Old PC Black Screen

[Gamma032]

Hi guys.

My Dad owns an Alienware laptop (I didn't make that choice) and he's had it for about 4 years or so now. Recently he installed a new program and now the laptop will boot into the Windows logo but follow with a black screen and cursor afterwards. So far I've tried to boot into safe mode, use the diagnosis tool on a Windows disk, run Macrium Reflect's boot issue tool and use the diagnosis tool attached to to the BIOS but nothing seems to work. The only backup is from over a year ago and there's no available restore points. We'd prefer restoring it entirely than going back to it. I've backed up his personal files using Macrium, but it would be much more preferable if we could get it to boot up.

Any suggestions as to what else I could do?

 

[Colif]

If you don't have a win 10 installer, download windows 10 media creation tool and create a boootable usb or dvd (your choice): Windows 10 Media creation tool

change boot order to match whatever you made 1st, hdd second
boot from installer, on screen after language choices, select repair this pc, not install
select troubleshoot
select advanced
select start up repair - this scans pc and tries to fix boot - will ask for logon details

if this doesn't help, try loading installer again and on 1st screen next to troubleshoot, select reset pc
since you have back ups, you can choose either option - keep files and settings or wipe all
either way pc will restart and reinstall win 10

if for some reason you get told pc is locked, try this: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/the-drive-where-windows-is-installed-is-locked

if it all doesn't work, try a freshj install - follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

If you have any questions, ask them

 

[Gamma032]

If you don't have a win 10 installer, download windows 10 media creation tool and create a boootable usb or dvd (your choice): Windows 10 Media creation tool

change boot order to match whatever you made 1st, hdd second
boot from installer, on screen after language choices, select repair this pc, not install
select troubleshoot
select advanced
select start up repair - this scans pc and tries to fix boot - will ask for logon details

if this doesn't help, try loading installer again and on 1st screen next to troubleshoot, select reset pc
since you have back ups, you can choose either option - keep files and settings or wipe all
either way pc will restart and reinstall win 10

if for some reason you get told pc is locked, try this: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/the-drive-where-windows-is-installed-is-locked

if it all doesn't work, try a freshj install - follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

If you have any questions, ask them

Yeah, I've tried this and it didn't help.

 

[Colif]

what model laptop is it?

So even after a full install its still got a black screen on the desktop. Does ctrl alt del work on desktop? do you have any usb devices plugged in to it? what happens if you unplug them and boot up? same thing?

 

[Gamma032]

what model laptop is it?

So even after a full install its still got a black screen on the desktop. Does ctrl alt del work on desktop? do you have any usb devices plugged in to it? what happens if you unplug them and boot up? same thing?

Don't know the model right now, will ask tomorrow. Still won't boot without the devices attached. I haven't wiped it yet, but I will if we can't find a solution.

 

[Colif]

never mind the devices, i thought when you said windows logo you said login... this is a different beast. (I have a sore eye today so can't read things properly)

try the fixes listed in the locked drive thing, i think computer isn't seeing the boot drive. the black screen flashing cursor thing is a bug I wish i knew one solution for but different things fix it for different people.

you should be able to do it all using a windows 10 installer as unless problem is hardware, it should run off the dvd/usb

 

[Gamma032]

never mind the devices, i thought when you said windows logo you said login... this is a different beast. (I have a sore eye today so can't read things properly)

try the fixes listed in the locked drive thing, i think computer isn't seeing the boot drive. the black screen flashing cursor thing is a bug I wish i knew one solution for but different things fix it for different people.

you should be able to do it all using a windows 10 installer as unless problem is hardware, it should run off the dvd/usb

Oops. Didn't mean to select this as the solution. I have a W10 ISO on my USB and I booted off it and ran all of the advanced tools but they didn't help.

 

[Colif]

The only fix that is likely to work if those didn't is a fresh install. I don't know why but some windows updates break windows boot record. Now it seems it just won't boot and only answer is blow it all away and start again. Good thing you have a copy of his personal files.

This shouldn't happen again once you convert drive to the new format windows 10 uses, I think most people who get this problem are on computers that updated from win 7 or 8, not fresh installs.

if there is still anything on it you need to save, you can use this: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/