HELP (URGENT) PC won't boot

ding76uk

ding76uk

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I am running XP, and when I went to turn on this morning it went to the Windows loading screen as normal. Followed by a black screen with only my cursor, that was fine until it only stayed on that screen. Tried rebooting a cpl times, not luck, nothing but that black screen!

What can I do to get it to load?

HELP!!!!!!!!
 
Oh heck, the blinking cursor of death!

I had that two weeks ago and it was the processor. new PC on it's way. Hope yours is OK!
 
What happens when you turn it on now?

Does it get to the same place everytime?

Does it "beep" when you first turn it on?

Have you installed any new drivers/software lately?

Have you tried booting in safe mode?
 
Is it Laptop or Desktop ?

i once had something very similar and it was a battery fault
 
Desktop. It beeps when first turn on and all is normal until I get to the Windows screen with the loading bar underneath. After that it just goes to a black screen and goes no further. I have not tried going into safe mode due to being at work now, but tried last known good configuration and same.

It recognises the drive so hopefully all is OK there, but after that all out of luck.
 
When the screen goes black, does your monitor light flick from green to orange?
 
If it is a dodgy video card that can't manage better than vga or a bad video driver then it should still boot into safe mode.
 
Yep, i think Safe Mode should be the next thing to try when you get home.
 
How long have you left the black screen sitting? Is there any harddrive activity while you're on the black screen? Sometimes Windows will corrupt a few system files which it will only pickup on a reboot. It then spends an age rebuilding the file system. You may be disrupting that rebuild each time you reboot so that it has to start over each time. Leave it for a couple of hours on the black screen before you take any more drastic action.
 
neo2810 said:
How long have you left the black screen sitting? Is there any harddrive activity while you're on the black screen? Sometimes Windows will corrupt a few system files which it will only pickup on a reboot. It then spends an age rebuilding the file system. You may be disrupting that rebuild each time you reboot so that it has to start over each time. Leave it for a couple of hours on the black screen before you take any more drastic action.
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true. i kept rebooting my win7 install screen thinking it wasnt doing anything, but it took about 20 mins for the "welcome to windows 7 install" page to come up.
 
Sounds like it could well be a driver issue, as said, Safe Mode is your next port of call, followed by a repair install maybe (assuming you have full OS discs, not recovery discs)
 
ding76uk said:
I have a 500gb drive split into 2 one for OS and a few smaller progs and a D: to store all my data in etc. If I end up with a full reinstall will my data be safe? Silly question I know but don't want to lose too much even though backed up.
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As long as the drive is physically ok, as long as you do not touch partition d your data should be fine.

when you get it working again I would back up your data as a priority.
 
Indeed, even with a full format reinstall, nothing on D: should get touched.

However, it's always worth trying the repair before falling back to a format as it will keep all your programs etc. too if it works.
 
ding76uk said:
I have a 500gb drive split into 2 one for OS and a few smaller progs and a D: to store all my data in etc. If I end up with a full reinstall will my data be safe? Silly question I know but don't want to lose too much even though backed up.
Click to expand...

Yes, it will be fine. Just make sure you select the correct partition to install Windows on when you reinstall. Try leaving it for a couple of hours on the hanging screen to ensure it's not just Windows repairing itself, and then try safe mode. Failing that, pop the Windows disc in your drive, hit your boot selection trigger button (usually F8 but could be F1, F6, F9, F12 or DEL as well). If you can't find it, head into the BIOS (the splash screen will tell you what to press to enter BIOS or SETUP as it's sometimes called). From there you can change the boot order to put your CD Drive at the top. Then just reboot and hit a key to boot from the disk when prompted to. Windows will load the temp files it needs and then ask you to choose which partition you want to install Windows on. It should retain the drive letters allocated on the preivous install so you will install on C: no doubt. Do a FULL format (not a quick one) and then just follow the instructions until Windows is reinstalled. You will see your data drive intact but all your programs will have to be reinstalled as they will be wiped along with Windows.

If you need any help with the process, drop me a PM and I'll give you my MSN to talk through it. :thumbs:
 
Just to get ti straight, the way to progress tonight is (in order):

Leave windows on for a cpl hours, see if sorts itself.

System file check from command prompt. (anything to do here?)

Safe mode open (anything to do when in there?)

Repair install.

Full reinstall on C: if all else fails

Anything I have missed???

Once again thanks guys, hopefully there is a solution!
 
Yes, except I'd skip the repair install step. It's appaling on XP and usually only takes a few weeks before errors creep in from the repair misplacing files or conflicts by overwriting essential app files.

If you can get in during safe mode, then run a chkdsk and sfc from cmd prompt (just type CMD into START>RUN)
 
neo2810 said:
Yes, except I'd skip the rapair install step. It's appaling on XP and usually only takes a few weeks before errors creep in from the repair misplacing files or conflicts by overwriting essential app files.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree, i've found the repair option to be an absolute life saver on occasions and never has it begun messing around subsequently.

Far better option than just wiping everything and starting again if it isn't necessary.
 
OK update. Came home, turned on speakers and am 99% sure windows loads, as all noises are fine, starts up and shutsdown on push of power button, so that points to graphics card right?

Any pointers on where to go from here? Should I still try to run in safe mode, or is graphics card shot? Don't have anything to try in place of it, but have hooked up via digital connection, should I try the analogue one?

Didn't want to go too far if it is graphics card shot. Shows XP loading screen but black after that. Suggestions of next step knowing this needed please.

Again thanks for all this support, such a great forum!
 
Try safe mode, let us know how you get on with that.
 
Looks like a driver then, did you install any software or drivers prior to is going wrong? Also did you change the resolution on your g'card?
 
If you installed that software prior to it breaking i would try removing it, also maybe recover to a restore point prior to the failure?
 
can you not select a system restore point a couple of days/weeks/months when it was working fine. system restore is in the system tools sub menu from the start bar

as what was said above
 
Excellent, glad it's sorted. :)
 
Now go and install the latest drivers for your graphics card :D
 
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