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Black screen after windows xp at start up


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#1
aladdinsgenie

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black screen: On my ACER Aspire with Win. XP i was doing a system restore and when the sign came up that said it was done i clicked ok and it started to reboot, but after the windows xp welcome page, i got the black screen. i tried to use my recovery cd's that came with my acer aspire laptop, but even those will not do anything but get me back to a black screen, can anyone help me please?

If I take it to a shop do you think they could get it working again?

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 19 August 2013 - 02:11 PM.

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#2
phillpower2

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:welcome: aladdinsgenie

Possibly a driver issue but if you can - please try connecting the notebook to an external screen by way of the VGA port and see if you get a display on that.

If no joy try restarting the notebook and continuously tapping the F8 key to see if you can get into Safe Mode, you may need to try this a couple of times before being successful as the timing needs to be precise with some computers.

If still no joy try restarting the notebook and continuously tapping either the Del or F2 key to get into the BIOS/Advanced Boot Options.

Let us know how you get on with the above before trying anything further please.
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#3
aladdinsgenie

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Tthe screen is working fine, its the software that got screwed up when it didn't complete the system restore. I need to know how to unscrew it now! :wacko:
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#4
phillpower2

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Tthe screen is working fine,
Can you explain how you know this as you say that you now have a "black screen"
The first check that is done with a notebook that has a black screen is trying the external screen test in case the computer has been toggled to external display mode, the video cable/ribbon is damaged or has become detached or the backlight or inverter has failed.


its the software that got screwed up when it didn't complete the system restore. I need to know how to unscrew it now! :wacko:
Try following the steps that I have suggested as being able to start in Safe Mode with Networking would allow you to download any drivers that you may need such as the chipset and/or video drivers, both of which are software and could be missing or as you have described "got screwed up"


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#5
aladdinsgenie

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when trying to log on, I get the Windows XP welcome screen (even the XP graphics are moving) then when it should load the other stuff, its goes black.
It won't go into safe mode either. It will start to and even load one page out of the two pages of the lists, but it stops at one page and will go no further,

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 20 August 2013 - 12:11 PM.

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#6
phillpower2

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Software is not the only thing that can cause this as a flaky HDD can also prevent the system from both booting and storing a full working OS, were you having problems previous to doing the system restore and can you tell us what steps were taken when carrying out the system restore as in did you use a recovery partition on the HDD, system restore disks that you made yourself of by formatting the HDD and attempting to carry out a fresh install of XP.

Have you been trying to get into Safe Mode as soon as the notebook is powered on.

Has the HDD been making any odd noises or been operating slower than normal recently.

Is the restore disk that you have an Acer branded XP disk.

Have you tried booting into the BIOS by tapping the Del or F2 key immediately after pressing the power on button, this to see if Last Known Good Configuration will help.

Depending on whether or not you have an actual XP installation disk you may be able to do a Repair Installation, have you checked out the tutorial provided courtesy of admin Here
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#7
aladdinsgenie

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were you having problems previous to doing the system restore - NOand can you tell us what steps were taken when carrying out the system restore - :thumbsup: I clicked on system restore and picked a good known date to go back to.
as in did you use a recovery partition on the HDD, system restore disks that you made yourself of by formatting the HDD and attempting to carry out a fresh install of XP. :upset: I didn't understand this last sentence.

Have you been trying to get into Safe Mode as soon as the notebook is powered on. Yes - didn't work

Has the HDD been making any odd noises or been operating slower than normal recently. No
Is the restore disk that you have an Acer branded XP disk. Yes

Have you tried booting into the BIOS by tapping the Del or F2 key immediately after pressing the power on button, this to see if Last Known Good Configuration will help. Yes to all - didn't work

Depending on whether or not you have an actual XP installation disk you may be able to do a Repair Installation, have you checked out the tutorial provided courtesy of admin Here
Yes, I used the CD provided with the ACER laptop that has the Windows XP and all the other programs and drivers for that laptop but it won't boot to the CD. I just get a screen that that gives me the choice of booting "normal", "Safe mode", etc. and I have tried all of them but go back to the black screen.

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 21 August 2013 - 09:17 AM.

