Black screen flashing cursor

[justnikky]

Hi all,

I have a Toshiba L300 laptop running Vista.

The client brought it in because when it boots it goes to Toshiba splash screen then goes to black screen with flashing cursor in left top corner. I have connected external monitor with same result. Swapped out RAM as well.

Have run Memtest (passed), Seagate HDD long test (passed), Ultimate boot CD, and Winternals with no success.
F8 does not work and nor does Factory recovery. Can get into BIOS no problem and the HDD is listed there.

I reinstalled Vista from CD and when rebooted it goes back to flashing cursor. I have attempted Startup repair from Vista CD and System restore. FixBoot from Command Prompt and FixMbr as well with the same result.
I have a feeling it may be a corrupted CMOS? It is like the OS installs properly, but the computer loses it's memory on reboot of where the OS is located?

The CMOS battery is soldered to MOBO so replacement will be risky at best. The CMOS battery is located under keyboard on this particular lappy. Very involved and time consuming to test.

Has anyone encountered these symptoms? Is it fixable cheaply?

 

[Low Roller]

Hi all,

I have a Toshiba L300 laptop running Vista.

The client brought it in because when it boots it goes to Toshiba splash screen then goes to black screen with flashing cursor in left top corner. I have connected external monitor with same result. Swapped out RAM as well.

Have run Memtest (passed), Seagate HDD long test (passed), Ultimate boot CD, and Winternals with no success.
F8 does not work and nor does Factory recovery. Can get into BIOS no problem and the HDD is listed there.

I reinstalled Vista from CD and when rebooted it goes back to flashing cursor. I have attempted Startup repair from Vista CD and System restore. FixBoot from Command Prompt and FixMbr as well with the same result.
I have a feeling it may be a corrupted CMOS? It is like the OS installs properly, but the computer loses it's memory on reboot of where the OS is located?

The CMOS battery is soldered to MOBO so replacement will be risky at best. The CMOS battery is located under keyboard on this particular lappy. Very involved and time consuming to test.

Has anyone encountered these symptoms? Is it fixable cheaply?

I just had the issue myself and it was very close to yours. For me it was ram. It seems that you run 2GB of RAM <from the factory>. I can't seem to find if they give you one stick or two. I am thinking two due to cost. <guessing I admit>. I would recommend checking and seeing if you have two dimms of ram. IF you do, then take out dimm one completely and put dimm two into dimm one. Try to boot. <That was my issue> Now I am looking for new ram.

And yes, new ram is pretty cheap.

Hope it helps!

 

[justnikky]

I just had the issue myself and it was very close to yours. For me it was ram. It seems that you run 2GB of RAM <from the factory>. I can't seem to find if they give you one stick or two. I am thinking two due to cost. <guessing I admit>. I would recommend checking and seeing if you have two dimms of ram. IF you do, then take out dimm one completely and put dimm two into dimm one. Try to boot. <That was my issue> Now I am looking for new ram.

And yes, new ram is pretty cheap.

Hope it helps!

Thanks,

It has one 2G stick, switched it over to other slot. No luck.
Got a spare HDD and tested it, still no luck.
Then tried another HDD from an old acer, checked it in BIOS, was detected then reinstalled OS again with fingers crossed and VOILA! It worked! Owner is stoked. So this is a symptom of a bad HDD. The thing is I ran Seagate tools and it passed so I am thinking that the HDD controller had a problem.

Yeah RAM is relatively cheap these days. You can get a white pencil eraser and rub the connectors both sides and the reinsert. Sometimes the RAM gets a bit of dirt on it and this will stop it having a tight connection in the slot.

 

[Low Roller]

GREAT WORK!!!

Glad you fixed it!!!

 

[justnikky]

GREAT WORK!!!

Glad you fixed it!!!

:lol: Thanks me too!
Never give up is my motto

 

[justnikky]

Best answer selected by justnikky.