Black Screen With A Blinking Underscore At The Top Left
Sep 8, 2009
I was installing Windows 7 onto my laptop (previously vista) and install seemed to run smoothly (went past asking about. PC name, network etc) but after it said it was preparing for first startup, nothing boots. After restarting.. besides the startup Acer screen, there is only a black screen with a blinking underscore at the top left. Whats happening :S?
I've tried F2 and running a setup but it just shows me some specs and such
I just upgraded to Windows 7 on my Toshiba Satellite Special Edition laptop that came with Vista 64bit and the other night i downloaded iTunes 10 and told me to restart my machine so I clicked ok and then my laptop shut off and when it came back on the Toshiba screen came up as usual but seemed to stay on longer than normal then it goes to a black screen with a underscore that blinks for a few moments then becomes solid. Ive tried to use the "F" keys to get different boot options because i have the windows 7 ISO disc and a ubuntu disc that I could use but whatever i try my laptop wont process it just does the same thing over and over again and bever proceeds to the actually boot up windows.
i have a acer aspire 5336-2460 laptop, everytime i try to boot into windows it gets stuck at a black screen with a blinking underscore in the top left. I tried making a bootable Windows 7 dvd and it still doesn't solve the issue. F8 won't work only F2 and F12.
I encountered this problem two days ago while using my computer (hp pavilion elite) and it sht off on it's own. I tried to restart and it won't boot windows. Just a black screen with a flashing cursor at the top. I searched all over these forums and haven't found a solution that works. So far I have done a restore point, tried to reinstall windows from a recovery disk, I've used command prompt to Fix the boot record. Diagnostics says my hard drive is fine and I can see the newly installed windows 7 on my hard drive via the recovery disk boot. But when I try to boot from hard drive it still goes black.
A few days ago I made a clean wipe on my Toshiba laptop, and installed Windows 7 Home Premium x86 as my OS. After installing the OS on my laptop, I proceeded to let windows update check for automatic updates and install them. After installing some updates, I clicked to have my computer reboot. After rebooting it showed the Toshiba screen with the F2, F12 options but after that it goes straight to a black screen with a white underscore. I pressed the power button to turn off then back on my computer and proceeded to press first F2 but it went back to the black screen with a white underscore, then restarted again pressing F12 went to the black screen again, restarted one more time pressing F8 for safe mode but nothing works.
I tried to shut down my Dell inspiron when it said it needed to update some things and not to turn it off. Without realizing it I pushed the off button and now, everytime I try to turn it on it just shows the Dell logo and then the windows logo and goes to q black screen with a flashing underscore in the top left
Today I started up my pc and after the BIOS screen (the place where you can press f8-f11 for various options) it went to a black screen with a blinking underscore in the upper left corner and stayed there indefinitely. It did this even after reboot.
I tried using the diagnostic tool and everything it tested passed (including HDD). I did this test twice and the same results were produced.
I also googled for similar problems (one topic mentioned that the op disassembling his computer and physically tapping a chip on the motherboard caused it to work) but I have no experience with taking apart my computer and i do not want to break it accidentally. I did however chance upon a topic advising him to do a CMOS reset which apparently helped that op, so i looked through the various options on the BIOS page. There was one option (f10 I think) mentioning CMOS on its fourth sub-window, so i pressed the reset option but I'm mot entirely sure if I used the right function.
I uninstalled kaspersky pure and replaced kaspersky pure for kaspersky anti-virus yesterday, dont know if this was the cause. I am using windows 7 64 bit.
I am having a major issue with my laptop! First, here are the specs:
HP G60 Notebook PC Windows 7 home premium Pentium Dual Core T4300 Total Memory 3072 MB BIOS version F.53
Just recently i got a virus and since i dont have much money i didn't have protection. I used my system restore to get past it (not the first time i had to do this). I dont remember if i was able to use the laptop after that or not, but it was only a day later that i noticed the laptop wouldn't boot into the OS selection screen (I had Ubuntu installed also, so i had to select between that and windows 7). At any rate, i will press the power button, then it has a screen that shows HP's logo, then changes to a blank screen with a blinking white underscore in the top left of the screen.I reset, then pressed ESC immediately on start and ran a few tests by selecting "System Diagnostics" which is selected by using the F2 key.
100 percent of system memory tested OK Hard Disk passed Quick Scan Hard Disk passed Full scan
About two hours I was doing a recover in my hd (with Acronis true Image 2010) when at 1/3 of the process the computer rebooted. I thought it was normal, but soon after the image of the motherboard appeard, a blinking underscore emerged and the boot does not proceeded. I have tried changing the boot to dvd and hd (in the bios), also I tried to put the windows disk but the option to boot from cd does not appears. ie, the PC starts, the image of the motherboard appears and then immediately the undersore flashing.
I have an HP laptop that upon boot-up would show the HP logo and then go to a constant blinking underscore on the upper left hand corner. During the HP logo screen, I pressed f2 to enter "HP Startup" where I scan the hard drive and it passed all the test. Also I can go into the BIOS by pressing f10.
