Windows Server 2008, too many black screens :/

[vbgunz]

Although I am trying to run WS08 as a workstation, regardless, there are way too many black screens. These aren't exactly errors (I believe), just ugly. What i mean is, when I boot up, the screen is black for about 15 seconds and if not for the hardware, on screen there is no indication that anything is starting up. Then, I see the loading progress bar (no logo) for about 5 seconds. Then the screen goes black again and the monitor turns off for about 10 seconds. Then the login screen shows. I login and see another black screen for about 5 seconds before seeing the desktop. Once I am in, if I press Ctrl+Alt+Del, I see a black screen before the menu shows up and if I select Task Manager, I see the black screen again for about 3 seconds before going back to the desktop.

What I expect to see is, on boot, the logo and progress bar until login screen. Then logging in shows some kind of progress or stays on screen before showing the desktop. When I press Ctrl+Alt+Del, I expect to either see an hourglass or the menu right away. When I select Task Manager, I expect to see an hourglass or the Task Manager right away.

Whats up with the black screens of ugly?

My hardware setup

Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard
MSI Sli Platinum motherboard
Quad AMD 64 2.6GHz BE
6GB RAM
700W PSU
1 Nvidia 7900 GTX (7950 GX2)

nothing is overclocked. all drivers have been provided by nvidia 750a. Windows Server 2008 is up-to-date as of this post). Everything but my wireless networking card is working (I don't mind that). I would really rather see some ugly text scroll by (verbose) but looking at a black screen scroll by makes me think something is really broken and a black screen is a way to hide it. Anyone know whats going on?

Thank you for your help!

 

[RSchwarz]

You shouldn't be seeing any black screens. There has to be something wrong with your video driver. Either it is not loading correctly or the wrong driver is installed.

I get those black screens on boot only when the video driver is iniatizing. Ths happens just after the bios screen and just before the boot logo.

Yu might want to update the drivers and see if it helps.

 

[vbgunz]

I've got the latest nvidia driver and it seems to be working just fine once I can actually see something. The only possible issue and I have no real way to confirm it is, I have a CRT display that is picked up as a generic PnP Monitor. Other than that, the video card only has 2 DVI connections and I am using a DVI-VGA adapter for the connection.

I also boot up on this machine, Windows XP SP3 and Kubuntu 9.04. Both work pretty much flawlessly and show me something from boot to finish. Only on Windows Server 2008 am I seeing these ugly black screens that really just urk me out. Other than urking me, they don't seem to be a problem *but* an annoyance and I cannot help but feel WS08 is broken :/

 

[RSchwarz]

It's possible the refesh rate of the monitor is wrong. That would explain a lag in drawing the new windows.

Maybe changing the refesh rate will fix it.

 

[vbgunz]

This might sound nuts. I have a Nvidia 7900 GTX (7950 GX2) card. the card has two dvi connections. I usually have 2 monitors setup *but* was only using one as I had the other out of commission for a minute. Anyhow, I plugged in the second monitor (same exact make, model, etc) and incredibly no more black screens *after* logging in (boot still sucks in black). Its as fast I thought it should be. I am convinced I most likely had the first monitor on some sort of secondary port or something wierd.

Not sure but the dual head solved the black/blank screen problem. I just thought I share that here in case maybe someone with one monitor experiencing the problem can try switching the connections?

Thanks!

 

[RSchwarz]

Glad you got it worked out. Doesn't it seem that most problems like that turn out to be something you'd never check.

 

[vbgunz]

I am glad everything works. I get a chance to test it and not get the feeling I'll never be satisfied with it (thinking it is at some point severely broken). Anyhow, once logged in, all is smooth sailing. The bootup is still butt ugly though. Out of about 45 seconds of booting up I get to see the progress bar for about 5 seconds once. That's bad Thank you BSchwarz, I really appreciate your help

 

[RSchwarz]

It's the same with the beta of Windows 7. Some logo anmimation for 10 seconds then black screen until you hit desktop.