# computer will not start. Stuck on black screen with blinking cursor



## treborl

The problem is with my son's computer, which is out of town. I will try to be as specific as I can. He was on his computer this morning and did some email. Installed a new printer last night and was trying the scan feature. He scanned a picture and everything worked fine. He downloaded a song last night and was listening to it. He then noticed that his icons on the desktop were not right. His icon for internet explorer had a microsoft word icon. It seems that the office icons were screwed up. He was able to get to the internet but icons weren't right. I told him to try and reboot the computer and that is when everything started. The computer would not start. He just gets a black screen with a blinking cursor. I had him try and hit the F8 key while starting up but he just gets a keyboard error. He tried F2 for setup but still the same problem. Tried another keyboard and no change. It is a Dell computer about 3 years old. He is on his third power supply. Power seems to be ok. Operating system is windows xp. I know I do not have much info but any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## treborl

Operating system is XP home edition


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## blues_harp28

Hi..if you can boot from XP cd..
When prompted..press [R] this will launch recovery console.
Choose your windows installation (typically by pressing [1] press return..
When prompted for password type chkdsk /r
Press return..Windows will fix errors..type Exit and press return..
Let us know if that helps..


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## treborl

Tried to get into BIOS and just got a keyboard error. I have to change computers 1st boot to cd, correct?


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## blues_harp28

Hi..it should boot from Cd..even if, not listed first..


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## treborl

Computer will not boot from cd drive. Will need to change BIOS, but cannot get into it.


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## Jedi_Master

Howdy folks...

treborl...

Is this a USB keyboard?

If it is a newer Dell ( some not all of the older ones as well ) to change the boot order try the F12 key when you see the Dell logo...


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## treborl

It is a ps2 keyboard. Tried F12 and that did not work either. Tried the F8 and a few things come up but it just ends at the cursor.


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## Jedi_Master

treborl said:


> It is a ps2 keyboard. Tried F12 and that did not work either. Tried the F8 and a few things come up but it just ends at the cursor.


What things came up ?

Need to know this...


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## treborl

I forgot to mention that there are no beeps when starting up.


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## Jedi_Master

Didn't answer my question...

What things came up ?


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## treborl

Like I said, it is my son's computer. I will have to call him and ask him to try it again and jot down what comes up. I will post back as soon as he tries it.


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## Jedi_Master

Sure...

And please let us know on any error messages and what is showing in the menu from the F8 key, these are critical in finding the problem...

JMO...


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## treborl

My son called me up today to see if I had found any more info on his problem. For some strange reason he started up his computer and everything seems ok. Can't explain what happened. The only thing that he noticed was that the icon for his new printer that he installed a couple of days ago had changed. It was a generic one. He did not want to turn his printer on untill he scanned his computer for viruses. Thank you for all your help!!! Hopefully the computer will keep running.


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## treborl

Seems to be a printer problem. If he starts the computer with the printer off it starts up ok.


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