Black Screen with Flashing Cursor on Boot

[Errol100]

Hi - After turning on my laptop it goes straight to a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left, from there I can't do anything! Any help would be much appreciated..

Specs:

Acer Aspire 5742z
Windows 7 ---Upgraded to Windows 10
Intel Pentium processor P6100
Intel HD Graphics
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD

Thanks

 

[Colif]

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
try this
change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up repair - this will scan PC and maybe fix this - will ask for logon info

if that doesn't work, try this:
boot from installer, on 2nd screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up options
hit the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
PC will restart and load safe mode

sometimes there is no start up settings menu in which case, open command prompt and type
chkdsk /f and press enter - this will scan file system and fix any errors

 

[Errol100]

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
try this
change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up repair - this will scan PC and maybe fix this - will ask for logon info

if that doesn't work, try this:
boot from installer, on 2nd screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up options
hit the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
PC will restart and load safe mode

sometimes there is no start up settings menu in which case, open command prompt and type
chkdsk /f and press enter - this will scan file system and fix any errors

Thank you, I will try this now. Will the data (documents, music etc) be safe?

 

[Colif]

yes as none of this is destructive

btw, in safe mode, you don't have to do anything, just restarting from safe mode has been known to fix this.

there are more things we can do, these are just the most obvious to try first

 

[Errol100]

yes as none of this is destructive

btw, in safe mode, you don't have to do anything, just restarting from safe mode has been known to fix this.

there are more things we can do, these are just the most obvious to try first

Unfortunately I cant get the laptop to boot in safemode, I press F8 multiple times at boot but it just goes to the flashing cursor and black screen..

 

[Colif]

F8 at boot is shut off on Win 10, if you look at my instructions it shows how to get safe mode using the Win 10 installer

 

[Errol100]

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
try this
change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up repair - this will scan PC and maybe fix this - will ask for logon info

if that doesn't work, try this:
boot from installer, on 2nd screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up options
hit the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
PC will restart and load safe mode

sometimes there is no start up settings menu in which case, open command prompt and type
chkdsk /f and press enter - this will scan file system and fix any errors

Hi - So start up repair doesnt work, when I select it then click Windows 10 i get 'This option is not supported on the operating system you have selected'.

When I try to open in safe made using the command prompt I get -
The type of file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

Not sure where to go from here..

 

[Colif]

Going to have to stop suggesting chkdsk, it doesn't seem to work consistently

Haven't seen that reaction from Startup repair before

You might need to fresh install win 10. Before you ask, you can use this to copy info off drive: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

once you copied everything off you need, boot from that Win 10 installer and follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you get to screen asking for licence, choose I don't have a key and win 10 should auto activate on install.