Bellomycr

[dsheridan]

Hello,
How do u fix this problem? Blank screen with white cursor on my Toshiba?

 

[ksiemb]

Hello,
How do u fix this problem? Blank screen with white cursor on my Toshiba?

Have a windows CD - Repair Install the OS.

If you can boot into safe mode, may be able to do something there.

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

Try booting into Safe Mode with Command prompt by tapping F8 at startup. If you get to a Command Prompt, type fixmbr and hit Enter. Accept the warning and when it completes type fixboot and hit Enter. One more warning then restart the system - it may work.

Belommycr's somewhat convoluted advice in an old necro thread where he kept getting upset with the Mods was for a very specific problem and not a global cure for all ills.

If what I suggest above fails, post back with some more details.

 

[Handywench]

Hello,
How do u fix this problem? Blank screen with white cursor on my Toshiba?

I am trying to get this message to Bellomycr - the other thread is closed. You said you would post the answer a few weeks back.

I have a similar problem with a Toshiba Satellite laptop running Vista 64 bit. I think it is related to a bad windows update. I try to boot and it just stops at a blank screen. After pushing F8 at startup I can choose Safe Mode but after scanning a few files with no mention of errors, it just stops at black screen - not even a flashing cursor.

I have tried all system debug and fixes and nothing finds errors but I can't get to some of the menus mentioned in the otherr thread. It won't boot off of any CD and I can't seem to get to any Bios settings either. Please help. I have another laptop with the same OS and I don't want it to happen again.
Please advise.

 

[Handywench]

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

Try booting into Safe Mode with Command prompt by tapping F8 at startup. If you get to a Command Prompt, type fixmbr and hit Enter. Accept the warning and when it completes type fixboot and hit Enter. One more warning then restart the system - it may work.

Belommycr's somewhat convoluted advice in an old necro thread where he kept getting upset with the Mods was for a very specific problem and not a global cure for all ills.

If what I suggest above fails, post back with some more details.

Hi - I can select safe mode with command prompt but I never get the command prompt. all attempts to boot off other cd's is not working. Any ideas? I do not know what other options were suggested by bellomycr since it looked like most were done via private email. Any suggestions? I do not really have any data to lose but I want the operating system back.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Saga Lout]

Some Toshiba's opening screens shows some graphics - the first looks like a barrel and that represents the hard disk and the next one along is a CD. You need to left arrow across to that one I think - from memory so it may be right arrow. Stop when you hit that graphic, have your Vista DVD in and then select StartUp repair.?

/#0005ff]

 

[dsheridan]

Hello,
How do u fix this problem? Blank screen with white cursor on my Toshiba?

I ended up pulling outthe battery holding down the power button for 2 minutes replacing battery and everything is fine now.

 

[Handywench]

Some Toshiba's opening screens shows some graphics - the first looks like a barrel and that represents the hard disk and the next one along is a CD. You need to left arrow across to that one I think - from memory so it may be right arrow. Stop when you hit that graphic, have your Vista DVD in and then select StartUp repair.?

/#0005ff]

Thanks so much for the help!!! My system is back online after about 3 hours of recovery actions. This is what I did:

1. Put my Toshiba recovery disk#1 in cd drive and power off, then power on computer.
2. At the first screen hit F12 RIGHT AWAY for the Boot menu. It worked this time (I had tried it before but maybe I had not had the cd in the drive- so never got a menu).
3. Arrow down and select the cd/dvd drive as the boot source
4. This started the recovery using the inserted disk. I had to answer several questions about resetting back to factory settings (which I was happy to do).
5. It prompted me each time when it was time to insert the next disk ( there are 3 in all)
6. It rebooted several times and spent a while configuring and then I heard it...
7. Those wonderful 4 notes that Windows was starting Never thought I would be happy at that sound!
8. I have done some further cleanup of the garbage they ship with the new systems and installed antivirus and browsers of choice, importing bookmarks...

We are back in business. Hopefully we will get a while longer out of this system. I can't thank you enough for your support. I hope this info can help someone else in the future.

Is there any diagnostics I should run to check for hardware health? I am guessing it was a software bug/virus/windows update glitch that caused the problem, but I want to be sure I am PROactive this time. Any recommendations???
Thanks again!!!

 

[ksiemb]

Is there any diagnostics I should run to check for hardware health? I am guessing it was a software bug/virus/windows update glitch that caused the problem, but I want to be sure I am PROactive this time. Any recommendations???
Thanks again!!!

Run chkdsk /r from command prompt.
If you know HD Manufacturer check to see if they have diags, or your computer manufacturer may have supplied some. You can also do this to find the device manufacturer.
If you go in device manager, Expand Network Adapters, (or whichever device you need driver for)
Right click properties, go in details for the device driver.
You will see a code like per example VEN_8086&DEV_27D8&SUBSYS...

The VEN code means vendor and the DEV code means device: in this case the vendor is 8086 and the device is 27D8.

Once you have the two codes, go to www.pcidatabase.com.
Enter the two codes and you should get the name of your hardware. From there you can search for a driver download for your hardware.