From my research, I changed the order of boot-up and put local hard drive at the very top. I also unplugged the battery. And laptop is still not working. I also read that perhaps putting in a System Repair Disk might work(?) But I just discover that my cd-rom drive is not working. What would be the best way/ or my options in going about to recovering my data?
I have a sony vaio vpceb11fm laptop. the moment i turn it on i get the vaio sign and then a black screen with a flashing cursor on the top left hand corner i tried f10 to recover the system but come across the same problem.
Ok I am at my wits end with this computer. I am trying to do a clean install of Windows 7 from a thumb drive, I have used this thumb drive for several successful installs, including one after my issue just to make sure it wasn't corrupt.
PC details Foxconn A74ML-k Motherboard with a Dual Core Amd proccessor, sorry cant find the model off hand. using on board graphics card, and a Western Digital WD6401AALS hard drive and 2 gigs of gskill ram.
This PC was running windows vista just fine before I attempted to Install Windows 7, I have tried to install Windows twice, once with the usb drive and once with a dvd disc both end results are the same. The install will go perfectly smooth, all the way til the final reboot. Once the actual install is complete when it try to first boot all I get is a black screen with a blinking cursor, I cant seem to enter safe mode.
I have searched and while it seems many have run into similar issues is usually due to things such as dual monitor set ups etc. All I have connected is a mouse, monitor, and keyboard. Microsoft lists the motherboard as compatible, I have reset the bios, tried a different hard drive, ubuntu live works just fine, the file system is there. I even pulled the hard drive out of my laptop and plugged it into the pc and I get the same result. Also I tried windows start up repair from the discs, it found no issues.
I restored my computer successfully but I still got the blinking cd icon next to my mouse pointer. After I restarted my computer I got Windows 7 with a clock and "2 min" under it and then it went to a black screen with blinking cd icon. I don't understand what is going on. I can get into task manager and type in explorer.exe but that doesn't do anything. I also tried the Regedit fix, but that didnt do anything too. I need help on how to fix this. My CD Rom won't even open for some reason.
I just made my first PC and after entering UEFI and choosing the CD drive as the boot disk I am led to a black screen with a blinking icon. Now I tried to boot from a USB, but this also led me to the black screen.
Specs: Intel i5 3570k ASUS P8Z77-V WD 500GB OCZ Vertex 3 120GB EVGA GTX 670 FTW Edition Rosewell 750w Bronze Certified Lite-on CD drive Zalman 2 Ball CPU Cooler
My computer would not get past the start up screen � it just froze at the Windows 7 logo. Prior to this, I had absolutely no problems. I shut it down one night and came to start it the next morning and it wouldn't load. I format the drive and tried to reinstall Windows 7. It seemed to load everything fine and got to the "Completing Install" part, then just flicked to a completely black screen with a blinking line in the top left-hand corner.I did read on one forum that perhaps it was a RAM issue, so I removed one stick and the process actually completed! I thought I had nailed it. After setting my computer back up and with everything working just fine, I put the RAM back in. On restart, it locked at the logo again, so I figured it was definitely bad RAM, HOWEVER!! Even with the RAM now removed, I cannot get Windows 7 to reinstall. I am still getting this awful black screen with a blinking cursor.
I'm trying to boot up this HP laptop that shows a black screen with a blinking cursor after the HP logo. I've tried using a windows 7 recovery disc to repair start up.I've restored the computer to an earlier date that it was working correctly. I've ran every test in the computer's built in diagnostics, and every single one has passed, and no errors in any part of the system were reported. Also, the computer will not start up in safe mode or anything like that.
I have a Sony Vaio laptop with an upgrade to windows 7 from vista. Yesterday my computer was really slow so I reset it to try and speed it up. I got passed the Vaio screen but then came the black screen with the blinking dash on the top right corner. The only thing I can enter is BIOS with F2 nothing else works. I can't enter safe mode or anything else. I've tried a few things, but nothing works.
1. Reseting default values in BIOS
2. Removing everything but internal Hard Drive in boot menu.
I have a windows & start up disc
3. Ran Startup Repair: Says couldn't detect a problem if recently attached device then remove it. ( Nothings Connected)
4. System restore ( was successfull but still no go)
5. Ran chkdsk & chkdsk/r from command prompt option
I also contacted Sony Support and with the 15 minutes alotted
6. Reseated memory
I just want to be able to get into the computer one more time so I can transfer my music and some other important files to my External Hard Drive.
for some reason I can't even get into windows 7, after I get pass the screen that says "asus" , my laptop brand, It goes into a black screen with a blinking cursor in the left hand corner like this:
I'm unable to do anything at that point, it just blinks. I can't even boot into safe mode now, the only think I'm able to get into is the Bios Setup Utility menus and Asus' express gate, which is just a media/internet/gaming/skype thing that doesn't allow .exe files to run...
This came factory installed so I don't have a windows 7 disc to help run fixes or anything.
Ok so recently I got a black screen with a blinking cursor on the top left. The computer starts up normally with the toshiba logo but then it goes to this black screen with a blinking cursor. I tried almost everything. I tried doing system startup repair, /fixboot /fixmbr, The "0" key, F8 doesnt work and so forth.I cant even reinstall windows 7 onto the computer because after it restarts to finish the installation it just goes back to the black screen with the blinking cursor on the top left. The computer is a Toshiba Satellite A205 - S5825 windows 7 32 bit.
