windowx 7 black screen after computer logo

Hello ATS,
this is my first post. I am a nursing student and rely heavily on my computer. About 1 1/2 months ago, while attempting to print a holiday card, everything started to move slowly. Left clicking took forever. I got an error message saying something about nedding to reboot. So I did. Upon restarting, I first got the safe mode option, but that didnt work. The screen went black. Now when atempting to start thecomputer, the Acer logo shows, then the screen goes black, with a small, white (looks like an underscore) on the top left corner. I dont have miney for a new laptop. Any ideas?
Help me ATS. You're my only hope.

reply to post by wilkinsonus


I would try a couple of things first.
1) Remove and re-seat the RAM memory (usually accessible at the bottom of the laptop).

2) Remove and re-seat the Hard Drive (usually accessible at the bottom of the laptop).

3) If the above does not work, do you have a repair DVD? If so, use it.

4) As a last option, I would recommend a full format and re-install of the Windows OS.


***EDIT***
A fifth option would be to go with a beginner's Linux Distro (Linux Mint is a good one, and it's free).

reply to post by ProfessorChaos


Thank you for the ideas. Ill try those first and report back.

reply to post by wilkinsonus


Also, which model Acer is it?

If the screen is black and has an underscore at the top left, usually that means it can't find the hard drive. And guessing from the very slow response you mentioned from the left click, I would guess that your hard drive is bad, or going bad. You should make sure that you can see the hard drive in the BIOS. When the ACER screen shows up, there should be a option for a boot set up or boot menu, select menu and look in the BIOS to see if your hard drive is indeed there. If not, most likely the hard drive is bad.

Do you see any other text on the screen besides the Acer logo? Can you get into the BIOS settings (usually the "delete" key or one of the "F-keys" as soon as the PC is started).

If you can't get into the BIOS, then more than likely the CPU is gone. If you can get into the BIOS, then either one or more RAM memory sticks is bad, or the hard drive is bad.

To find out which, do as the poster above suggested and load a free Linux Distro (Linux Mint) onto a bootable DVD and you should be able to easily tell if your RAM or hard drive is bad.

When you load the Linux distro from a DVD, it will load into the RAM. If your RAM is bad, it probably won't load. If it does load, then you can try mounting your hard drive to access files to see if the hard drive is bad or not. I'm sure there are some Linux programs to test memory if you do a quick search.

reply to post by DiabloX03


The hard drive can be bad, but still show up in BIOS. If the mechanical parts of the hard drive are bad, but the electronic parts are still good, then the hard drive will still show up in BIOS because the BIOS is still getting information from the chips on the hard drive.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Yes, very true. Just going off of what I've seen when it's just an underscore, it can't find the hard drive, if it can find the hard drive it would load to a black screen and say something along the lines of "OS can't be found" or something like that. But thanks for mentioning that. A handy program that might want to be used would be Hiren's Boot CD. It's free and has just about anything that would be needed to diagnose any issues.

_BoneZ_
Do you see any other text on the screen besides the Acer logo? Can you get into the BIOS settings (usually the "delete" key or one of the "F-keys" as soon as the PC is started).

If you can't get into the BIOS, then more than likely the CPU is gone. If you can get into the BIOS, then either one or more RAM memory sticks is bad, or the hard drive is bad.

To find out which, do as the poster above suggested and load a free Linux Distro (Linux Mint) onto a bootable DVD and you should be able to easily tell if your RAM or hard drive is bad.

When you load the Linux distro from a DVD, it will load into the RAM. If your RAM is bad, it probably won't load. If it does load, then you can try mounting your hard drive to access files to see if the hard drive is bad or not. I'm sure there are some Linux programs to test memory if you do a quick search.

If you get the ACER BIOS logo and a flashing underscore, then it is not likely to be a CPU problem (the BIOS program that displays the logo requires a functioning CPU). Similarly, if you have gotten through the BIOS memory check without error, then memory is probably not the problem.

My suspicion is that the hard drive electronics have been found by BIOS and look OK, but the boot code on the HDD could not be read or is invalid.

This could have been due to hardware failure or the result of poorly written malware. Or could be that the PC is trying to start up from an invalid boot device (like a USB 'thumb drive' left plugged in that has a confusing ID), so ensure that any extra plugged in peripherals like USB devices, mobile 'phones and SD cards are removed and only the bare computer is starting up.

