# Windows 7 bootup to green screen-HELP



## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

I've been running W7 beta (expired) on one of my laptops, I turned it on to do a official W7 Family Premium upgrade, and it boots to green screen. During bootup I will see a brief flash of the HP bootup logo, I hear the the Windows sound, but that is it, just the green screen and then a black/grey screen. 
Any suggestions, besides handing over $$$ to the Geek squad.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Hook up the laptop to an external monitor to determine if it is the GPU or possibly the inverter/LCD. If it works with the external monitor, then it is not the GPU for the laptop.

When you see the HP logo, does that look fine (coloring)? When does it switch from the green screen to the black/grey screen? Can you take a picture of the screens and post them?

If not the GPU, I would lean towards a defective LCD panel. Usually if the inverter is faulty, the screen just will not display anything at all.

What's the make, model, and product # of your laptop?

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Merg, thanks for the advice.
I hooked up the laptop to one of my flat screen tvs, via hdmi, and it works
So I'm doing the W7 upgrade, well actually it is a full install on this one. Hopefully the issue is the video driver, and this install will take care of it. I'll post how it turns out.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

I'd never seen a green screen that wasn't video related, but I wanted to wait and see some other comments.

Maybe the install will fix the drivers. If not try the manufacturer's site for updated drivers compatible with Win7.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

I doubt it is going to be a driver issue. 99% of the time this type of issue will be the GPU or the LCD. Hopefully, I'm wrong though!

Let us know what happens.

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

So far not much is happening, since I was installing W7 Home Premium over W7 Ultimate (beta) it informed me I had to do a custom install, wiping out everything..no biggie. However, the tv screen has been blank for over a half hour, I really hope W7HP is doing something.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

I would ask if you set the TV screen as Primary, but I'm not sure when that option becomes available or if you would have had that option yet.

The information may be showing on the disabled LCD screen. Do you have a VGA monitor you can connect? What is it, F5 that toggles the external VGA screen?


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

SayWhat? said:


> I would ask if you set the TV screen as Primary, but I'm not sure when that option becomes available or if you would have had that option yet.
> 
> The information may be showing on the disabled LCD screen. Do you have a VGA monitor you can connect? What is it, F5 that toggles the external VGA screen?


Fn-F5 is the usual key. In the case where there is an HDMI output on the laptop, that sometimes replaces the standard VGA output.

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Thanks, I totally forgot that the tv has monitor inputs, dug out my cable and....nothing...blank tv screen on both hdmi and pc. The laptop is booting up but without any video. Heck, I don't even know if it's booting up to W7.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Doesn't sound good. There should be some kind of progress bar if nothing else.

Have you hit FN-F5? It should cycle through internal, external and both screens.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

SayWhat? said:


> Doesn't sound good. There should be some kind of progress bar if nothing else.
> 
> Have you hit FN-F5? It should cycle through internal, external and both screens.


Holding FN and F5 at the same time puts it to sleep. Oh well....I guess it's time to throw bad money after good. Pity, it was a great deal..3 licenses for $137. At least I don't see the green screen, just flashes of the cursor, some words, and then blank.
Oh..the laptop is HP Pavilion dv7-1020us.


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## mstanka (Jan 26, 2003)

I know on our systems (Dell) that FN-F8 is the screen toggle.

You might want to try that.

Michael.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

When you look at the Function keys, one of them probably has a little picture of a monitor on it. That is the one you want to hit in combination with the Fn key.

You say you see flashes of the cursor and some words. Is that on the laptop or the monitor?

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

mstanka said:


> I know on our systems (Dell) that FN-F8 is the screen toggle.
> 
> You might want to try that.
> 
> Michael.


Thanks,..tried it blank on all.
I really appreciate the effort you all gave. I think it is big time screwed. Funny that it worked with the tv until I did the upgrade.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

If you can't get video output via an external monitor or the LCD at all, it sounds like the GPU then. So when you power up the laptop, does the LCD power on at all or is it just like the laptop hasn't even been turned on?

- Merg


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

A way to test that would be to try and go into BIOS and see if you have a screen there. Of course you should (maybe) be seeing a manufacturer logo/splash screen shortly after power on before it tries to boot Windows.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

SayWhat? said:


> A way to test that would be to try and go into BIOS and see if you have a screen there. Of course you should (maybe) be seeing a manufacturer logo/splash screen shortly after power on before it tries to boot Windows.


What he said.
This tells you if it's hardware or software and you go from there.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

The Merg said:


> If you can't get video output via an external monitor or the LCD at all, it sounds like the GPU then. So when you power up the laptop, does the LCD power on at all or is it just like the laptop hasn't even been turned on?
> 
> - Merg


The LCD flashes very briefly. I can see the cursor, some words, sometimes a logo. But these are millisecond flashes, then a blank screen. I agree it's the GPU, ie: motherboard.
.$200+ So I have a expensive, large paper weight, or worthless paper weight, but a paper weight never the less. I can't afford to replace it, but I have my other smaller laptop and my phone.
Anyway thanks for all the help but all the kings men couldn't put Humpty together again.:lol:


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

I'd try once or twice again to see if it will go into BIOS with a good screen. It may be killing the video as part of Windows startup.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

It could also be the inverter. That's usually an inexpensive part and fairly easy to replace. One thing to see is when the computer is completely cold if it works. Let it cool completely (a good few hours) and then try booting it up.

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

I'll give both suggestions a try this afternoon after work. Thanks.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Well I tried every key combination to get into bios. But with a blank screen I never was sure. There were times I didn't get the startup theme music, so I assumed it worked but.....no way to know. I guess the money to fix it is a lot less than a new one..sigh...and aw crud.
Thanks to all for the suggestions.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

BubblePuppy said:


> Well I tried every key combination to get into bios. But with a blank screen I never was sure. There were times I didn't get the startup theme music, so I assumed it worked but.....no way to know. I guess the money to fix it is a lot less than a new one..sigh...and aw crud.
> Thanks to all for the suggestions.


What is the make, model, and part # of your laptop? HP's have a part # that is a completely obscure number that tells techs what your model is, but with a little more info...

- Merg


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

It's a HP Pavillion dv7-1020us
p/n: FF214UA#ABA
If you need anymore info let me know.
Funny that when I hooked it up to the tv, the LCD would briefly flash HP logo and a few other graphics, but the tv screen was blank. The tv was hooked up with both HDMI and monitor connection cord.


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