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Computer won't start (Blinking Cursor)

NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
edited September 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
Pretty much as the title says. I am running Windows XP 64 bit professional If I try to start up my computer everything seems fine but it eventually just gets stuck and has a blinking cursor on the top left hand corner. It moves down about 3 spaces vertically and then just stays there. BIOS can open fine but safemode won't work. I tried taking out all but one stick of my ram and unplugging other boot media like my CD drive but that didn't work. Any ideas?

Neaden on

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    StraygatsbyStraygatsby Registered User regular
    Do you have any usb in at all? If so, take it out. I know my xp build would hang if my nano was plugged in, even if the bios was set for HD load primary.

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    NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    Yep, only thing plugged in is the monitor.

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    NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    Update: I tried to boot from a CD with Linux Puppy and hit the same problem. My CD drive spins but still get the same blinking cursor.

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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Oof that's bad. You could try changing stuff in your BIOS (prime suspect would be AHCI/SATA settings) but if you can't even boot from a CD something odd is going on. Just for kicks I might try booting off a USB drive just to make sure the same thing happens.

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    NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    edited September 2011
    OK good news! I was able to boot it from Hiren's BootCD. Everything seems like its working and I have my data. I'm now thinking it might be a virus that is causing this and runing a malwarebytes full system scan, after it's done I'll try restarting without the boot CD, that sound reasonable to people who actually know what they are doing?
    Edit: OK after scanning still no dice. I can boot it and run everything fine using Hiren's BootCD but can't without it. I lost my XP installation CDs at some point since I've moved a bunch since then so I am not sure if this can be fixed.

    Neaden on
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    dispatch.odispatch.o Registered User regular
    I am going to wager perhaps it's your master boot record.

    Have you tried fixing it?

    fixmbr is the console command in most versions of windows. Though you should read up on it because there can be more to it.

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