Old computer now boots to a black screen with just a cursor. Possible solution found, but I get an error msg.

[Darkmatterx]

I found a post that describes a solution to the problem (if the problem is the same) but I get an error msg. BTW, according to the solution poster this is a permissions problem.

Here is the page but I'll just paste the txt.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-7-boots-to-black-screen-with-cursor-before/c3538f76-86a1-462e-8ad7-f319f207a922

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You could now try this:

Keep tapping F8 at boot time in order to boot into Repair Mode.
Open a Command Prompt.
Identify the drive letter for your System drive. It is usually C: but it could be D: or E:. It won't be X:. I will call it Q: for the purpose of this exercise.
Type the following commands and press Enter after each. Make sure to type them accurately - do not take any liberties!
path %path%;Q:\Windows\System32
cacls Q:\Windows\System32 /E /T /C /G everyone:F
(this command will probably take a long time to run)
Reboot normally. If your problem was caused by inappropriate permissions then Windows should now work.
Click Start.
Type the three letters cmd into the Search box.
Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Click "Run as Administrator".
Type the following commands and press Enter after each of them:
cacls C:\Windows\System32 /E /T /C /G System:F Administrators:R
cacls C:\Windows\System32 /E /T /C /G everyone:R

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a problem.

When I type "cacls ..." etc I get the msg, "The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present."

Does anyone have any suggestions on this problem?

Thanks.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Solved. Ended up needing a chkdsk to root out some bad sectors. Such a simple solution I overlooked it as a possibility. woops