black screen w/ no cursor, no f8 option

hello. i have a hp pavilion dv6z-6c00 running windows 7 home premium 64-bit and it's messed up. a week ago i let the battery run out and when starting it up again, i noticed the windows logo page was in a version close to safe mode. right after, instead of going to the log-in page, all i got was a black screen. left it like that for a while and no change. i then proceeded to restart the laptop numerous times and i still got the same thing. sometimes with a cursor but more so without. i have looked online for solutions and have read multiple incidents where it could be a problem with the start-up with my processes. yet i have not found one closely resembling my situation. some solutions recommended doing some diagnostics and memory tests to find out more info. i would try that with the built-in windows version and it would get hung up at 99%. the bios version to test memory only allowed the short version. some mentioned to go into safe mode, yet i do not even have access to the f8 menu. it just goes through the loading and keeps beeping until i let go of the key. some say to start a system recovery but when i try that, it actually loads with the regular windows logo screen but thats about it; it stays there without doing anything else. i really need help on this because i seriously don't know what else to do. i just got the laptop a couple months ago and to run into this really sucks. any assistance and solution would be greatly appreciated. thank you.

it just goes through the loading and keeps beeping until i let go of the key

What beep codes do you hear and what key do you press? Is it still under warranty? Did you check the F11 function and create recovery disc? Not system recovery. Most specially if you have important documents. Startup repair could be an option but I see you could not launch the Advance boot menu...?

it just beeps like an error sound. just like when you hold too many keys down for an extended period of time. it happens when i hold down f8 and it also happened when i held down f11. also i have already tried creating a recovery disk. that was when i mentioned the system recovery previously. i just accessed it through the startup menu instead. and yes. i cannot access the advanced boot menu.

okay. so i do have a windows recovery disk now. was able to burn one on another pc. the thing is that i am having trouble accessing it also. getting different black screens. i first change the boot priority in bios to my dvd drive. with the dvd inserted, i restart my laptop. first try i let it load from the start but it goes into the black screen once again like before. second i try to enter system recovery with f11 and yet i get the same thing with that option where i get stuck on the windows logo page. any suggestions?

I will ask a BC Advisor on your situation. Sit tight.

Let's firstly have a look at the MBR (MasterBootRecord).

Please try the following: You will need a USB drive/flashdrive and a new blank writable CD.

Please do the following on a working computer:

• Download GETxPUD.exe to the Desktop.
• Run GETxPUD.exe
  A new folder will appear on the desktop.
• Open the GETxPUD folder and click on get&burn.bat
• The program will download xpud_0.9.2.iso, and when finished will open BurnCDCC ready to burn the image.
  Please be patient: This could take awhile - download file size 63MB.
• Click on Start and follow the prompts to burn the image to a CD.

You will use this CD to boot the ailing computer from.


Boot the ailing computer with the xPUD CD.

• (You may have to configure the Boot Menu or BIOS Setup Menu to boot first from the optical/CD/DVD drive.)
  A Welcome to xPUD screen will appear.
• Click on File.
• Expand the mnt icon on the left (click on the little arrow beside the icon).
  
  • sda1, sda2 etc. ...usually correspond to your HDD partitions
  • sdb1, sdc1 is likely to correspond to a USB flashdrive, external USB hard drive etc.
• Click on the folder that represents your USB drive (sdb1 ?).
• Click Tool on the top menu, and choose Open Terminal.
• Type the following at the hash prompt:
  
  dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1
  
  
  • Note: Leave a space between the following:
    
    • dd ... the executable application used to create the backup
    • if=/dev/sda ... the device the backup is created from (the hard drive when only one HDD exists)
    • of=mbr.bin ... the backup file to create - note the lack of a path - it will be created in the directory currently open in the Terminal
    • bs=512 ... the number of bytes in the backup
    • count=1 ... says to backup just 1 sector
      It is extremely important that the if and of statements are correctly entered.
• Press the <ENTER> key.
  After it has finished a file will be located on your USB drive named mbr.bin.
  
• Remove the USB drive from the ailing computer.

On the working computer:

• Insert the USB drive, and navigate to the file mbr.bin
• Zip-up the mbr.bin file:
  
  • Right-click on the file and choose Send to .. > Compressed (zipped) Folder.
    A zipped folder will appear in the same location as the mbr.bin file.
• Please attach the zipped file to your next reply.
  This will allow the MasterBootRecord of your hard drive to be checked to see whether or not it is infected &/or damaged.

Try this - Remove battery, unplug power, hold power button for 60 seconds, turn on computer with power plug only, then shutdown, add battery and restart

so i tried JColt suggestion and it seems to have worked. i am able to enter the recovery disk menu. yet i wanted to make sure everything was okay first with AustrAlien's directions so after downloading xPUD and burning it onto a cd, i go to boot it from the ailing laptop but instead of getting the regular menu, after the language select there is a automatic command prompt screen mentioning after running about no devices and screens detected/found. "xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server. xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error. xauth: (argv):1: bad display name "(none):0" in "remove" command. sh: no job control in this shell" so now i don't know if i should proceed with trying to get xPUD to work or just move along to the recovery disk instead.

actually... the recovery disk only showed the language select and after nothing. just freezes with only the background.

