# OS won't boot!! Black screen, blinking cursor!!



## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

I have been trying to troubleshoot a drive for days, i am able to recognize and use all of my data when i throw it on as a slave on any other machine however there is something seriously wrong with the boot sequence or something. I havve tried repairing it with the windows disc, i have tried recovering also. I have used Norton Ghost to try to fix it etc... I think its something to do with the master boot record or something in there. When i try to boot from that drive i get a black screeen immediately after my bios finishes loading and keyboard is frozen and there is a blinking cursor in the top right. All i am really concerned with is saving all of my program data/licenses, is there anyway i can transfer at once all of my programs and stuff i need from one drive to a new 200gb drive i have with XP already on it? Ghost offers to duplicate my HDD image onto another drive but that erases all of the data on that drive!! Can i look up via the new working OS on the 200gb machine what i am missing to boot properly on the faulty machine!!! If you choose to answer this please take your time and answer fully as I won't be able to check any replies for a few hours and you may not be able to reply again when im back!!! 

Thankyou so much anyone who can help!!!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

First, I'd backup all the data. Since you mention GHOST, I'd make an image of the failing drive with GHOST and save that image file. That allows you to access any/all of your data at least. Also, having an image file on a different disk will allow you to make a mistake in the recovery process and just go back to where you are now.

GHOST won't transfer your data, etc. and allow you to "overlay" your other XP installation with just part of it. A clone operation erases the destination completely, which is probably not what you want.

Have you downloaded the disk manufacturer's diagnostic and done a non-destructive surface scan on the failing disk? Before we attempt any repairs, it would be nice to know that the disk is healthy.

If it passes the scan, I'd try a repair installation of XP. Install the disk as the primary, and boot from the XP CD. Don't choose the recovery console option, but rather continue as if you were installing XP. It should come up and tell you that there is an existing installation, and ask if you want to overwrite it or install in a new place. You want to overwrite the existing installation with the repair installation. This should leave all of your applications intact, though you will have to reload all service packs and security patches.


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## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

*boot problems/ black screen error*

thank you very much for your assistance howerever i have tried what you mentioned, ie using the repair option through the "setup windows xp" option via the start-up diskand it still did not boot. however in hindsight i know that after i did that and it did not work, i ran the CHKDSK utility and found errors, those errors i believe were corrected because i have not been able to find them in later CHKDSK and other error searching/recovery utilties. I will try again doing as you suggested now that the disk is suppposedly error free however my gut feeling is that it is not going to work this time either and i really wish i knew why. I am a mid-level PC technician by trade so you can assume i have tried most every normal solution, boot problems like this are beyond me though, i examined the boot.ini file it seemed to be in order. I will post a definite answer as to whether the repair in a while after it finishes, any other advice??


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## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

*repair didnt work*

OK, windows repair didnt work, now i am in the process of trying to get a working diagnostic CD from the manufacturer, i have the .iso file and i have been unable to write it to CDthus far although i really doubt that this is going to do anything.

Anyone have anymore ideas?


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## waffleweed (Mar 25, 2005)

hey viral, have you tried fixing the master boot record since you mentioned it in your first post? the command for fixing the master boot record is "fixmbr" without the "". also, it would be good to download the diagnostics utility from the manufacturer's website and test your hdd for any errors. you can also put the program on a floppy disk if you have a floppy drive.


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## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

*boot probs*

thanks for your input waffleweed, i have not yet chosen to fixmbr yet b/c it says it will erase all data however i would like to use that utility to see what it does to my drive after i decide its totalled for re-format. I have now also downloaded the utility and used iton the floppy (powermax), i ran all utilities including the really long advanced ones and it passed every test.

Bill Gates is punishing me :dead:


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## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

*boot probs*

I have two drives, one is 11gb and has a XPpro OS that refuses to boot and i am seconds away from giving up on it as ive troubleshot it for days. I also have a new 200gb drive with a fresh version of xp now current with updates.I would like to know transfer all of my program data from 11gb drive to the 200gb and still preserve licenses, setting, etc... IS THIS POSSIBLE? is there any other way of getting around the 50+ hours it will prob take me to reconfigure this new system?


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## viraldavinci (Apr 12, 2005)

*Figured out source of problem, HDD on secondary IDE cable corrupted BOOT*

Help!! Ok, i have a PC, i was recovering data off of a laptop drive with the 44pin/IDE converter, i did not change the jumper configuration on the laptop HDD(because i thought no jumper always meant slave,after reading the top of the drive later it only offers device 0 and device 1 and C/S, I guess it needs to be device 1 as there was no jumper when it was in my laptop). Now when i boot from the primary i get black screen with a blinking cursor. New event, i also have another hard drivve... i have xp on it, i did the exact same thing (ie plugged the laptop drive with the same 0 jumper setting and tried to startup again, this time it corrupted my other drive except i have an error message this time which may be the solution to BOTH!!!

"Windows could not start because the following file is issing or corupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."

Ok, so i have run that utility a million times on the first disk that was corrupted (black screen) and it's done nothing, i am going to run it on this other drive shortly now. What can i do to try to fix the "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" on the old drive?!!! I assume i will be able to get back into windows using newer drive at which point i can access ALL of my data off of the dirve that wont boot. All data is intact it just wont boot so i think i need to repair the\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file or something!!!


Does anyone know how to fix this problem or how to track it down further, I'll offer a freakin reward via paypal if i have to... :4-thatsba 

:4-dontkno -viral


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