The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Starting Problems. Please help.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by SonOfStarman, Oct 29, 2011.

  1. SonOfStarman

    SonOfStarman Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hey guys, everytime i start up my computer it asks if i want to start in safe mode or not. If i start in safe mode everythings fine but its all blurry, but if i try to start in regular mode it goes to the screen where you log in but the login icons dont show up and the screen starts flashing black. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
     
    SonOfStarman, Oct 29, 2011
    #1
  2. kimjo42

    kimjo42 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    23
    Messages:
    209
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's blurry in safe mode because in this mode you don't have any graphics driver installed. Safe mode is used for diagnotics and problem solving mostly.

    Your issue seems to be related to a graphics card, my guess would be HD 3000, or a much worse problem.

    I've had blue screens and black screens of death, but never a flashing black screen of death.

    Does it ever go to normal after the flashing?

    What did you do to have it start in safe mode? usually this mode is activated on startup when Windows hasn't shut down properly.

    I think we need more details to help you more than with a "call Dell tech support".
     
    kimjo42, Oct 29, 2011
    #2
  3. niko2021

    niko2021 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    93
    Messages:
    592
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31
    go into safe mode and download and install a newer version intel 3000 hd driver, hopefully that helps.
     
    niko2021, Oct 30, 2011
    #3
  4. nuaron

    nuaron Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    44
    Messages:
    232
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30

    Do you shut it down properly? without forcing shutdown by long pressing the power button?

    If you shut it down properly everytime and it still shows the problem, you can either
    1) Restore your windows using the alien respawn disk(if you made one) or log into your system using safe mode and start alien respawn application. Select the system restore option and restore it to factory settings.

    If that doesnt work, it means that there is some hardware issue with your unit. Best advice is to contact customer care.
     
    nuaron, Nov 9, 2011
    #4