Laptop starts to a blank screen with white cursor blinking
Yesterday when I started my laptop it displayed the Lenovo screen as usual but after that instead of booting it displayed a blank screen with white cursor blinking at the top right corner. It is very strange because it is not showing and error message and fan starts moving like I am working on some application. I thought might be bootloader got corrupted or something, so I tried booting with Ubuntu and XP CD both but no change still same blank screen with white blinking cursor. Please note that I have been able to enter Bios setup and change the booting option as well. Bios was showing all the hardware as it usually shows but its bios doesn’t give any options to change anything other than date, security password and booting option, well I guess that’s what they provide in value laptops. My laptop is still in warranty and only 6 months old but before I give them to repair I want to know what is wrong with it, is it software or hardware? One more thing, when I try its one key recovery button which should restore my C: to dos installation back again, it performs same thing, blank screen with blinking cursor.
Your description sound like a hard drive related problem. Most likely the hard drive is bad and has to be replaced.
Before you send your laptop for repair, there is something you can try at home. Try reconnecting the hard drive. Remove it from the laptop and install back. It’s possible that the hard drive is not making good connection with the motherboard and after reconnecting will start working properly.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Thanks so much for such a quick reply. I hope hard drive has not gone bad, as their is lot of data which I have not taken any backup
.. Anyways.. can you also please help with how to go about checking hard drive in lenovo 3000 Y410 or a similar link that I can refer.
Thank you very much for your help.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Thanks Laptop Freak, it was bad hard drive. I took it to Lenovo Service Center because it was in warranty. They checked it and replaced the hard drive on the spot (luckily they had one in stock). Now its working fine. Thanks everybody for your help as it helped me to figure what the problem was before giving it to repair blindfolded.
Thanks
Mayur
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
I did not see a article close to mine so I hope someone will see this post & help me out. I have a Dell Inspiron 700m, it takes about 8 minutes to boot up. I have done: disk clean up, defrag, registry booster, registry defrag, deleted any programs I have not used in awhile & have 54% of my hard drive free. I do not understand why it takes so long to boot up – it doesn’t shut down very quickly either. What can I do to speed things up?
HELP! and THANK YOU!!
August 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Hi,
I am trying to troubleshoot a problem on wife’s Acer Notebook Aspire w/ Linux . I apologize, but this is a bit 2nd hand from her. She had a pop-up “update” indicating a patch. She downloaded it now on start-up it displays the normal manufacturer screen, but then goes to a black screen with a plus sign cursor that can float with the mouse, but never goes beyond that screen. Does not respond to any reboot or settings buttons (Ctl, Alt, Del or F6, etc.) Do you think she get hit with a virus? Anyone else experiencing this? Thanks.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Yesterday, I pressed F10 of my HP530 laptop for computer set up. I later pressed file, then pressed ‘restore defaults’ and now my computer boots but shows only a blinking white pointer at top left screen. I have tried removing the battery and replacing RAM slots to know success. The hard drive has important information. What should I do. I’ll be grateful for your help. Thank you
May 14th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
My problem was a little bit same.While playing internet.Than the blue screen appear.It say dumping files.. because I dont have time to wait the loading.I press the ON/OF button and the laptop shutdown..than I open the laptop again it start with normal HP than it goes to blank screen.When I press the keyboard button it start to make a beep sound..when i stop pressing and it also stop.So how? my laptop is HP Presario V2000
November 30th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I have this same issue and cannot find a solution yet. I have a dell inspiron 1501. I don’t have the cd’s that came with computer b/c my gf of mine gave it to me and didnt think of givin me them and now don’t know where they r. so how do i get my computer going. I start it, dell logo then black screen white cursor top left. f2 and f12 are the only 2 things tht work. ran diagnostics and seems as though everything is fine there. not much i can do in bios. very limited. i called dell, they want money b/c it’s out of warrenty so they want 80 dollar one time fee fix. so i’ve looked up everything i can think of to try and get an answer maybe u can help me. i don’t know what site to go to so i can download a recovory, boot, windows, whatever it takes to get this computer running again before i go back to college in jan. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
January 24th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I have an acer with windows loaded. A lot now when I start it I get a blinking cursor in the left upper corner. The only way I see it start is to unplug the 110 power source after turning off, waiting and plugging 110 source to it again and start computer. A couple times and it usually goes. What causes this!