Hi Darkness, does it freeze at the same point each time? Are there any error messages?

Hey MadMonkey! Thanks for taking more of your time to try and help me out, I really appreciate it!

When I turn on the computer while my monitor is plugged into my video card, my monitor does not turn on.

When I unplug it from the video card, it turns on but obviously doesn't show much because it's not plugged into anything.

If I plug it into the motherboard, then I can see it running the memory check, I am able to access the Boot menu or the safe mode menu, but I get an error message saying that Windows couldn't start properly, it asks me if I want to run it in safe mode, start it up normally, start it up from my last properly working session, something along those lines.

Here's the thing, I actually got it to start up again... re-set up my video card, plugged it back into the video card slot... it worked... BUT, after about 5 minutes, I didn't really do anything, it froze up again. Now I'm back at square one. (Able to see memory check, but windows either does not start up or freezes while it is loading.)

When it freezes, does the HDD light still flash?

Also, when it freezes, try and plug your monitor cable in from the onboard graphics to your graphics card to see if you get a picture there. If it's a new driver, then Windows may not know which one to use as your default. You may also need to select your default graphics card from your BIOS by pressing F2, F10 or [DEL] when you first switch on your PC. Look for your default graphics, sometimes displayed in Advanced Settings menu item.

When I start it up it asks me how I want to start windows, here's my options:

"Safe Mode"

I did this, it loaded/checked a bunch of .sys Windows files, but it froze, Power and HDD light stayed on, I unplugged the monitor, no VGA signal screen, plug it into my graphics card, screen goes off, like it would while it's in sleep mode or somethin'.



"Safe Mode with networking"

Didn't mess around with this.



"Safe mode with command prompt"

Didn't mess around with this either, I'm not THAT computer adept yet.



"Last Known Good Configuration"
I did this, got the Windows loading screen, but it froze, Power light stayed on and HDD light turned off, I unplugged the monitor, no VGA signal screen, plug it into my graphics card, screen goes off, etc.



"Start Normally"
Basically same thing as the Last Known Good Configuration, just freezes up immediately and power light stays on, HDD light goes off.

OK Darkness, that may be a bit of a problem if it freezes in safe mode, were pritty much screwed at getting the Windows driver sorted out, you may need to re-install. You wouldn't happen to know which driver you installed? has it ever worked on this new graphics card?

It's been so long I don't even remember... but whatever I installed has been working for like a year, something just decided to **** out the other day when I cleaned out my computer.

Just goes to show you what kind of trouble cleaning can get you into! (Well, cleaning improperly. :P)

Ok,

So we can't access safe mode, or normal mode.

We can't sort the problem out via the recovery console since we really need to know exactly where the problem lies.

The only other option (if you have a Windows Setup CD) is to insert this CD during startup, and when prompted, try a repair (not recovery).

If that fails, the remaining option would be to do a full install.

EDIT: Marked as Answered.