Hi,

My laptop's graphics card seems to be going bad. If I boot in normal mode,
the screen shows weird characters and missing pixels and usually causes the
computer to crash after a few minutes.

If I boot in Safe mode (which uses VGA.SYS, among other things), the display
works OK (or almost OK) and the computer does not crash.

Is it possible to boot in normal mode, but making sure VGA.SYS is used
instead of the graphics card drivers?

Any other suggestion?

Thanks,

Gabriel

G.R. Toro wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My laptop's graphics card seems to be going bad. If I boot in normal
> mode, the screen shows weird characters and missing pixels and usually
> causes the computer to crash after a few minutes.
>
> If I boot in Safe mode (which uses VGA.SYS, among other things), the
> display works OK (or almost OK) and the computer does not crash.
>
> Is it possible to boot in normal mode, but making sure VGA.SYS is used
> instead of the graphics card drivers?
>
> Any other suggestion?

You can use the /BASEVIDEO boot, but you'd be better off contacting the
laptop mftr. for repair/replacement. This is a hardware issue and you
can't fix this yourself.

1. On the Windows Taskbar, click Start > Run. The Run dialog box
appears.
2. In the "Open:" box, type: msconfig then click OK. The System
Configuration Utility appears.
3. Click the BOOT.INI tab.
4. Under Boot Options, check "/BASEVIDEO."
5. Click OK.
6. Reboot the computer as prompted.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

G.R. Toro wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My laptop's graphics card seems to be going bad. If I boot in normal
> mode, the screen shows weird characters and missing pixels and usually
> causes the computer to crash after a few minutes.
>
> If I boot in Safe mode (which uses VGA.SYS, among other things), the
> display works OK (or almost OK) and the computer does not crash.
>
> Is it possible to boot in normal mode, but making sure VGA.SYS is used
> instead of the graphics card drivers?
>
> Any other suggestion?

You can use the /BASEVIDEO boot, but you'd be better off contacting the
laptop mftr. for repair/replacement. This is a hardware issue and you
can't fix this yourself.

1. On the Windows Taskbar, click Start > Run. The Run dialog box
appears.
2. In the "Open:" box, type: msconfig then click OK. The System
Configuration Utility appears.
3. Click the BOOT.INI tab.
4. Under Boot Options, check "/BASEVIDEO."
5. Click OK.
6. Reboot the computer as prompted.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it. You are right about contacting
the manufacturer; I already did. I just need to get a few days out of
this computer si I can meet some deadlines before a replacement computer
arrives. Then, I will be able to have this one fixed.

Gabriel
"Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:OcmFSUNGHHA.3304@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> G.R. Toro wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> My laptop's graphics card seems to be going bad. If I boot in normal
>> mode, the screen shows weird characters and missing pixels and usually
>> causes the computer to crash after a few minutes.
>>
>> If I boot in Safe mode (which uses VGA.SYS, among other things), the
>> display works OK (or almost OK) and the computer does not crash.
>>
>> Is it possible to boot in normal mode, but making sure VGA.SYS is used
>> instead of the graphics card drivers?
>>
>> Any other suggestion?
>
> You can use the /BASEVIDEO boot, but you'd be better off contacting the
> laptop mftr. for repair/replacement. This is a hardware issue and you
> can't fix this yourself.
>
> 1. On the Windows Taskbar, click Start > Run. The Run dialog box
> appears.
> 2. In the "Open:" box, type: msconfig then click OK. The System
> Configuration Utility appears.
> 3. Click the BOOT.INI tab.
> 4. Under Boot Options, check "/BASEVIDEO."
> 5. Click OK.
> 6. Reboot the computer as prompted.
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it. You are right about contacting
the manufacturer; I already did. I just need to get a few days out of
this computer si I can meet some deadlines before a replacement computer
arrives. Then, I will be able to have this one fixed.

Gabriel
"Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:OcmFSUNGHHA.3304@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> G.R. Toro wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> My laptop's graphics card seems to be going bad. If I boot in normal
>> mode, the screen shows weird characters and missing pixels and usually
>> causes the computer to crash after a few minutes.
>>
>> If I boot in Safe mode (which uses VGA.SYS, among other things), the
>> display works OK (or almost OK) and the computer does not crash.
>>
>> Is it possible to boot in normal mode, but making sure VGA.SYS is used
>> instead of the graphics card drivers?
>>
>> Any other suggestion?
>
> You can use the /BASEVIDEO boot, but you'd be better off contacting the
> laptop mftr. for repair/replacement. This is a hardware issue and you
> can't fix this yourself.
>
> 1. On the Windows Taskbar, click Start > Run. The Run dialog box
> appears.
> 2. In the "Open:" box, type: msconfig then click OK. The System
> Configuration Utility appears.
> 3. Click the BOOT.INI tab.
> 4. Under Boot Options, check "/BASEVIDEO."
> 5. Click OK.
> 6. Reboot the computer as prompted.
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User