Can graphics drivers cause monitor to not work

[yegge17]

Hello, I have an HP elite m9150f, url here with specs. everything is stock nothing has been touched or modded.


http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=3644723&prodTypeId=12454&objectID=c01301711

i've had it for nearly 4-5 years now and just last week as i was just gaming a little MW2, and i get the blue screen (crashing). i was able to boot it back up to desktop however, pink lines have now appeared. after trying to boot it and doing a system restore, the monitor displays "Input signal out of range" and wont display anything at all anymore except for the blue "HP" start up page, after you press the power button. and once in awhile it will just boot then restart.

The desktop is still under HP's warranty until April 2012.



So my questions are:
1) Is the graphics shot?
2) Can drivers cause this problem? i believe i just updated it the day of or before gaming.
3) would the problem be within the monitor? because i've connected HDMI and VGA onto a laptop and it works fine.

i may not know everything about PCs but enough to know what is what. so try to explain in details, that would help a lot, thanks. i'm new here also.

 

[BlackHawk91]

If you connected the monitor to your laptop and it worked, then the problem must be somewhere else. Try connecting your monitor directly into your motherboard via VGA. (you'll have to change the settings in the BIOS)

Edit:
You should look at this guide http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbysymptom/tp/computer-wont-turn-on.htm item #5 (as your system keeps rebooting after the HP logo screen)

Let me know any doubts you have.

 

[photonboy]

It's almost definitely a hardware failure.

Here's a fairly easy way to test.

1. Go to the Ubuntu website
2. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/windows-installer
3. Download and run the WUBI installer. It will automatically download and add Ubuntu to your system.
4. REBOOT and choose Ubuntu instead of Windows

If it's a hardware problem you'll still have no signal or corrupted video. If Ubuntu works just fine then you have a software problem with Windows and would likely need to reinstall Windows as it sounds pretty corrupted.

Again, I'm pretty positive that it's a hardware problem requiring you to return the product.

 

[yegge17]

If you connected the monitor to your laptop and it worked, then the problem must be somewhere else. Try connecting your monitor directly into your motherboard via VGA. (you'll have to change the settings in the BIOS)

Edit:
You should look at this guide http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbysymptom/tp/computer-wont-turn-on.htm item #5 (as your system keeps rebooting after the HP logo screen)

Let me know any doubts you have.

I switched the displays to the motherboard and now it boots up fine, no lines or random pixels anymore, however it boots up to the "system restore" page and not to the desktop. and i dont want to do a full restore. will i lose all my info on my hardrives?

 

[yegge17]

It's almost definitely a hardware failure.

Here's a fairly easy way to test.

1. Go to the Ubuntu website
2. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/windows-installer
3. Download and run the WUBI installer. It will automatically download and add Ubuntu to your system.
4. REBOOT and choose Ubuntu instead of Windows

If it's a hardware problem you'll still have no signal or corrupted video. If Ubuntu works just fine then you have a software problem with Windows and would likely need to reinstall Windows as it sounds pretty corrupted.

Again, I'm pretty positive that it's a hardware problem requiring you to return the product.

how can i do that if i cant get to the desktop? just wondering.

 

[yegge17]

Best answer selected by yegge17.