the game, rather than the other way round
I found that the game not only wanted to start in it's preferred screen resoluton but also wanted to set that resoluton as my selected windows desktop size, including refresh rates, even though it's preferences are not supported by my card/monitor combo.
Rebooting in this case is deadly, you restart the pc, it boots up, loads windows and then windows tries to set that 'does not work on your card/monitor combo' graphics preference and black screen.
So you have to do the safe mode startup, and/or recovery options to sort it.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
I've set it to boot from HDD, set it to LS120, even set it boot from cd-rom. I'll try the pwoer cycle again.
As far as my restore disk. It's been in my comp for a good 6 hours now. And... nothing.
15 back to back power resets at the windows logo and it doesn't register a problem.
Turn it on, let windont load, let the screen go black...
Then yank the power cable out of the back...
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
That is odd. Now when you say you have tried the boot order with CD-ROM first and you have the recovery disc in the drive, does it not boot from the disc at all?
Another thing you could try, as you mentioned earlier, is pulling the video card from the system. If you have onboard video or another video card, try that and see if you can get any further.
Failing everything else, a reinstall or factory restore could be in order. That will mean having to restore your personal file from backup or connecting the HDD to another PC to pull your files off.
Personal files are automatically put on my exterior HDD. I don't keep them on my comp.
Other than that. Only thing on my comp is a few games, Advanced System Care Pro from Iobit, and antivirus.
As far as restoring it. That seems to be a no go. As I said, I've used the bios set to load Cd-rom first, +HDD. It just goed through everything like in the video if I do.
My comp has a Nvidia 770 in it. You can look at the specs for it. hit tigerdirect and look for the iBuypower TD774.
Its a good comp. Windows and apparently SWTOR however seem like my problem chidlren.
I've ran in to this problem with a couple other games. It usually tends to be a DirectX problem.
as far as another vid card. Yeah I have my Nvidia GTX 550 Ti packed away in a box in my closet. I was just hoping to get by the annoyance of testing to see if changing them out helps.
That indicates something on the MB or video card may have fried, especially if a bootable Windows Recovery CD won't boot even when it's listed as the first boot device. The fact your seeing DOS video at the post doesn't preclude a hardware issue with the card either as it's switching to a different mode to fully load up the graphics drivers.
As others have suggested, I would see if you can boot from a bootable USB device and run some diags (saying this as you have access to a second PC and can create something there. Again, the fact a bootable CD won't even bring anything up on screen for you leads me to believe it's more a hardware issue then a gliched/borked video config file or setting.
I wish you luck (and I've had plenty of weird hardware failures over the years myself, and the ones that don't outright give a conclusive message or error code are the worst to troubleshoot.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Ohh this would be awesome if it is the problem. I only got the comp back in Dec... means... wooohooo FREE FIX under warranty.
But for now as I have been dealing with it all day. Think I'll just let it stay powered down until tomorrow. And deal with it then. For now I'll use my laptop... or I'll just need a new computer, again. Because this one will meet a pretty bad fate at the end of a sledgehammer if I keep working at it now.
That's good to hear, but kind of scary at the same time. I'm always suspicious of self-resolving problems.
So is everything working fine? Reboots? STO? SWTOR?
Like I said, SWTOR, has set default resolution AND refresh rate to some combo your regular monitor setup cannot handle, hence black screen, the HDMI can handle it.
If you can't boot of the install dvd, despite setting dvd first in the bios boot priority, it might be that either your install disk is scrathed etc., and no longer bootable, or that the dvd drive is faulty, try the bootable usb drive suggestion, or try swapping out the dvd drive for another one.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>