New hard drive with blank black screen after restart

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First put in new hard drive on dell studio xps then loaded to OS disk that originally came with PC. It seemed to load Windows 7 ok, but none of my settings or applications showing. So I had to reinstall the old hard drive to transfer data to an external hard drive using Windows Easy Transfer.

After that I put the new hard drive back in and it booted normally with Windows normal colorful logo. Then I transferred all the data over from the external hard drive using the Windows Easy Transfer prompts. It looked great afterwards! Just needed to add Norton and do a little tweaking.

I downloaded NORTON from Comcast site and also Comcast 's Constant Guard app. ALL OK - so I decided to do a ReStart before going further.

After ReStart the screen was all BLANK & BLACK, could only see the cursor moving. I restarted again and the same thing! I will see the "Starting Windows" with the colorful parts of the logo swirling together like normal - then suddenly it goes BLACK!

I did try to press F12 upon booting one time and accessed the BOOT OPTIONS. I changed the 1st Boot Device to CD/DVD instead of HDD, then I restarted with a CD in, and it worked! The CD had nothing to do with it to find out, it was only the DELL manual CD. It said DRIVERS at the top so I thought I needed it, but it was only the manual.

Anyways, I got the normal desktop screen and saw that Norton was installed and active, all ok. I did a NORTON Diagnostics report, and it said "your operating system does not have the latest service pack. Upgrade to the latest Windows service pack for security and performance patches" - so I did that and it installed 14 updates. It needed to restart Then it all went Back to BLACK Screen again after booting! It did that a few times as it said it was updating Windows & counting down the percentage.

NOW when I try to shut it down (push the button off), it doesn't go off, just stays on with the stupid blank black screen!

Does anybody know what the heck is wrong? I was very careful and kept grounded by leaving unit plugged in with the power off so the ground plug was still attached. So it's not ESD damage. hELP??
 
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How do you erase everything and reformat? What process is "reformat"? I'm just a rookie, didn't even know that I would lose all the other programs I had & thought the hard part was gonna be the manual process of taking out the old drive that was going bad and putting the new one in. Hell, that was the easy part.

I still think I may have done something wrong to begin with, or maybe I missed an important step? Besides, i need Norton or some kind of virus protectiOn, right? Norton Security Suite has always worked well for me and seems to be working good now. I heard instructions somewhere about setting your fist, second, third & fourth boot priorities? Chipset, ???, audio and then video? That's what the support at Dell tried to explain to me before they said any further assistance to change the drives would be $230.

I have since gone back in and changed the boot priority back to HDD and then CD/ DVD. But I never saw the prompts the guy at dell told me I should see. I am able to get into the desktop only when I tap F12 first and change something, it seems. When Windows has extensive updating to do, can that sometimes cause the screen to go black? So you don't try to shut it off while its updating? I usually see a red glow fluttering inside near the power button light. i'm using my iPad right now.

Thanks for your help,
Debbie
 
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Bertschinger

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Jul 2, 2013
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I think you have to format your hard drive.Here are the steps to format your External hard drive
Put your hard disk drive into your USB port of your personal laptop or computer.
Go to My Laptop or computer .Right simply simply select the F Generate (which is an exterior drive in this case)
Now closed the My Computer display and go to the symbol of the exterior generate on the end right area of your display.
 
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Dnicke40

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Jul 1, 2013
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I am grateful for your reply to my problem. Unfortunately, this is still above my level of understanding. Interestingly though, I was able to get the OS booted up normally first thing this morning. After the swirling colors of the "Starting Windows" logo came together, there was a BLANK BLACK SCREEN for only a few seconds. At first I was so discouraged, but then the login with my ICON to access my desktop showed up on the screen as it normally should. I hope this is now fixed, but I won't positively know for several more days, probably.

Again, thank you all for your help - I have no idea what caused that to happen still, or if it's even fixed. I'm happy as long as I can access my desktop like I could before the hard-drive switch. To go erase everything and start over again is daunting to me, I'm scared I won't do something correctly because I don't understand how the process works. It has taken me at least 4 days just to get to this point. Thanks!
 
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xchalasx

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Oct 5, 2011
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I was about to write you a quick guide, but I am glad your computer is working. I'd recommend getting rid of Norton and use MSE (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download), which is an original Microsoft product and is totally free.

As a side note you could use the key F8 as the computer starts to access the Safe mode screen and would let you into windows safe mode where you can recover your system or delete whatever is causing problems. I would also create periodic restore points every once in a while http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/create-a-restore-point

Also, good job on installing a new hard drive by yourself.
 
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Dnicke40

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Jul 1, 2013
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Thank you for the info! After there were a few more of the Windows Updates installed every time I booted, the system is now functioning great! No problems with Norton, but I will certainly have a look at the other one you recommended. I appreciate all your help and support.

And just in case anyone else out there runs into the same problem with the BLACK BLANK SCREEN that I got after it showed "Starting Windows":

It might just be that the Windows Updates needed to keep updating until they were all done! :bounce:

I loaded Windows 7 from the disc that came with my PC in 2010, so there must have been a ton of updates. Plus I think Norton caught a few things that needed to update and make it work right, too. I'm glad I did not erase the hard drive and start all over again, but I do appreciate all the input.
 
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