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General discussion

Black screen Vista won't start

Apr 12, 2011 4:02AM PDT

Everything seemed to be fine, I was using firefox browsing youtube, when without warning, I got a blue screen for like half a second, then the computer suddenly restarted. I thought it was going to reboot, but after the windows screen, nothing happens, just a black screen with a cursor blinking. I ctrl+alt+deleted back to the windows screen and I can get into bios, but not the boot menu or the system restore menu. I've had some problems in the past, but I've never seen anything like this. When it's at the black screen, it doesn't sound like the hard drives are spinning or the computer is doing anything. I don't know if it means anything, but I was getting system file mismatch warnings from windows right before this happened. But I don't think it was that, cause I've been getting those warnings for like 4 years(stemming from problems adding a service pack 1).

Is this a common problem, or did all my hard drives die.

Discussion is locked

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No make, model and
Apr 12, 2011 4:09AM PDT

Not much of what's connected to the PC.

For example some machines won't start if USB things are plugged in. Try without!

And the FLASH crash issue appears to be Adobe's new hardware acceleration. Once you have it booting, research FLASH HARDWARE ACCELERATION and turn that off.
Bob

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still won't start
Apr 12, 2011 4:29AM PDT

I have a hp pavillion elite m9040n, with intel quad-core q6600, 3072 memory, geforece 9800gt.

You said Flash could be the problem, because a few minutes before this happened, I had just installed FLASH 10.

I unplugged all the USB cables, but still nothing.

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Good to read the FLASH 10 crash.
Apr 12, 2011 6:51AM PDT
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forgot about the power supply
Apr 13, 2011 5:04AM PDT

When I put in the replacement video card(the original burned out) I also put in a new more powerful power supply(a Thermaltake 450w black widow) so I don't think that is the problem.

I have been looking at some of the other threads, and some people have suggested using a live cd to go in and try fix whatever happened. Does that sound like it could work.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

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Forgotten.
Apr 13, 2011 5:10AM PDT

It's still possible the onboard screen is displaying an error message we can use. If this was my machine I'd take a look at that since with onboard and a card the blinking cursor can be on one and the other is the boot information and why it didn't boot.

-> As to the live cd, over in the CNET Storage Forum, top post notes a few I've used to see if the HDD contents are still there.
Bob

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no error message
Apr 13, 2011 5:36AM PDT

I can't seem to get any kind of error message. I turn it on, I get the windows screen, where I can go into BIOS and where I can go into system restore, and a few seconds later, a blank screen with a cursor that just sits there. I can't seem to get to the system restore the menu either. Bios seems to know that the hard drives are still physically installed, but other than that I can't seem to do anything with them. I'm hoping that its just something to do with the operating system, and not that all my drives were erased or reformated or something. I'm hoping that with using a live cd, I can at least get to my files and move them onto an external hard drive.

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About the live cd.
Apr 13, 2011 5:41AM PDT
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safe mode?
Apr 13, 2011 6:16AM PDT

I currently can't get to safe mode. Are you talking about the black screen where it says "windows was not shut down properly" or something, and it give you the choice of restarting in safe mode, in safe mode with networking, or to start with the last known settings that worked? Cause I can't get to that screen.

You've mentioned my video card a couple of time. I installed it correctly and when I upgraded it like 14 months ago I also put in a more powerful power supply. Its been working fine all this time as far as I can tell. I don't understand how the video card could be affecting the boot up sequence or whatever. But I'll give it a try.

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"I don't understand how the video card could be affecting
Apr 13, 2011 6:21AM PDT
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just realized this
Apr 13, 2011 7:46AM PDT

Your suggestion to romove the video card to see if that helps me regain access. I've taken the video card out but now, how am I supposed to plug a monitor in. The jacks were a part of the card, now that I have physically unplugged the card from the slot on the motherboard, how am I supposed to connect a monitor?

Not sure if I understood what you were meant for me to do.

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The model I looked up has video "onboard."
Apr 13, 2011 8:05AM PDT
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still nothing
Apr 13, 2011 8:44AM PDT

I found the other monitor port you were talking about, it was under a plastic cover with do not remove on it. Plugged it in, turned on without the video card, still nothing, its still doing the same thing it was before, nothing has changed. I still get stuck at a blank black screen with a blinking cursor.

