Hi there,

My PC is suddenly not booting up properly. (running XP home)

It goes through the memory checks and hard drive bios check and then fails to boot windows. I don't even get to the Windows splash screen....just a slight change in tone of black.

I've hooked up my hard drive to a separate machine and its completely accessible and nothing appears to be corrupted.

I've copied the contents of the HD just in case i need to reformat/install windows but would obviously prefer not too.

I have already tried a number of things to rectify the problem.

* Removed all usb connections and attempt reboot

* Unplugged all components other than Video Card, Hard Disk and Memory and attempt reboot

* Replaced Video Card with a spare one borrowed from a different machine and attempt reboot

* Tested each stick of memory in turn and attempt reboot

* Re-attempted to boot from XP disk and manufacturer supplied system recovery disk (prompt to press key to boot from CD appears followed by usual symptoms)

All of which returned the same symptoms, memory and Hard disk checks run through ok followed by nothing other than a slight change in the tone of the black screen.

I'm kinda running out of ideas and any suggestions would be very gratefuly recieved...thanks

Hey Hairster, welcome to PCHF.

Is there anything on the screen at all, such as a flashing white cursor?

Hi thanks for the response and the welcome

No nothing at all, no cursor just a slight flicker then the tone of the black screen changes slightly.....and thats all

OK, well it sounds like your Master Boot Record might be corrupt/damaged.

Here is what you need to do.

- Use your Windows XP Setup CD, and start your PC with the CD in the drive.
- If prompted, press any key to start from CD. If you end up with the same black screen, then restart your PC and enter your BIOS (normally F2 or [DEL]), and look for your Boot Device Priority, making sure that the CD-ROM is listed above your Hard Drive.
- Windows Setup will start and begin to load drivers, when prompted, press R for Recovery.
- At the Recovery Console, you may need to enter your Administrative password if one has been set.
- From the Command Prompt, type in chkdsk /f to double check there are no disk problems. Can take a few hours.
- Once complete, type in fixmbr
- Finally reboot your PC without the CD in the drive, and this should hopefully resolve your problem.

I've been down this route already unfortunately

Changing my BIOS boot device priority appears to make no difference (currently set with CD-ROM as first device and Hard Disk as second device)

I get the prompt to press key to start from CD, press any key, the CD drive whirs away and I end up with the same black screen.

Can you make sure that the CD is an original Windows XP Setup CD, not copied, and ensure that is clean and unscratched?

I'll give it a good clean and try when I get home from work, thanks for all the help so far.