Unsolved
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22 Posts
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105
July 4th, 2024 06:28
XPS 8960, need program for thoroughly testing defective PC
Took delivery today of an XPS 8960 desktop with 32 GB of DDR5 5600MT/s, Nvidia 4060 GPU, 14th generation I7-1400 processor. After post, got a black screen showing only the mouse pointer. Dell technician had me run a diagnostic test from bios, everything passed including SSD card. He concluded the SSD card had not been properly loaded with Windows and told me how to reset to factory specs and reload Windows using a routine in bios. I soon saw a Windows screen asking me to name my computer. Windows then wanted to update. A minute or so later the black screen reappeared.
I wonder if reset of computer and loading of a new copy of Windows was not the actual loading of software onto the SSD card but rather into memory. Reloading of windows was much faster than technician expected. I have trust issues regarding new computer and want to thoroughly test everything.
Dell will be sending someone out Friday to replace the SSD with a card that already has Windows on it.
Is there any diagnostic program that will test all computer components more thoroughly than done by the Dell diagnostic tests which passed everything including the defective SSD card?
redxps630
9 Legend
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14.8K Posts
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July 4th, 2024 18:26
The Dell diagnostic test only checks hardware and does not check operating system bug, which is most likely the underlying issue of your black screen w mouse only. While you wait for replacement ssd you could test clean install Windows 10 on a test hard drive after temporarily removing the Dell ssd that has corrupted operating system. Let Win 10 on test hdd auto download all the drivers it needs and then just use the pc to test its operation,
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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July 5th, 2024 00:18
What port are you using on the monitor? Are you using any video cable adapters? Can you test this monitor on a different PC or different monitor on this PC?
Are you sure the monitor is plugged into the add-in NVidia RTX 4060, or did you accidentally plug it into the onboard Intel Graphics DP port? It should be plugged into the NVidia GPU...
Gary22
1 Rookie
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22 Posts
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July 5th, 2024 06:44
I think I solve the problem. I wandered into my home office and turned on the new machine and found that the monitor showed just a black screen–previously it had shown a black screen along with the mouse cursor.. The black screen without any cursor reminded me of something that happened several years ago with an older XPS unit. I was running 3 monitors and suddenly all three were black without any mouse cursor even. My eventual fix then was to Turn off the computer and unplug the monitors From the computer. I then plugged them back in and started the machine and the displays were all fine. Yesterday I was working with only one of the three monitors but I followed the same procedure today and turned off the new unit and unplugged the monitor from the computer, plugged it back in and display was working properly. So I turned off the new computer and reattached my other two monitors and various other peripherals and am working on installing programs and copying over files. There must've been sort of a static buildup that was not cleared when I tried cold boots.
Many thanks to the fellow users who provided suggestions.