Windows won't start

[oneillblue]

Hi,

I woke up this morning to find that when I turn my computer on I am greeted by a black screen when Windows should be loading. I can get into the BIOS but when Windows is supposed to load it just appears to be a black screen.

I have tried using the XP disk and after it comes up "Press key to boot from disk..." and "Checking hardware... etc" the black screen comes back.

Tried getting into safe mode and yet again, a black screen.

Any help would be great.

[eyeCpc]

That can be from one of three main things 1) video drivers corrupted or missing 2)system files 3)new High Definition video card on older non HD lcd.

#3 has been the winner here lately where if you still hear things busy without a picture like Windows loading pressing the power button on and off a few times eventually sees a normal display. For cards with dual vga ports make sure the single monitor used is plugged into the primary port.

[macdawg]

open up the case and make sure a cable from the hard drive isn't unplugged or something.

probably a bios issue, take off the cmos battery of the motherboard and plug it back in to reset bios

now try to boot frm cd again

[eyeCpc]

How old is the monitor there? The lcd is about 3yrs. old here and is seeing black screens right after the Windows splash and personal settings screens are about to see the desktop come up.

If Windows appears to be loading fully while still seeing a black screen an older monitor giving is the main thought. That wouldn't be a bios issue but hardware problem. Clearing the cmos won't help any if drivers, a bad update of something, or the monitor is going on you.

[macdawg]

boot issues are most often bios related.

"1) video drivers corrupted or missing

you can boot without video drivers

2)system files

go in bios and boot from last working configuration

3)new High Definition video card on older non HD lcd.

huh?

[eyeCpc]

The bios setup program is used even prior to installing any operating system in order to set up things like dram timings and the boot order according to the drives/devices installed. The Windows boot menu is entered just when the last "bios" post screen is finishing where you press the F8 key to bring that up. That is part of Windows itself there.

The two things are totally separate from each other. You don't slear the cmos in order to correct software problems like drivers.

With the lcd being 3yrs. old at this time the replacement will be coming shortly since that keeps clicking into the standby hibernation mode until switched on and off several times when first starting the system. After so many seconds the screen goes black. Once reset enough times it will finally stay on pointing at it having served it's purpose and is on the last leg here.

[macdawg]

black screen is from when "The master boot record (MBR), partition tables, boot sector, or NTLDR file is corrupted."

if he can't boot from disk to allow him to reformat or repair windows, then something is wrong in bios, clearing the cmos should fix that, then boot from disk and repair windows if you can't boot into last known working configuration.

black screen isn't a driver issue and no clue why your talking about 3 year old monitors as a problem.

don't think this person is going to check this thread anyway, lol

[networkphoenix03]

press f5 before boot up/ and select safemode and check start up problem
press win r and type msconfig and diaable start up progs and diagnose the problem....

[macdawg]

he said he couldn't boot in safe mode though.......

[eyeCpc]

F5 won't get you anywhere. F8 is also the key on many boards for bringing up the boot device menu instead of going into the bios setup in order to select the drive(floppy, hard drive, optical) to boot from. On some boards that would be the F12 key there. You simply select the optical drive the XP disk is in order to boot from it.

That option bypasses the need to enter the bios setup in order to change the boot order there. Since the post tests have completed before the screen goes black that rules out the bios but not bad read/write heads on the hard drive itself if this is on an older system.

By using another machine you can download and prepare a boot floppy with the drive manufacturer's diagnostic tool to see if the hard drive is in working order that way. The msconfig utility can only be used once Windows is loaded by typing msconfig in at the Start>Run command line.