Try booting with xPUD again. Try it 3 or 4 times ... or more if you have the persistence. I had one recent incident reported similar to this where xPUD loaded properly on the 3rd or 4th try after successive failures.

Let me know if you continue to have trouble loading xPUD and we'll try another bootable CD. It may be that xPUD just doesn't have the necessary drivers to run on your particular hardware.

yeah. tried it 6 times. still the same error.

Hmmm ... can't be sure the problem is with xPUD and not the computer itself, so let's try with another bootable CD and see if you can get this CD to load its Linux operating system.

Please do the following on a working computer:

• You will need a USB drive/flashdrive and a new blank writable CD.
• Download UBCD and burn to a CD: If you do not already have a suitable burning program for writing .ISO images to disc ...
  
  • Download and install ImgBurn.
  • Ensure that you UN-check the box agreeing to install the Ask toolbar during the installation.
  • Place a new (blank) CD disc in the drive tray.
  • Choose Write image file to disc.
    
    • Under Source, click on the Browse button: Navigate to and select the .ISO file that you wish to burn.
    • Place a check-mark in the box beside Verify.
  • Click
• When the CD has been burned and verified as successful, it will be bootable.

Boot the ailing computer with the UBCD CD.

• (You may have to configure the Boot Menu or BIOS Setup Menu to boot first from the optical/CD/DVD drive.)
• At the first menu screen, select Parted Magic and press <ENTER>.
  Use Default settings ...
• At the Parted Magic Desktop, double-click File Manager.
  A new window will open.
• In the left window pane, click on the folder that represents your flashdrive.
• Click Tool on the top menu, and choose Open Terminal.
• Type the following at the hash prompt:
  
  dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1
  
  
  Note: Leave a space between the following:
  
• dd ... the executable application used to create the backup
• if=/dev/sda ... the device the backup is created from (the hard drive when only one HDD exists)
• of=mbr.bin ... the backup file to create - note the lack of a path - it will be created in the directory currently open in the Terminal
• bs=512 ... the number of bytes in the backup
• count=1 ... says to backup just 1 sector
  It is extremely important that the if and of statements are correctly entered.

[*]Press the <ENTER> key.
After it has finished a file will be located on your USB drive named mbr.bin.
[*]Shut down Parted Magic.
[*]Remove the USB drive from the ailing computer.
[/list]
On the working computer:

• Insert the USB drive, and navigate to the file mbr.bin
• Zip-up the mbr.bin file:
  
  • Right-click on the file and choose Send to .. > Compressed (zipped) Folder.
    A zipped folder will appear in the same location as the mbr.bin file.
• Please attach the zipped file to your next reply.
  This will allow the MasterBootRecord of your drive to be checked to see whether or not it is infected &/or damaged.

so... another problem. i was able to burn UBCD onto a cd to boot it on my laptop. i was able to go through the beginning until i selected parted magic. after the default option, it runs a bunch of files and the display switches off like it was loading another screen. instead of going to parted magic desktop like you described, it instead stays off even though the laptop is still on. i now think that something might be wrong with my video card? but thats just speculation. any ideas?

Not having much luck here ...

Let's try a really simple boot CD and test the memory while we are at it.

Test the memory (RAM).

Memory needs to be tested outside of Windows, so memtest86+ is run from a bootable CD.

To make a bootable CD with memtest86+:

• • Download the Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip) from near the bottom of the memtest86+ page.
    OR ... use the following direct download link: Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
• Extract the downloaded zip file:
  
  • Right-click on the zip file and choose Extract all. (Windows XP ... other Windows versions may have different wording.)
    The contents of the zip file (the .ISO image file) will be extracted to a folder in the same location as your zip file.
• Burn the .ISO image to CD: If you do not already have a suitable burning program for writing .ISO images to disc ...
  
  • Download and install ImgBurn.
  • Ensure that you UN-check the box agreeing to install the Ask toolbar during the installation.
  • Place a new (blank) CD disc in the drive tray.
  • Choose Write image file to disc.
    
  • Under Source, click on the Browse button: Navigate to and select the .ISO file that you wish to burn.
  • Place a check-mark in the box beside Verify.
• Click
  
• When the CD has been burned and verified as successful, it will be bootable.

Boot from the newly created CD.

• You may need to configure BIOS or the Boot Menu to boot first from the CD.
• memtest86+ will begin running automatically: You need do nothing else at this time.
• Allow memtest86+ to run un-interrupted.

See the screenshots in this informative link: Diagnose with Memtest86+

There MUST be NO errors what-so-ever:

• If you see an error, stop the test.
• Then proceed to test each stick of RAM separately to sort the good from the bad.

A minimum test for some confidence in the result, should be 7 full passes (each "pass" is a series of different types of tests), with NO errors.

• Allow memtest86+ to run for 24 hours for maximum confidence in the test result.

memtest86+ will continue running until you stop it:

• Press the <ESCAPE> key to re-boot the computer, removing the memtest86+ CD.

Reference: Overclockers forums Memtest86+ Guide/How To's
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409152

You might also try a new AC adapter. If that doesn't help the situation, you can always take it back to place of purchase.