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#8
CompCav

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Click on the word Here at the end of phillpower2's last post to you to review the tutorial on XP repair install.
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#9
aladdinsgenie

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OK, I found the tutorial and did what it said, but still have the same problem

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 21 August 2013 - 06:11 PM.

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#10
phillpower2

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as in did you use a recovery partition on the HDD, system restore disks that you made yourself of by formatting the HDD and attempting to carry out a fresh install of XP. :upset: I didn't understand this last sentence

I asked for clarification on the above as not all people use the correct terminology when explaining what they mean, to some "system restore" means restoring the computer back to the factory default settings and this can be done using the methods that I stated, we now know that you have tried the "Select a Restore Point" XP option.

OK, I found the tutorial and did what it said, but still have the same problem

So you were able to carry out a Repair Installation yet you still have a black screen, can you tell us whether or not a successful Repair Installation was reported and/or if any warning information was displayed on screen.

Have you tried booting into the BIOS by tapping the Del or F2 key immediately after pressing the power on button, this to see if Last Known Good Configuration will help. Yes to all - didn't work

What did not work, getting into the BIOS or Last Known Good Configuration.

Sorry but I have to ask, is the boot sequence in the BIOS set as the CD/DVD drive the first boot device and the HDD the second boot device, please note that if the computers CMOS battery has failed then these settings will be lost once the power is removed from the computer and so it is worth checking that the boot order is in fact set correctly.
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#11
aladdinsgenie

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I can get into BIOS but can't boot to anything there. Now I have a new wrinkle, I have somehow created a HDD password and have no idea what it could be so although I can still get into BIOS that's about it. I think I just may get a new hard drive and start over!!! I'm about ready to shoot the old one!!
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#12
aladdinsgenie

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:help:

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 22 August 2013 - 01:13 PM.

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#13
aladdinsgenie

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what if - I put my recovery disk onto an USB external hard drive, might that work to get this stupid old hard drive reformatted and unscrewed?
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#14
phillpower2

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I can get into BIOS but can't boot to anything there.

Not sure what you mean by you can`t boot to anything there, can you tell us what options are listed in the BIOS, below are the steps to configure the boot sequence, please confirm that you have followed these steps and that the boot order is CD/DVD drive first and the HDD second;

To change the Boot Sequence in the BIOS;
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the appropriate button that allows you to access the BIOS (Esc - Del – F2 etc)
This will enter you into the BIOS/CMOS
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to DVD/ CD drive
Change the second drive to the C: or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit.
Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

Now I have a new wrinkle, I have somehow created a HDD password and have no idea what it could be

If you have not created a password then leave the field blank and continue.

what if - I put my recovery disk onto an USB external hard drive, might that work to get this stupid old hard drive reformatted and unscrewed?

That is a good idea as the onboard CD drive may have an issue, you will need to set the boot sequence to USB device as the first boot option and the HDD the second for this approach, do you have the option in the BIOS to boot from a USB device as some MBs do not.

Tip;

If you have something to add while waiting for a reply use the edit tab – bottom right of the dialogue input box and this will ensure that no information that you provide is overlooked (this can happen if your topic has more than one page) thank you for understanding.


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#15
aladdinsgenie

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Have you tried booting into the BIOS by tapping the Del or F2 key immediately after pressing the power on button, this to see if Last Known Good Configuration will help. Yes to all - didn't work.
ANSWER:
I can boot into the bios but the last known good configuration didn't do anything. When I try to boot into anything it goes back to the acer screen and then the Windows XP screen then black.

I pulled the battery, unplugged the power, held down the power button for two minutes, as someone told me that would reset the bios, but that didn't help either. Somehow, I did manage to set a HDD password, (that - I don't know how I did, and don't know what it is or how to undo it). So now I'm really screwed! Do you think if I took it to a shop that they could fix this mess. I really can't afford a new laptop, so fixing this one would be a wonderful thing to me. I know it's 8 years old, but still a nice laptop for my personal use in the evenings. I don't game or do music on it because of the 2GB memory and 250 HD.
I just do email, serf the web for one thing or another, read news and weather, and play my solitaire and such.

Edited by aladdinsgenie, 23 August 2013 - 09:19 AM.

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