Vista not booting? Black screen/blinking cursor

C

capecorallive

New Member
Upon restarting my Laptop I get a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper right corner of my screen.

I can not get into safe mode, I tried Vista recovery tools (System restore, Startup repair (shows no problems).

I do not have any external hardware plugged in and have not installed any new hardware.

I am able to access my hard drive and back up small amounts of data through my backup software which is on disk.

Any help out there?

Thank you in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

Dare I ask If you have used a Registry Cleaner?/Messed with your BIOS at all?

Unplug ALL usb devices, and restart. If this doesnt work, boot into, and try System Restore from the Advanced recovery utility on the Vista DVD. If this fails try a repair/upgrade re-install from the Vista disk.

Failing all the above steps may indicate Hardware failure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T7600G Core2Duo 2.66 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Mobility Radeon x1900 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    WUXGA 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    640GB 7200RPM SATA/RAID 0 (2x320GB) and 320GB 7200RPM External
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft 3000
    Internet Speed
    10 mbps/2 mbps
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-220 DL BD-RE (Blu-Ray)
Hi,

Looks like it can't find anything bootable on the HD.

Check in Bios ( it will tell you when you startup to press F2 or Del or similar for setup ) that your HD is listed as a boot device.

If it still won't boot, make sure the Vista partition is set as Active - your backup software may have some kind of partition manager included where you rt click the Vista partition and mark as active.

Otherwise, boot to system recovery options , select command prompt, type:

(assuming your Vista partition is 2 - if not, use the correct number for your machine - as shown by the list par command )

X:\sources>diskpart {enter}

DISKPART> sel disk 0 {enter}

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list par {enter}

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 30 GB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 25 GB 30 GB
Partition 3 Primary 23 GB 55 GB
Partition 0 Extended 70 GB 78 GB
Partition 4 Logical 40 GB 78 GB
Partition 5 Logical 30 GB 118 GB

DISKPART> sel par 2 {enter}

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> active {enter}

DISKPART>exit {enter}

Hope it helps
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
If you are just getting a flashing cursor then there is a good chance there is a software problem with your primary drive.

What websites have you been on before it happened?
Have you used update just before the fail.

It sounds like you need to repair your OS or check the drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers Trust Graphics Tablet
Yes, my girlfriend said the system crashed during a windows update (and she had to take the battery out/unplug to restart. That's when the fun began. The laptop is only a 1 1/2 old. (I'm thinking it did not crash and she thought it did) I'm not sure.

I sent away to acer for a recovery disk because one did not come with the computer. I guess the disk will come with Vista on it so I'm hoping a reinstall will solve the problem. I only have a basic vista recovery disk that checks for errors and it said it did not find any.

I thought it was the drive until I was able to get into the drive with Acronis True Image and back data up on an external hard drive. I could backup folders such as programs.

When I tried to do a whole C drive backup the computer shut down after 15Mins. I tried moving the mouse around to see if that would help but it still shut down on a whole drive backup.

Thanks everyone for he tips. Appreciate it.
 

My Computer

System One

SIW2,

THANK YOU!!! (Hopefully I yelled that loud enough for you to hear)

I restored Acronis Home 11 image and it did not boot. Kept giving me blinking cursor on left upper side of screen. I followed your steps and finally it worked (although did have to run REPAIR on Microsoft boot disk again)

DELL ACRONIS RESTORE NOT BOOTING PROBLEM AFTER RESTORE?? Try SIW2's suggestion. Worked for me!
 

My Computer

System One

Hi
I am having the same problems as the threadstarter, although mine is a little complicated:
I own an Asus Vista HP laptop manufactured in '99 and bought it second-hand in NOV. '10.
I made the big mistake of taking this lp without any discs whatsoever and thought I could just buy some later on.
The problem started just after I had DL Spybot Search and Destroy followed by a trial Norton 2012 Anti-Virus.
After shutdown I experienced the black screen/blinking cursor of death!!
I am also not able to access anything but BIOS(F2) and Escape.
F8,F10,F11 does not seem to work after many tries :(
I purchased a Recovery Disc Startup CD from an Ebay Vendor, however the CD drive also fails to read the disk! :( (did setup DVD drive as 1boot priority)
The good news is this particular Asus lp is equipped with a secondary Linux based OS for lightweight web browsing and media access called Express Gate.
I can view the hard drive and both play music and view photos through Express Gate so I'm sure my problem isn't a hard-drive failure? (EG can also read contents of inserted CD)
If there is any other way to get into my system restore prompt or at least get the drive to recognize a disc I would appreciate the help and advice.
Thanks.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

Hello Don Amero and welcome. start a Thread and lets see if our people can get you solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Emachine ET 1161-05
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640
    Motherboard
    eMachines MCP61PM-GM (Socket AM2 )
    Memory
    2.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 387MHz (6-6-6-18)
    Graphics card(s)
    Acer E181H (1280x768@60Hz) 128MB GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name Acer E181H on NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
    Screen Resolution
    1280x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    ST316081 5AS SCSI Disk Device
    PSU
    MCP61PM-GM 9000 NVIDIA Chipset Model MCP61 Chipset Revisio
    Case
    Tower
    Cooling
    Fan Speed 1247 RPM
    Mouse
    PS/2 Compatible Mouse
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    http://www.speedtest.net/result/1538974261.png
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