A couple of times in the last month my computer screen go's completely grey on start up. The last 2 day's it's every time. When this happens I have to hold the power button in to force shutdown and restart in safe mode. I then click on restart and it restarts properly. I have had 2 blue screen occurrences recently as well. May or may not be related. Everything seems to be working good but I know there's a PROBLEM SOMEWHERE. My guess is it's hardware related but I don't know enough to tell. Windows troubleshooter can't find any problems. The system isn't but a year or two old. Any idea's?

Windows 7 Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Dell Inspiron 546
AMD Atahlon II X2 215 Processor
4 GB RAM
ATI RADEON HD 3200 Graphics
160 GB Hd
Internet Explorer 91) At EXACTLY what point does the screen go grey?

2) Download BlueScreenView:
HTTP://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next reply1 - When powered on computer flashes Dell screen. Then starting Windows screen. Next screen is completely grey. Normally this would be the log in page.

2 - I didn't have a BSOD.txt option so I saved as a text file. Hope that's ok.

==================================================
Dump File : 081411-21699-01.dmp
Crash Time : 8/14/2011 12:48:56 PM
Bug Check String : KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Bug Check Code : 0x0000001e
Parameter 1 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 2 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 3 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 4 : 00000000`00000000
Caused By Driver : usbehci.sys
Caused By Address : usbehci.sys+b55d
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+7cc10
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\081411-21699-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 7601
Dump File Size : 274,880
==================================================
1) What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (ie, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?

2) Is anything plugged into a usb port?1) The only recent hw or sw change was adding a dsl line & modem but this was serveral weeks before any problems. Around the time of the first occurrence I was attempting to convert a photo in MS Paint. It froze up and I had to power down. I got the grey screen on restart but I'm not positive it was the first one. A little later I got the first blue screen and the computer seemed a little slower. While checking on the Paint freeze and error code (can't remember the code) at MS it said to use SFC to determine which file was causing the issue. I ran SFC and it said there was a file missing but it would not allow me to view the CBS log even under admin. to see what the problem was. Tried restoring to the week before but no change & it still woulden't view the CBS log. Downloaded and ran MalWareBytes and SuperAntiSpyWare. Downloaded Explorer 9 and service pack 1 from MS. Speed seemed back to normal so i left the computer on and pretty much forgot about it. Computer froze on the wife a few days ago and she had to power down. Grey screen every time since then. Restart works fine but if I shut down normally I have to do the safe mode and restart. Both blue screens happened within 5 minutes after a grey screen startup.

2) The mouse, keyboard, speakers, and printer are plugged in. Printer stays off unless I'm using it and it wasn't being used.Well that's a lot of information you didn't provide in the first post.

1) Am I to understand you can boot normally in safe mode?

2) Have you tried booting to the W7 dvd and running startup repair options?

3) Have you tried sfc /scannow again and does it still say there is a file missing?

4) Have you run a full system scan with your anti virus app?

5) Have you run checkdisk with the /r switch? If not, right-click on a command PROMPT icon and open as administrator. In the command prompt window type: chkdsk /r (then press ENTER). You'll be told the disk is in use and asked if you want to run checkdisk on the next boot. Say yes, exit the command prompt window, and reboot. Sorry, but I had forgotten about the paint incident. Also forgot to mention that I have MS Office 2007 installed but it's rarely used.

1) Command prompt to safe mode. Then I can restart normally while in safe mode.

2) No. I don't have a MS W7 dvd but I do have the Dell operating system dvd with W7 that came with the computer. Will it have a startup repair option? If so please explain how to proceed.

3) Tried sfc /scannow again and it says there are corrupt FILES. I was probably mistaken thinking it was missing files. Still can't view the cbs log.

4) Ran a full system scan. McAffee is up to date and didn't find anything.

5) Ran checkdisk. Didn't show any problems.I didn't suggest you run chkdsk. I suggested chkdsk /r as described in my post. Did you do that?

Please look in device manager - any yellow or red symbols?

I don't know what's on your Dell disk. If it's a full W7 dvd then boot to it and see if you can run the startup repair options. Make sure the optical drive is the first device in the bios boot device order.Yes, it was chkdsk /r - exactly as you suggested.

Checked device manager and there were no reds or yellow's.

By booting to the dvd to check for startup repair options do you mean for me to shut down with the dvd in the drive and restart?

http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/boot_from_cd/boot_from_cd.shtml


how to boot from a DVD/CD-the process is the same.Found startup repair by holding F8 key on boot. Ran it and it completed successfully. Reading the details it appeared it runs a simulated boot. If this is correct it can't find the problem because it always reboots successfully. The grey screen only happens when I start with the power button.

I finally found a way to save and view the sfc details and it shows several corrupt files. I can post it if needed.