Windows XP Black Screen Blinking Cursor

ComputerClinic

ComputerClinic

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Computer
-Dell Inspiron 6000 Notebook
-Windows XP Professional

Symptoms
-Computer POSTS
-CAN access BIOS
-CAN boot to CDs
-DOES NOT begin to load Windows at all
-Immediately after post it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left

What I've tried
-chkdsk (found and fixed errors)
-fixboot
-fixmbr
-deleted and recreated boot.ini using bootcfg /rebuild
-reset BIOS to factory defaults
-performed fix on this page
-repair install of Windows

Other Things to know
-checked HDD for bad sectors: none found
-verified HDD was first boot device in BIOS
-fresh install of Windows on a different HDD will boot OK
-HDD can be accessed fine with boot CD and files are all intact

Nuke and Pave is not an option because the PC has proprietary software installed and the client doesn't have access to the CDs (at home in another state). Any other ideas?
 
Check the smart status with crystal disk from UBCD4WIN.

If the drive has errors image the drive to another and then try and see if it will boot.
 
Yikes

Dude! This is so freaky.

I have been working on the exact same problem with the exact same computer with the exact same steps and the exact same results all day today. And the really freaky part is, your link goes to my website!

I only wish I had seen your message sooner as I decided the only solution was to nuke and pave - which I hate like blazes to do it was getting to be a runaway project. (by the way, the fixmbr will break the Dell recovery system, if you want to fix it you'll need dsrfix available here and using the /PBR4 switch).

FWIW, I tried a Dell disc with SP2 and one with SP3, neither of which worked on the stock Fujitsu HDD. I disable network booting, pulled the CD drive and battery all to to avail. If felt like it does when the machine is looking at the wrong device or partition. Here is an idea to try that I thought might work before I went to N&P: Create a boot CD using the ISO available here. This gives you a nifty way to force a boot from various partitions on the drive. If one of them works, you'll know how to fix the boot.ini to get it to boot.

If I think of any other bright ideas, I'll let you know.

Edit: Oh, and mine was BIOS A01, I had a thought about that being an issue as well as mentioned by BDPCR
 
Last edited:
One thing you may want to re-check is if the partitions are set up correctly. Boot into a linux live cd and run the command fdisk -ul [/dev/xxx] with xxx being the drive, like sda or sdb. Make sure the partition is set to active.

Check out the documentation at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750198.aspx and go to the section "Disk Sectors Critical to the Startup Process".

Basically, check that the start sector for /dev/sda1 (or whatever it is) is correct. To do this, type "hexedit /dev/sda1", then go to offset 0x1C, and the next 4 bytes are the sector start number, stored in little endian. So like, 0xABCDEFGH is stored as 0xGHEFCDAB. Convert the results from fdisk to hex and make sure they match up. If not, change accordingly.

Be very careful and record what the original value was before making changes.

I hope I've given you some help. Good luck!
 
One random thing to try:

Scan atapi.sys (I've used Microsoft Security Essentials to fix a laptop with similar symptoms)

XP had an update not too long ago that, on certain systems which had been previously infected and "cleaned", prevented the system from booting.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I'm cloning it to a different drive for backup (and diagnosis) right now and I'll start everyone's suggestions tomorrow morning.
 
PCRx said:
Make sure the partition is set to active.
Click to expand...

You know your right.

This is exactly what will happen on a non active partition. I always run in to this when cloning back to a new disk from DriveimageXML.

Boot in to UBCD4WIN and check that the partition is active.
 
I fixed it finally. I tried everything mentioned above (in addition to my original post):
-updated BIOS
-made sure partition was active (I was expecting this to be it)
-cloned to a different HDD (same problem)
-checked smart status (no problems)
-dsrfix (no option worked w/ or w/out safemode)
-scanned entire drive for malware (none found)
-did everything in my original post again just to be sure

None of this fixed the problem. The last thing I tried was slaving the drive to my PC and defragmenting the HDD, followed by a chkdsk. After this is boots up fine. I'm not sure if it was defragmenting or chkdsk that fixed it (chkdsk fixed errors all 3 times I ran it).
 
