Safe Mode Refresh Rate is FUBAR

[Cyker]

Hey all,

Got a bizarre problem here; Got a friend who's running XP but they can't get into safe mode because the screen just displays "Out of Range" when you boot into it.

Tried it on a few other LCD monitors, all have the same problem.

Now, Out of Range usually means the refresh rate or resolution is too high for the monitor, which isn't hard since LCDs have a pitiful range compared to CRTs, but even so all LCDs should be able to handle safe mode's VGA!

Anyway, dragged out an ancient 17" CTX CRT behemoth just to be thorough and lo and behold, the Safe Mode screen!

But instantly you can see things are not right - First of all, Safe Mode is deffo NOT running in VGA - At a guess it looks like 1280x1024.

Even more weird is that the big ol' CRT reports that it's running at 640x480@87Hz!!!

This should not be possible in safe mode!!

Did a Repair install, started off okay until the first reboot, then even Windows Setup was afflicted with the same problem.

Don't want to do anything too drastic as the system works just fine in non-safe mode, but has anyone come across this before?! Any suggestions on fixes??

[vinifera]

well since safe mode loads rudimentary/basic display driver
you could boot up some PE and replace it from original untouched XP ISO and try again

[jaclaz]

Probably it won't help you much, but something similar (but not quite) happened to me some time ago.

I had a good ol' (and that has always worked) PC with a Via Epia board (one of those mini-Itx ones).

After a huge storm, with blackout and n times power going out and coming back, the thingy that ran Windows 2000 just fine started BSODing without a real reason (but it worked in DOS alright).

At the time it was a spare-spare machine so I did not put much importance to the issue, and when I happened to find a similar board on e-bay for a few bucks, replaced the board.

The machine with the new motherboard worked alright (I tested it with a CRT monitor), and set it back as spare-spare/for random tests only.

When it came the time to put into service (still with the CRT monitor) it worked alright.

At a given point I was gifted with one of those el-cheapo 16" (of a never heard before make/model) LCD TV's (that are mainly TV's but that do have a VGA input) and I decided to replace the CRT with it.

Problem: I could not anymore access the BIOS setup (the LCD TV could not "hook" the video signal) but once Windows 2000 booted, it was fine.

Tested again with the CRT, no issues whatsoever.

I concluded that the stupid LCD TV was "below standard" for *some* reasons.

It was a PITA, but since you don't really have to enter BIOS every day, I was fine with swapping the LCD with a CRT in th erare case I had to change something in BIOS setup.

The machine worked fine and was connected through the network to a printer, and had no issues whatsoever.

Once I needed to test a good ol' HP 1100 connecting it directly to the parallel port.

Everything started to act "queer", in Device Manager a "phantom" Parallel port and a "phantom" Serial appeared, IRQ assigning got garbled, etc.

Without the printer (which worked fine on another PC connected) everything was fine.

Out of cannot say what kind of inspiration (or desperation) I replaced the PSU, and suddenly the printer started working alright, IRQ's were fine, no "phantom" devices, everything OK.

The surprise came when I tried again to access the BIOS with the LCD TV connected, and it also worked fine!

I had blamed wrongly the good Chinese guys who manufactured the el-cheapo TV!

The only logical explanation in my case was that *some* defect in the PSU *somehow* introduced some sort of *queer* frequence, and that *somehow* once the 2K drivers set the video to a higher resolution rate disappeared.

I thought that it was one of those extremely rare cases that only Murphy's Law could actually explain, but your issue seems to have some common points with it.

Safe mode should be the same "standard" video output as the BIOS setup page.

Does this latter work for you?

jaclaz

[Cyker]

Yeah, the text modes work okay, you can even see the Windows logo during boot up - It's just when it switches graphics mode for Safe Mode then BLAM "Out of Range"

Really bizarre and totally nonsensical!

If I hadn't seen it for myself I'd never have believed it!

I have no idea how to fix it as we can't duplicate it in e.g. Linux, but we plugged in a new HDD and tried installing XP onto it and the same thing happened - After the first reboot where you have to start clicking Next a lot, the screen just goes into the Out of Range mode.

Might try swapping PSU and RAM out, see if that makes any difference but the system is one of those tiny AIO systems that are a PITA to change things in.

Since Safe Mode isn't a regularly used thing, I think he'll just have to put up with not using it or buy a new computer!

Maybe XP initializes the video system in a weird way which is triggering some odd bug in the video chip caused by bit rot?!

[jaclaz]

Yeah, the text modes work okay, you can even see the Windows logo during boot up - It's just when it switches graphics mode for Safe Mode then BLAM "Out of Range"

Then, it is a completely different issue.

If you had not tried re-installing it could have been this particular issue (rare, but luckily documented):

http://savedcontent.blogspot.it/2010/03/change-xp-safe-mode-resolution.html

or you attempted a sort of "in place" reinstall (that may have somehow "imported" some Registry settings) ?

Or maybe you used a *somehow* "modded" source .iso?

jaclaz

[Cyker]

Update for anyone who wanted some closure: It seems, unlikely as it may be, that the problem lies with this XP disc after all!

We did a fresh install onto the spare HDD from an activation-less VLK disc and safemode works properly! Annoyingly performing a rebuild install on his existing disk didn't have the same effect, so it looks like he's got the long painful process of a full rebuild ahead of him if he wants it fixed...

Props to jaclaz for the hind about the media; Didn't even occur to me the install media might be the cause!

[dencorso]

No need for a full rebuild, I think.

jaclaz gave you the solution... did you read this thread?