I would recommend that you download a boot able CD-ROM, also called a "Live CD" (someone mentioned Linux Mint, which is a good option) to investigate if the problem is hardware or corrupted software.

You will of course have to use another PC to download and burn the disk.

If you can boot and see your files on the HDD when starting from the CD, then the problem is most likely the result of malware and may be easily repairable by a competent technician.

Due to the technicalities of doing an actual repair, it may be best to find someone who is good with computers who can help you. Please also note that someone who works in a computer store may not necessarily be that person. If you are doing medical training, you may find that there are IT support people at most medical institutions and colleges who may be able to help you out for free.

DiabloX03
reply to post by _BoneZ_

 

Yes, very true. Just going off of what I've seen when it's just an underscore, it can't find the hard drive, if it can find the hard drive it would load to a black screen and say something along the lines of "OS can't be found" or something like that. But thanks for mentioning that. A handy program that might want to be used would be Hiren's Boot CD. It's free and has just about anything that would be needed to diagnose any issues.

Hirens is a valuable tool, but may not be appropriate for a novice user. It's menu structure and list of programs and classifications are not self explanatory.

chr0naut
If you get the ACER BIOS logo and a flashing underscore, then it is not likely to be a CPU problem (the BIOS program that displays the logo requires a functioning CPU).

Not necessarily. The Acer logo could be coming from the monitor itself. My monitor usually displays its logo before anything else. That's why I asked if they could get into the actual BIOS. Getting into the BIOS (or seeing the POST messages) means good CPU, moving the troubleshooting over to the HDD and/or RAM.

reply to post by wilkinsonus


As other posters have mentioned, you're best bet is using the repair DVD/CD that can!e with it. Failing that, take it to a tech savvy friend or a computer repair place - some are great, some are not, so you'll just have to judge the place for yourself.

If it were memory there would be a definite error or some form of output on the screen. It sounds as if that last reboot installed an update which corrupted something vital.

If you can't get windows back on to it, then Linux might be a good shout. They are all open-source (free to download, install, and use). I'd recommend Ubuntu if you are a beginner as it has the biggest user base. I

reply to post by ProfessorChaos


Sorry for any delayed responses. Awaiting the wife to come home with her mac so I can try the linux option.
I have an acer Spire 5745.

So I hit F2 when the acer logo appeared. It hax brought me to the "InsydeH20 setup utility." The only bios thing I see issystem and VGA versions. Ive reseated the hard drive and RAM.
Under the tab MAIN, every option is blue, system date and time, quiet boot, network boot and the like. Total memory and video memory are black and I cannot highlight them. I do not know if this is normal. Next option, linux.
Thank you to everyone

reply to post by wilkinsonus

If you're going with Linux I'd start with Linux Mint (13) as it's one of the most user friendly and you're very likely to have everything working from install (once you do all the updates) the forum is great help if you run into a snag (or google as just about every question has been answered by someone by now) and it's not as ugly as Ubuntu (IMHO)

So good luck and remember that it does take a little getting used to

I think a lot of acer laptops have a recovery partition as well. If you hit alt+F10 when booting it should take you to the recovery wizard, although this option will delete all user data.

You have the dreaded 'Black screen' on startup problem. This is a well known fault in windows that seems to happen in versions xp to windows 8. Its never been fully explained by Microsoft and there is no easy way to fix it.

Most of the time you have to reinstall the operating system to fix the problem. You can google 'windows startup black screen' to see how many other people have had the same problem.

Using a live *nix CD does not always help to narrow down the problem.

Last time i looked at a computer that had the black screen on startup i was determined to try to fix the problem as im a certified Microsoft Professional in managing and troubleshooting windows (xp-win7) but after half a day i had to admit defeat and just do a re-instal.

As a side note: Im fixing a laptop for a client at the moment that reported a missing boot manager on startup which can usually be fixed quite simply through console or automated repair, but when i tried to re-install/get to repair option it would go to a black screen with a moveable mouse cursor after the windows logo. This turned out to be a corrupt hard drive.

Experience tells me your hard drive is failing. If you care about your files, remove the failed drive and replace with a new one. Deal with data recovery later if you didn't back up. If you keep trying to use the bad drive you risk damaging it beyond any repair. If you load linux over it, your files will most likely be wiped if you get that far.

Boot it without the hard drive. If the computer says missing operating system, it was a bad hard drive.