ComputerClinic said:
I fixed it finally. I tried everything mentioned above (in addition to my original post):
-updated BIOS
-made sure partition was active (I was expecting this to be it)
-cloned to a different HDD (same problem)
-checked smart status (no problems)
-dsrfix (no option worked w/ or w/out safemode)
-scanned entire drive for malware (none found)
-did everything in my original post again just to be sure

None of this fixed the problem. The last thing I tried was slaving the drive to my PC and defragmenting the HDD, followed by a chkdsk. After this is boots up fine. I'm not sure if it was defragmenting or chkdsk that fixed it (chkdsk fixed errors all 3 times I ran it).
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'm running a Samsung surface diagnostic on my drive now because the random surface test failed. Here's what occurred to me when I saw this; what if you were unlucky enough to have a sector (or file system) failure right at the very first point where Windows is meant to boot and it was sending the heads off to oblivion somewhere. You could fix this by a) reloading the OS from scratch (as I did) because the data would now be in a different place on the drive or b)defragmenting like you did because, again, the data will end up in a different place on the drive.

I ran a chkdsk on this drive with no parameters and it said I had a volume bitmap error. When I ran it again with /F it said it found no problems. Maybe there is a flaky sector around the volume bitmap?

Anyway, if the diagnostic program won't fix the problem, I'll try your defrag strategy. Well done on that, I don't think I ever would have thought to try that.

/sch
 
I really doubt it was defragmenting it that fixed it. In order to defragment, the hard drive has to be able to read the contents of the sector being moved. I would chalk it up to the scandisk first, then perhaps the defragment helped a little by relocating the boot file.
 
chkdsk fixes the strangest problems. Had a customer the other day with a vista machine. Booted up fine, no problem. As soon as you click the "start" button or anything else all you got was the busy circle.

I could boot into safe mode no problem and everything worked well. I cleaned the registry, disabled all start up programs and still had the same problem.

Ran chkdsk and it found one file with a problem and that fixed the issue.
 
I think that both played a role in the fix. I ran chkdsk twice before I defragmented (both times using an xp cd) and both times it took forever to finish and fix errors. When I slaved the drive it was like 70% fragmented. After the defrag I ran chkdsk again and it went way faster and corrected even more errors. Is it possible that the defragment helped chkdsk run better?
 
PCRx said:
I really doubt it was defragmenting it that fixed it. In order to defragment, the hard drive has to be able to read the contents of the sector being moved. I would chalk it up to the scandisk first, then perhaps the defragment helped a little by relocating the boot file.
Click to expand...

As it turns out, it's the defrag that fixes the problem. I tested the system here after multiple CHKDSKs, no joy. I took the drive out of the machine, ran Puran Defrag on it and put it back in the computer - it booted.

Go figya!

/sch
 
shamrin said:
As it turns out, it's the defrag that fixes the problem. I tested the system here after multiple CHKDSKs, no joy. I took the drive out of the machine, ran Puran Defrag on it and put it back in the computer - it booted.

Go figya!

/sch
Click to expand...

Umm... yeeeeeeea... This EXACT course of action fixed a 9300 for a client of mine today experiencing the same problem.

Unfortunately for me the problem started after some follow up remote support. Needless to say, it was followed up with some on-site support ;)


I wish there was some way we could figure out what the cause was... hard drive passed advanced DFT and RAM is new (and also passed MemTest)
:confused:
 
Aaaaaand 5 weeks later we are back to blinking cursor black screen. ::sigh:: on-site tomorrow to take a look. Looks like this might not be a perma-fix.
 
Don't know about your relapse problem, but I do think defrag and chkdsk are very under-rated. For some time after I started playing with computers those two and disk cleanup were the only tools I had other than repair install, and I fixed a lot of machines with them. Defrag is the last thing I do now on a new install. Chkdsk /r from the recovery console, of course is better, but usually slower.
 
rhinetech said:
Aaaaaand 5 weeks later we are back to blinking cursor black screen. ::sigh:: on-site tomorrow to take a look. Looks like this might not be a perma-fix.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it might be time to be looking at a new HDD. As I've said many times here, there isn't a software test for drives or memory that I fully trust. I can't begin to count the number of times that my gut said replace, and the tests said good, but replacement fixed the problem.

Rick
 
So... i went back today. BIOS is most up to date (A05) and only sees 137GB of the 250GB IDE drive.

Found this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/237351-45-boot-large-hard-drive

Soooo... didn't even try the (obviously temporary) fix of defrag/chkdsk.

I resized the active partition down to 110GB and WHOOSH! System booted like there was never any problems.

I'll keep this updated if I have to go back again... but it should be good to go.
 
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