Black Screen at Start Up

[Brian Robey]

Hi all,

I just reformatted my hard drive and installed Windows XP.
I downloaded all the neccessary updates from the Microsoft
site and XP was working for about a day and a half. Now,
when I start up the computer, it boots, the Windows XP
Screen comes up (with the blue cursor scrolling in the
small oval thing), and then it acts like its going to load
and goes to a black screen, like it usually would, but now
it just stays at the black screen....

I can't do anything from this point, so I just manually
turn off the computer. I turn it back on, and the option
comes up to restart the computer in safe mode, normal
mode, or last known good configuration. The only option
that works is the Safe Mode option. I get into safe mode
fine and the computer boots and runs in safe mode. After
getting into safe mode, I then shut down and choose
restart....the system restarts, everything works fine, but
then the black screen comes up after the Windows XP boot
screen, and it just stays there. I've tried at least 10
times and one time Windows XP actually started up and ran
correctly but the other nine or so the black screen came
up and nothing ever happened after that. Any help someone
could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[lulu]

I recently had a similar problem and it turned out that
my BIOS settings were messed up.

Try going into BIOS on reboot, check the time & date
(mine was 00:00:00) and reset settings to default and see
if that works.

After you do that, also remember to check your Windows
setting for time & date also.

 

[Brian]

Lulu,

Thanks for your help. I''ll try it when I get home. This
will probably sound like a dumb question, but how do I get
into BIOS on reboot. I'm not great with computers and
really don't have an extensive knowledge of working
outside of Windows (like with Dos). Let me know if you can.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[kippy]

Hi,
Depending on the PC type you have there are a number of
ways to get into the bios.
Try pressing F2 continuously as soon as you start the
machine. This usually works on Dell,HP and Compaq models.
Make sure u keep doing it confinuously. Otherwise if this
doesnt work try pressing the Delete key.
I doubt that this is the problem. I you have a windows
recovery disk I'd use it as it looks like either the
graphics driver is not right or has been corrupted.
JP

 

[Brian]

Kippy,
Thanks for your advise. I'll try it when I get home. I
originally thought it was a driver problem but really had
no way of knowking how to fix it (as I said before, not to
greatest with computers).

Thanks,
Brian