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Wait for it.
Apr 13, 2011 8:56AM PDT

"I get the windows screen, where I can go into BIOS and where I can go into system restore, and a few seconds later, a blank screen with a cursor"

Without the added video card you still get the blinking cursor. That's a good sign the video card is OK.

But "wait for it." That is, I found this one system that took 10 minutes for it to finish whatever it was that needed fixing.

-> I take it that all Windows modes don't work? Safe Mode, Safe Mode with networking, etc?

Since we don't have a Windows 7 boot DVD our options are narrowing fast. The one thing I find that works and is cheap is to pull the HDD out, pop in a new HDD then restore the machine with the recovery DVDs.

After it's up and running we add the old HDD so we can get our files out and after that tell windows to CHKDSK it. If it works we can power down (I hope you can figure when to do that) pull the new HDD, put the old HDD back onto the boot connections and try again.
Bob

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wait for it?
Apr 13, 2011 9:06AM PDT

I tried waiting for several minutes previously, you're saying that I should just let it sit for like an hour or something. The thing is, that once it gets to the black screen with a cursor, is that it seems like it just stops working, the hard drives aren't making any noise, the system lights on the front of the case aren't blinking, other than the fans spinning, it doesn't seem like its doing anything.

I can't even get to the screen where it gives me a choise of safe mode. And I don't have recovery discs. The factory recovery settings came on one of the hard drives, and I can't seem to access it.

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Ok,
Apr 13, 2011 9:09AM PDT

Sorry about the Windows 7 comment. I can use either the real Vista DVD or the WIndows 7 DVD to do the chkdsk.

HP gives us a way to make recovery media so I guess you opted not to do that. Head to HP.COM, find your model and get the recovery media on order.

-> Then you can use my recovery method noted above to save your machine and files.
Bob

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About the hard drives not making any noise.
Apr 13, 2011 9:11AM PDT

I wonder why I forgot to cover HDD connections.

This model has the usual SATA HDD. There are TWO CONNECTORS and cables.

Power down (sorry if I forget to write when to do that, use common sense about this please) and then get inside the case. Gently push the SATA connections home on the motherboard and then the HDD.

Hope it spins up.
Bob

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HDD cables
Apr 13, 2011 9:32AM PDT

Are saying that I should unplug the hard drives and plug them back into two of the free sata slots. Sata plugs 1-3 of 6 are currently filled with the two dives and the dvd drive. Are you saying that I should unplug them and move them over to the other 4-6 plugs, or am I misunderstanding you.

Or are you talking about getting a new hard drive and pluging it in instead.

I tried using the provided programs to make some recovery dvds way back when, but I must have screwed something up, because they never seemed to work.

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Sorry, no.
Apr 13, 2011 9:49AM PDT

I didn't ask for any moving of the connections. Just power down, gently push the connections home at the motherboard then at the drives.

As to the getting a new HDD, I guess this is getting too complicated. Maybe a shop counter is best but be sure they don't wipe your drive (unless you were good and kept backups.)
Bob

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one more thing
Apr 15, 2011 6:17AM PDT

Thank you for your help so, but I don't seem to be making any progress. I can deal with the operating system dying on me. At this point I just want to recover the work I had on the hard drives at the time of crash. I'm hoping that they weren't erased or anything and my stuff is still on them.

I do backup my work, but like every month, so I still have a couple of weeks of projects that I'd like to recover. Now I'm thinking that my best bet at the moment, is just plugging the drives into another computer and just moving all my stuff off of them.

I noticed that there were no jumpers on the backs of these drives, so I'm assuming that I just have to plug them in after the already installed one on another computer. But my other computer is a windows 7 system, does that matter? Am I missing anything else?

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Sorry that it didn't budge.
Apr 15, 2011 8:52AM PDT

To save the files might be easy. Go get some USB CASE or cable like http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=2020 and you can attach the HDD temporarily to the working machine to fish out your files.

Then back to the original machine and use the restore media to start over.
Bob

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thanks
Apr 15, 2011 9:02AM PDT

I forgot about about the adapter cables, thanks for mentioning that.

I'll have to give that a try before I try pugging them staight into an new motherboard.