Tech-savvy superior beings, I humbly come before you because my rig is having a fit. Whenever I start her up, I get as far as the splashscreen that reminds me which mobo I have, followed by a cursor blinking on a black field for eternity.
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Lovingly jumbled together based on my perusal of this very site. It has brought me much happiness until now. A thousand pardons if this problem has been resolved in another thread. I have been forced to look for solutions on a smart phone, which is trying my patience
I'm having regarding my Dell with Windows 7 x64. Initially I got the message "Loading PBR for descriptor 2... Done". That's all it said, and did not continue to boot. I researched the error message and found many users with similar problems that solved it by booting the Windows 7 dvd and running bootrec.exe from the command prompt, so I attempted this. I tried bootrec with the /fixmbr, /fixboot, and /rebuildbcd options. After trying to fix my problem with bootrec, the "loading pbr" message no longer appears, all I get is a blank screen with a blinking cursor after the BIOS. I'm not sure what the problem or solution is at this point. I'm not sure if I've made things better or worse. I tried running chkdsk /r but it won't run, complaining that the disk is write protected. Edit: I just realized that System Recovery Options is showing "Operating system: Unknown on (Unknown) Local Disk"
I have a gateway computer that is infected with a virus. I was able to load the computer in safe mode a couple of times before it no longer loaded login screen for my computer. Now when I cut the computer on there is only a black screen with a white blinking cursor. I have the avira rescue cd and have changed the seetings to boot straight from the cd rom but even after running the rescue disc the computer will not allow me to use the (f) function keys. When I press down on any of the (f) function keys there is a beeping sound but no action. I tried to use a windows reboot cd made from another computer but it does not load on the start up like the avira resue disk does.
Sometimes when I turn on my computer, the screen will turn on as usual, and there is like a cursor that blinks in the top left corner of the screen, again, as usual. However, it will sometimes stop, and stay on this screen for upwards of a minute or more. The laptop sounds like it's still working, as the fan is going pretty fast and everything sounds like it's spinning, however it doesn't show anything on the screen. After around the minute duration, the screen will go black and the normal boot up process is proceeded with. From what I've read of other people, they can't even get past this screen, which is why I think my problem is slightly different, or the same, just not as severe. Does my problem also sound like it's the MBR, as indicated by other people's questions on the Internet?
If so, is there any easy way to repair it without having to use a windows 7 disc, as I have a laptop and didn't get a disc with it...
So, Im doing a clean windows 7 install. Here are the facts: [code] After the final stage of the setup where you enter PC name, set the password, enter time settings etc, the setup restarts the computer for the 'final' time, final indeed.What happens is that after the Bios / device scan, Windows won't boot and it won't continue past the black screen with the white blinking _ showing in the top left.Could this be because C: has been 'occupied' (or set as master partition) by the 1480GB partition and won't boot from the 105GB partition where Windows was installed?It's so weird because the first two reboots go without problem, no need to F8 and manually select the disk rather than the USB pen or anything.. But on the final reboot, nothing.
I had the clean it virus pop up window on my Sony Vaio laptop. After doing a few searches on how to get rid of this little pest. I rebooted my laptop in SAFE mode and did a restore to an earlier date. Everything seemed to take fine. Several minutes later while browsing the internet my FIREFOX crashed. I restarted it and several minutes later my computer crashed to a black screen with a blinking hash mark.
Today I tried to boot up my laptop but I am stuck at a blinking cursor on a black screen. To make matters work my keyboard doesn't work either so I can't use F2 or F12 before it boots to the black screen.
I tried Linux yesterday, and wrote over my previous Windows bootloader files with GRUB.
I later that day (as I could not boot into Windows 7), I deleted the Linux partitions with Windows 7 DVD. Now, after BIOS I just get a white blinking border on a black screen.
I have purchased an OEM pc yesterday and I installed windows 7 x64 on it. Everything went great with installation. No errors or anything. But when I restarted my computer, after the motherboard splash screen a black screen with a blinking cursor top left appears and windows doesn't boot. But sometimes, especially when I wait a few minutes to turn it on it boots normally till I shut it down. It is so random.
My specs are: Motherboard: gigabyte 970a d-3 Memory: CORSAIR 4GB VENGEANCE DDR3 1600MHZ CL9(*2) CPU: AMD phenom ii x6 1100t black edition 3 .3ghz GPU: Sapphire hd 6870 1GHZ PSU:700watt OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I have a Dell Inspiron, not always but sometimes on start up it restarts to a black screen with a white cursor. Safe mode does work.I don't know why it sometimes does this or what makes it stop. I have tried just letting it try to load up for as long as an hour with no change, sometimes restarting has fixed it but sometimes (like now, it has done nothing no matter how many times I've tried).
My daughter was using my MSI laptop and when she tried to start the computer all that came up was a black screen with the cursor in the upper left corner. She selected the restore option which came up because the other options would not do anything. Is there any possible way to recover my files, pics, etc. or is it just gone now?