[muvva]

Hi

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop....XP won't boot up & i'm just getting a blank screen with a blinking cursor. I've tried to start it up in safe mode, however this doesn't work ..... I can hit F2 to get the BIOS setup. I have the original XP CD, however the CD won't boot either.... I have gone into the BIOS & selected it to boot from CD/DVD drive, however it doesn't boot & i just end up with the blank screen & blinking cursor again .......... any suggestions please as i really need help

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Please provide the laptop model number, this will enable others to help you better, but here a couple
of things you can check out for now;
Check the HD, is there any activity from it.
Is your HD detected in the BIOS or has it made any clicking or other unusual noises before the issue happened.
If the above checks out ok you can try this below;
1. Turn off your computer
2. Disconnect every wire from it (including power)
3. Disconnect the battery from the bottom of the computer. There will be two tabs labeled 1 and 2.
4. Re-plug in the power wire. (the battery should not be in the computer)
5. Turn on the power. The screen should work. Choose start windows normally. (if you get that screen)
6. Go to Control Panel -> (Mobile PC) -> Power Options -> Under Balanced choose change plan settings
7. Choose Change advanced power settings
8. Find Processor power management and change the minimum processor state from 5% to 100% for each On battery and Plugged in.
9. Click Apply then OK
10. Shut down you computer.
11. Disconnect the power cord.
12. Re-install the battery on the bottom of the laptop, plug in the power cord, and restart the computer.
Good luck & please let us know how it works out.

[phillpower2]

Please provide the laptop model number, this will enable others to help you better, but here a couple
of things you can check out for now;
Check the HD, is there any activity from it.
Is your HD detected in the BIOS or has it made any clicking or other unusual noises before the issue happened.
If the above checks out ok you can try this below;
1. Turn off your computer
2. Disconnect every wire from it (including power)
3. Disconnect the battery from the bottom of the computer. There will be two tabs labeled 1 and 2.
4. Re-plug in the power wire. (the battery should not be in the computer)
5. Turn on the power. The screen should work. Choose start windows normally. (if you get that screen)
6. Go to Control Panel -> (Mobile PC) -> Power Options -> Under Balanced choose change plan settings
7. Choose Change advanced power settings
8. Find Processor power management and change the minimum processor state from 5% to 100% for each On battery and Plugged in.
9. Click Apply then OK
10. Shut down you computer.
11. Disconnect the power cord.
12. Re-install the battery on the bottom of the laptop, plug in the power cord, and restart the computer.
Good luck & please let us know how it works out.

[muvva]

Hi

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

Ok, its a Toshiba satellite M60 laptop.

I've followed your steps by removing all wires & removed the battery....however, I couldn't see 2 tabs labeled 1 & 2.....was this something to disconnect the battery unit itself from the laptop & not just removing the battery? Sorry, u can probably tell that i'm not too computer savvy! lol

Anyway, I removed the wires & removed the battery, plugged the power cable in & tried to reboot, but same problem.

Oh, when in BIOS, it is detecting the HD

[phillpower2]

What about HD activity (look for flashing lights on computer) or HD noise.
I'm off to work now so it may be a while before I can post back,sorry
Someone else will come along to assist you more than likely

[muvva]

no problems....i really appreciate your help so far

No, doesn't look like there's any HD activity....there's no flashing lights (only a light showing power & another one showing that it is powered through the power cable) & there's no noise.....when it first starts to try & boot up, it starts going through the bios (runs thro the system ram etc up until it gets to initilizing mouse), then it beeps, & goes to the black screen with flashing cursor....

As I said, when i enter the BIOS setup by hitting F2, its saying that there is a toshiba HD MK1032GAXA....however i've just noticed that when i try to boot it up normally & it starts going thro the bios past the system ram, it says: FIXED DISK 0: toshiba MK1032GAXA, do does this mean that it's not picking up the HD? I hope that makes sense? LOL

There were no problems with it prior, ie no funny noises etc....it was literally working one day, then when i tried to turn it on the next day, this problem.

[phillpower2]

Sorry about the delay posting back.
Can you try running another computer through the laptops vga port to see if you get any display!

No, doesn't look like there's any HD activity....there's no flashing lights (only a light showing power & another one showing that it is powered through the power cable) & there's no noise.....when it first starts to try & boot up, it starts going through the bios (runs thro the system ram etc up until it gets to initilizing mouse), then it beeps, & goes to the black screen with flashing cursor

This looks like your HD may have failed or possibly a memory problem.
Try removing & then reseating the memory stick/s if this doesnt work go into BIOS double check that the boot
order is CD then HD make sure you save the settings before exiting, if this still does not work you may have a bad HD & will need a replacement, dismantle procedure can be found in the following link;
http://www.irisvista...rt_laptop_1.htm

normally & it starts going thro the bios past the system ram, it says: FIXED DISK 0: toshiba MK1032GAXA, do does this mean that it's not picking up the HD?

This is normal, if you had a 2nd HD installed that would be FIXED DISK 1:

[ghengiscoin]

Hi,

I'm new here, so if this is completely irrelevant just let me know. I see a lot of entries for this problem and I get it too:

On a Dell Inspiron 600m running XP Professional. Difference is that I know *exactly* what causes this problem on my system as follows:

When I watch streaming video, I have a wireless device that projects to my TV, but I must press Alt F5 to watch on the TV and then Fn F8 to turn it off and return to my laptop LCD.

If anything unusual happens and I have to reboot before pressing Fn F8 I get the BIOS but with the blinking cursor and Windows won't boot.

This has happened several times and I'm always able to recover by reinstalling, but that is a pain.

I have:

Removed the battery and HD, rebooted, shut down and replaced the HD and battery.

Run CHKDSK

Run FIXBOOT

Run FIXMBR

Replaced boot.ini

Replaced ntldr file

No joy. Hope this helps someone!

Edited by ghengiscoin, 27 June 2010 - 04:48 AM.

[123Runner]

Go back into bios and also see if the CD drive is seen.
Try booting with another known good bootable CD.

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use Burncdcc Link is in my signature below

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool. If you are unsure of the drive manufacturer then you can try [b]seagate diagnostics. It sometimes works on other manufacturers.