Failure to boot

#1 looksharpe

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 01:57 PM

My computer was fine till today when I came to turn it on and it starts as normal with the processor logo but then the screen goes to black (not true black as it would look if turned off but like as if it was coloured black if that makes sense). It just stays on this screen after this with no change.

I have tried booting into safe mode and booting from last known working settings but selecting either of these options takes me into screen which says choose the operating mode you would like to boot (windows xp - the only option) and then just freezes.

This leads me to believe that it may be a hard drive failure problem as the files to boot windows are not available. I just wanted to see what your advice was before I bought a new hard drive or got it fixed.

Thanks

#2 micksim

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 02:32 PM

Hello looksharp.

Do you have a Windows XP installation disc?

#3 dc3

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 02:53 PM

If you know what the manufacturer of your hdd is you can go to their web site and download their diagnostic tool. You then burn a CD from this and boot your computer from it. You may need to enter the BIOS to make the CD-ROM the first device in the boot order. If you can boot from this it will at least let you know that your hardware is not the problem, with the exception of the hdd, but that's why your are running the diagnostics. :thumbup2:

#4 Orange Blossom

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Posted 15 November 2010 - 07:31 PM

Does this concern the same computer discussed here? http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic360717.html

Orange Blossom :cherry:

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#5 hamluis

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Posted 16 November 2010 - 09:38 AM

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic360717.html/page__p__2018899#entry2018899

Above is your current topic in the Malware Removal Log forum.

Can you answer the question posed by Orange Blossom, please?

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#6 looksharpe

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Posted 18 November 2010 - 11:47 AM

No its not the same computer and for those in future, I got it to work by going into bios settings restoring them to default and using the method dc3 provided. Computer worked fine after I did this. Thanks very much everyone

This post has been edited by looksharpe: 18 November 2010 - 11:48 AM