help Computer help (BSOD)

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Sorry it's unrelated to cars, but can anyone please help me as my sons computer is freezing on start-up and all we end up with is a a moveable cursor arrow on a black screen. Reading up on the internet it appears to be a common problem named the Black Screen Of Death, or KSOD (blacK Screen Of Death)!

The computer is a Dell Inspiron Desktop running Windows Vista and when I start up I get the Dell Screen followed by a black and white list of options, so I now have to pick "start windows normally", I then get the green bars then nothing! I have tried diagnostics which say everything is working ok. System Restore won't function as there is something limited for it to run and says there are no dates to run it back to anyway. I tried the "repair computer" option but that did not work either. No luck either with the drivers and utilities disc.

Also tried this:

http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2008/12/the_mysterious_black_screen_of.php

My son also tells me that it has been grinding slowly to a halt over the past month or two!

Any ideas please, as I'm ready to throw it in the bin!

Cheers, Tim.

[Banishit]

do you have antivirus running ?

you could also put in your recovery disk and try fixing the problem ? not a clean install just a repair it should give you the option on boot up, and this happens before the hard drive boots up, at the mo you are at the post bios area in Dos

[rsderek]

Tim,

before you turn it on, plug in an external monitor to the rear of laptop to see if it uses an external monitor. My old inspiron done that and it was reading that an external monitor was attached and it wasn't.

Hence the mouse pointer and nothing else on the screen. if all comes on to the monitor as a normal start up, just go into your appearence settings and turn off external monitors. that should solve that issue,and all will come back onto the desktop.

if nothing happens when you plug in the other one, a software programmer can fix it reasonably easy with the f2 commands and going into the bias of the operating system. costs about £25

I've had both faults and both times with dell machines. The first you can do yourself


cheeRS


Derek

[RS2000EXPRESS]

do you have antivirus running ?

you could also put in your recovery disk and try fixing the problem ? not a clean install just a repair it should give you the option on boot up, and this happens before the hard drive boots up, at the mo you are at the post bios area in Dos

Hi Brian, Many thanks for replying. I don't think I have a recovery disc for this one as there is no floppy drive and only have discs that came with the pc, ie drivers & utilities, operating system etc........Drivers & Utilities which I have tried. I have AVG anti-virus and have just copied their recovery disc off a ZIP disc onto my memory stick, but as yet no luck.

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Tim,

before you turn it on, plug in an external monitor to the rear of laptop to see if it uses an external monitor. My old inspiron done that and it was reading that an external monitor was attached and it wasn't.

Hence the mouse pointer and nothing else on the screen. if all comes on to the monitor as a normal start up, just go into your appearence settings and turn off external monitors. that should solve that issue,and all will come back onto the desktop.

if nothing happens when you plug in the other one, a software programmer can fix it reasonably easy with the f2 commands and going into the bias of the operating system. costs about £25

I've had both faults and both times with dell machines. The first you can do yourself


cheeRS


Derek

Hi Derek,

Many Thanks for replying. I've just tried swopping the monitor off my desk top and there is no difference, so it must be switched on to the lap top monitor ok. I've also tried the F2 but don't know what to do next. If I can't sort it out I will take it to someone to fix, but like to give it a good try first!

Cheers, Tim.

[Mexicomark]

only have discs that came with the pc, ie drivers & utilities, operating system etc........Drivers & Utilities .

Tim, put your operating system disk in. Then switch the laptop back on.
It should then ask you if you want to start windows from the disk.

If I remember right it goes through the necessary checks then asks if you want to reinstall or repair windows.
Repairing windows does not alter any of the files saved on the computer.
I've had to do it in the past.

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Tim, put your operating system disk in. Then switch the laptop back on.
It should then ask you if you want to start windows from the disk.

If I remember right it goes through the necessary checks then asks if you want to reinstall or repair windows.
Repairing windows does not alter any of the files saved on the computer.
I've had to do it in the past.

Hi Mark,

Just tried this option now "repair windows", it even loaded some files and things were looking good until it offered the usual options of repairs, system restore etc, but none worked and it still does not boot up.

Thanks for replying with some help.

Cheers, Tim.

[wozzy]

i had this problem with my laptop,

spent weeks trying to sort it out,





















finally took it out in the garden and sorted it out with a hammer then went and got a new one lol wife looked at me like i was possessed when i was beating it with a hammer lol.
but what a sense of satisfaction

[tibbs]

Hi Tim,
If you're still having problems ping me a mail dermot@cleverhomes.ie and I can try and help you out

Dermot

[rsyoda]

Tim
will it boot up in safe mode (loads minimal drivers) when you get the list of boot options
had he installed any thing new recently try removing it and see what happens you may get lucky
when you do get it working create a system restore point and if it goes again you can restore it back to that point mate

[Aled]

Sorry it's unrelated to cars, but can anyone please help me as my sons computer Tim.

Tim, after the latest barage of abuse he gave you, I would tell him to sort it out himself

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Tim
will it boot up in safe mode (loads minimal drivers) when you get the list of boot options
had he installed any thing new recently try removing it and see what happens you may get lucky
when you do get it working create a system restore point and if it goes again you can restore it back to that point mate

Hi Andy,

How are you doing?

It won't boot up in safe mode just goes to the deep black screen and the cursor arrow goes a little brighter, exciting aint it!

On booting up it always goes through a black bit. It's as if the files are missing to complete the boot-up. Can't even get anywhere to uninstall anything! I don't think he has installed anything bad as this has been slowly getting worse over the last month or two.

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Tim, after the latest barage of abuse he gave you, I would tell him to sort it out himself

I know Aled, but it's never that straight forward!

[RS2000EXPRESS]

i had this problem with my laptop,

spent weeks trying to sort it out,





















finally took it out in the garden and sorted it out with a hammer then went and got a new one lol wife looked at me like i was possessed when i was beating it with a hammer lol.
but what a sense of satisfaction

PMSL. I will be making sure my Mrs aint around when I start on the Lap-Top!