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PC boot up to black screen with blinking cursor


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Posted

PC info : Ms windows xp professional sp3 - Intel core2 duo cpu e7200 @ 2.53ghz, 2.0 gb ram, intel g33/g31 express chipset family (dell desktop)

nothing is working - it'll boot up at the dell screen then goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor (which I can't type anything)

I connected an usb external cd/dvd driver and ran "hiren boot cd" ran just fine - I was able to scan for viruses, check the system - everything is okay. when i disconnect the external drive - back to the problem. can anyone help me??? thank you.


Posted

Firstly, Hirens is warez and you shouldn't be using it.

Second, disconnect all external drives, including any USB keys or whatnot. Also make sure you optical drive does not have a disc in it. The blinking cursor usually means that it is having trouble using the bootloader. Have you tried safe mode?

Posted

Firstly, Hirens is warez and you shouldn't be using it.

Second, disconnect all external drives, including any USB keys or whatnot. Also make sure you optical drive does not have a disc in it. The blinking cursor usually means that it is having trouble using the bootloader. Have you tried safe mode?

thx for replying Tripredacus - when I disconnect everything the screen just tells me to replug the keyboard and mouse back in. i'll reboot and back to my problem. I can't enter safe mode but i can enter bios. with the external drive with hiren i can enter safe mode.

Posted

The blinking cursor usually means that it is having trouble using the bootloader.

I beg to differ, in my experience it is usually a problem related to the MBR or PBR (or both).

jaclaz

Posted

with hiren i can enter safe mode.

As just said, we can't support people using illegal tools.

Ponch, I'm new to this PC world and someone recommended this - i didn't know it was illegal until now. be nice if people didn't assume - thx for letting me know it's illegal. i do appreciate these valuable information. Can anyone help me with the "pc boot up to black screen with blinking cursor" - thx

Posted

Did Dell provide a CD with the system or did it come with a recovery parition which can be used to install everything back to original factory conditions?

Posted

What happened before you got in that situation ? Are you willing to reinstall or is recovery needed ? (please answer both questions)

Posted

What happened before you got in that situation ? Are you willing to reinstall or is recovery needed ? (please answer both questions)

Yes I do have the Dell recovery disc. Before this happened, a friend noticed the computer was running "sluggish" so he d/led malwarebyte at www.downloads.com. He wanted to scan the system. When he rebooted this happen. I'm not yet ready to reinstall/reformat. Recovery will be great, but if I must I will reinstall.

Posted

Try this: boot your Dell XP disc, choose to "REPAIR an XP using the recovery console", and check if it actually still sees one to repair. If yes, get to the console's prompt and type "fixmbr". If not, ... hum...wait for more advice.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

im having the same problem. i tried to use the boot cd (windows xp home) and this came up on the first screen:

"Your computer's startup program cannot gain access to the disk containing the partition or disk space you chose. Setup cannot install Windows XP on this hard disk

This lack of access does not necessarily indicate an error condition. For example, disk attached to a SCSI adapter that wasn't installed by your computer manufacturer or to a secondary harddisk controller, are typically not visible to the start up program unless special software is used. Contact your computer or hard disk controller manufacturer for more information.

On x-86-based computers, this message may indicate a problem with the CMOS drive settings. See your disk controller documentation for more information."

the problem is i dont understand any of it. :( help

Posted

im having the same problem. i tried to use the boot cd (windows xp home) and this came up on the first screen:

"Your computer's startup program cannot gain access to the disk containing the partition or disk space you chose. Setup cannot install Windows XP on this hard disk

This lack of access does not necessarily indicate an error condition. For example, disk attached to a SCSI adapter that wasn't installed by your computer manufacturer or to a secondary harddisk controller, are typically not visible to the start up program unless special software is used. Contact your computer or hard disk controller manufacturer for more information.

On x-86-based computers, this message may indicate a problem with the CMOS drive settings. See your disk controller documentation for more information."

the problem is i dont understand any of it. :( help

Post some DETAILS on the hardware (make/model) and try describing HOW/WHEN it started happening.

jaclaz

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