# [SOLVED] Computer won't boot, stuck on black screen w/blinking cursor



## DLA335 (Oct 13, 2011)

I left my desktop on while I was at class last week and when I got back my computer had rebooted itself, and it was stuck on the black screen with the blinking cursor. This happens every time I try to boot it up. 

I can get to BIOS, and I tried messing with the settings but nothing worked. It just boots to the black screen with the blinking cursor and sits there indefinitely. However I am able to boot with the Vista installation disc if I set the disc drive first in the load order. The vista installation works like it should, and I can even do a system restore so I know it's not my hard drive that failed. However the system restore doesn't matter if I can't get my computer to boot. I tried the diagnostic tool for boot problems contained in the vista disc but it didn't find anything wrong with the computer. However it may be worth mentioning that the vista installation seemed to be running really slow... maybe one of my memory sticks died? Then again I kind of remember it being slow when I first installed Vista... plus I think the system would still boot even if one of the RAM sticks died.


I built this computer a little more than two years ago--the first power supply was originally not enough so I upgraded that, and I also got a bigger cooling fan for the CPU. Other than that, I really haven't upgraded the computer, especially recently.

It's probably worth mentioning that since I built the computer, it has had this problem where every time I turn it on after it had been turned off for a while, the system will eventually start stuttering after 10-20 mins or so and then it will eventually freeze altogether. Then I reset it, and it works perfectly for the rest of the day. This has been happening every time I turn it on since I built it, and even though it's annoying, I haven't bothered to find out why it's happening because I'm kind of lazy. I get around it by just rebooting immediately after I boot my computer up the first time.... once it reboots then it's good to go. And the problem hasn't gotten any "worse" lately, so I doubt it's related to my current problem. But who knows.


Anyways I'm completely open to questions/suggestions. I can grab the specs for my desktop if anyone needs them... also I'd rather avoid randomly replacing parts until something works... I likely won't buy any parts until I'm reasonably certain of what I need to replace. Though I'm planning on buying a new video card soon so I can beast Skyrim when it comes out, so here's hoping that it's my video card that's dead :grin:

Thanks for any help you guys can give.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Computer won't boot, stuck on black screen w/blinking cursor*

Try clearing the CMOS.
You may have a failed Hdd. Try booting from a bootable disc.
Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.


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## DLA335 (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Computer won't boot, stuck on black screen w/blinking cursor*

Hmm clearing the CMOS solved it. Awesome.

Looked like a boot file for Vista was corrupted or something... after I reset the CMOS my computer kept booting windows XP off of my other hard drive... so I booted off of the Vista disc and repaired the boot file. Works great now.

Thanks, I appreciate it :smile:


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Computer won't boot, stuck on black screen w/blinking cursor*

You're welcome.


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## dart vader (Oct 26, 2013)

clearing CMOS by the jumper mothod made it for me, thanks so much for the tip.


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