When i start my computer it doesn't open windows, well it basically does all the booting up and up until it has to say "welcome" it then presents a black screen with the message: input signal out of range. This it does but in the background you can hear the jingle of when windows has started/ opened but you just can't see your desktop. it has been going on like this for the past two weeks.

Try this:

1. Restart your computer.
2. When the machine first starts again it will generally list some equipment that is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc. At this point you should gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you are presented with a Windows XP Advanced Options menu.
3. At this menu, select the option for Safe Mode with Command Prompt using the arrow keys and then press Enter key on your keyboard.
4. Perform whatever tasks you require and when you are done restart your computer into normal mode.
   
   Good luck!!

Try to re install your operating system you can't troubleshoot it if your video card is working a problem like that can be troubleshoot if you can't see any video on the screen you have said that it is working at the start up to the welcome screen so it means there's nothing wrong with your video card and monitor.

Try to restart the computer in Last known good configuration from the Advance boot options by restarting the computer using F8 key continuously.
If doesn't work then put in the Windows CD.
If Windows XP :
Restart the computer and keep tapping F12.
From boot menu highlight CD/DVD or IDE CD ROM or USB CD ROM.
Keep on pressing enter on it until get the screen loading files.
Then on the first Welcome page press "R"
If you have a dual-boot or multiboot system, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
Enter the Admin password if dont have any password then leave blank and press enter.
Then type the command chkdsk drive /p /r
(drive is the partition on which windows is installed, C: or D:)
It will take around 30 to 45 mins to complete then restart the computer.

Have you tried booting into safe mode and seeing if the problem persists? If it can be detected in safe mode, then there is a possibility your USB drivers are corrupted, and will need a re-install. To do this, remove all USB devices from ports, disable USB in your Start/Settings/Control panel/System, and reboot. Windows will then detect them at boot, and install the drivers needed to get them back up and running again.
Hope that helped.
Cheers from NZ

If you have password protected your User account on your Windows XP system and can't remember the password(s) to Login. Whenever Windows XP is installed on a system, it creates a default account called "Administrator" and by default this account is not password protected. Therefore, if you bought a brand name computer (such as Dell, HP, Compaq or Sony)or you have installed Windows XP yourself. You should be able to Login to the computer through the Admin account.

Method One

Reboot your machine.

Press F8 before the Windows boot screen appears. Do not press F5 as used on the NT/9x ser of Windows. You will be be prompted with a boot options menu.

Select the Start Windows in Safe Mode option.

Click through several self-explanatory screens until your reach the familiar 'Welcome' screen.

Note that this welcome screen is limited to 256 colors and 640x480 resolution because the primary graphics will have been set to the Windows Safe Mode software VGA adapter. You will not be able to change this mode even in Display options, while Windows is running in Safe Mode.

Find the icon for the Administrator user. If the default settings of your system haven't been changed, there should be no password for this account.

The Safe Mode Welcome screen might display some of the other users on your system.

Login as the admin.

Press Yes at the prompt asking if you would like to continue using Safe Mode.

Continue on to the User Settings control panel. Here you can change any of the other passwords for user on the machine. Make any changes you want.

Reboot your computer. As long as you don't press any keys (e.g. F8) during the boot-up the computer will startup normally.

Login as the user for which you set the password.

If the above doesn

Do you have any CD in the tray, first would be to remove the disc if present as boot from CD would be first option in BIOS.
Get into the BIOS by pressing the appropriate key some systems it is the DEL key or F2. In bios select Advanced Bios Features.


Select Advanced Bios Features
Hard Disk boot priority,


Select "Bootable add in cards" with keyboard and keep pressing + until it is in the first location.



Set first boot device as Hard Disk and then save and exit BIOS.
F10 is shortcut to do this.

If you need to boot from CD next time just change first boot device to CDROM.

If it does indeed go to the Desktop, then you have joined a very large group of patient people whom have changed there XP to Vista, myself included.This is an inherant charitoristic of Vista.

e machines have problems like this. unplug it from the back of the computer for ten seconds, plug it back in, do a start mode> If this does not work try rebooting to an earlier time

try booting into safe mode? on a pc hit F8 repeatedly while you boot until you get a boot screen with the safe mode option. Some laptops have differant keys, eg F2, <Del>, F10, but ussualy they state this when it boots up.

when you get into safe mode, go to your run prompt and type "msconfig" hit enter. got to startup, disable all.Go to services, disable all. reboot. if this works, try running an pdated antivirus scan. I recommend using Avast! which is like AVG. It can do a start up scan. also try running something like 'trojan remover' which is free to download.

Good luck! :)

Force your computer to start in Safe Mode. To do that, hold down the F5 key when you start up and keep holding it until you see that your PC has booted to Safe Mode. (Another way to do this is to hold down the F8 key during boot time until you’re presented with the Windows Startup Menu and then choose Safe Mode from the list of options presented there.

When you’re in Safe Mode Windows skips the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and loads a minimal set of drivers that lets your PC function at a basic level. Then do a systme restore while on safe mode......

Hope that helps..........