Black screen on startup with a mouse pointer but can't do anything???

Hello,
I've read all the posts in regards to this topic. Nothing has worked. I have my brothers HP laptop with Windows Vista. I thought the Hard Drive (HD) crashed because all I had on start up was a black screen with a cursor. When booting I am given the option to start up in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and Safe Mode with Networking. No matter which one I choose I get the same thing - black screen with a cursor. I can move the cursor around. Nothing happens when I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del. When I hit the **bleep** key 5 times the widow comes up about the Sticky Keys - the paragraph asks me if I want to enable them but does not give the the option to click on a "yes" or "no"; My only option is to click the X to close the window. If I use the short cut keys for the Windows Utility (windows key = u) I get an error message basically saying it can't find the file.
I have a Rocketfish HD Enclosure for SATA drives. So, I removed the HD from the HP and plugged it into my other computer (an Acer) with the enclosure. I ran Norton AVI & Spy Sweeper. Norton removed & resolved 2 Trojan viruses. My brother was not using Norton or Kaspersky, or McAfee - or any other AVI software that is worthy... obviously - he got 2 Trojans! Spy Sweeper ran overnight and half a day (16 hours) - didn't finish and found nothing during that really long time span. He apparently partitioned his HD himself. When I hook it up to my computer it shows up as 3 different HD's. One appears to be just back up files and that part of the partition is FULL. One has pretty much nothing on it, and the other appears to be the main one he is/was using because that's where all the program files are. I can successfully navigate through all 3 partitions. I copied all his documents, pictures, files, Mp3's, etc to my own external HD. I can see his entire OS is there... his HD is FINE as far as I'm concerned.
I put it back into his laptop and the same thing happens... black screen with cursor.
I can get into BIOS. In BIOS I ran the HD diagnostic, it says to replace the HD. I let it go ahead and do the memory diagnostic test in BIOS for the heck of it and of course that's fine - he's got 4gb.
I did something else in BIOS - restoring? It restarted and did nothing...
I tried hooking up MY own personal old HD (with entire OS still on it) via my SATA enclosure to his laptop and still nothing... so, it won't recognize any OS.
I have ruled out - in my belief that his HD is okay. Especially now that I have removed the viruses.
I have not figured out what the problem is though. I can't get in - it seems to not recognize the HD - it won't boot from the HD - I can't get into C:\ from anywhere to even try to get up Windows Explorer.
I'm thinking other hardware failure... fried motherboard?
So, I'm not completely computer illiterate. But, hardware trouble shooting is not something I've had much hands on experience with. I can write lines of code in several languages... but hardware troubleshooting does not seem to be my best subject... (I'm still in school for my BS in IT).
My brother thinks his laptop is trash - I think his HD is okay - he may still be able to use it as an external HD if he gets an HD SATA enclosure like mine. But, this poor laptop has survived Hurricane Gustav - where he lost his home in Baton Rouge, LA and therefore I'd like to fix it, I know I can fix it, but I have to know what's wrong with it in order to fix it...
I'd appreciate any useful suggestions! If it is a motherboard issue... I wonder how hard they are to replace
P.S. - it's a HP Pavillion dv6500 Entertainment PC
P.S.S. - I'm going to open it all up tomorrow & clean it - who knows the last time he cleaned it, if there's a lot of dust in there it could be a big problem. Just running it today it got VERY hot and the fans seem to be running very loud (as compared to my Acer laptop).

A hard drive if it has failed will sometimes allow you to boot into windows but may not work completely (Eg: In a scenario, where system partition ;where windows is installed works fine but logical partition of hard drive has gone bad).
On certain conditions, if the hard drive is on verge of failure may/may not respond completely. I would suggest you to run a diagnostics using Seagate Seatools which works on any hard drive irrespective of manufacturer to actually confirm if your hard drive has failed.
Also, any hard drive can fail in spite of it been 1yr old or 1day old as its all manufactured in bulk and most of it comes from China
//Click on Kudos and Accept as Solution if my reply was helpful and answered your question//
I am an HP employee!!

Similar Messages

IBook G4 black screen at startup with code in upper left hand corner

I have had operating system issues for the past year, and recently had my OS reinstalled at a Mac Professional retailer. After two weeks of perfect performance, the chime stopped working on startup. This was the only problem for several days. Then when I would put it to sleep, the computer would not automatically turn back on, I had to manually reboot it. Finally, today, after the computer would not wake up and I had restarted it, the screen would flash to the apple logo screen WITHOUT the spinning wheel and after several seconds would shift to an all black screen with text in the upper right hand corner, waiting for a command entry.
The code reads as follows:
hfsswapBTNode: invalid node kind (-9)
node=22016 fileID=4 volume=Macintosh HD device=root_device
-sh-2.05b#
Any ideas?????

Put the install disc in the drive and start while holding the "c" key. Once satrted click through past the language screen and select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Highlight the drive on the left and click the Repair button. If it reports errors and repairs repeat the process until no errors are reported. If it reports errors it can't repair post the error message here.
John

I just bought a new Epson projector, connected it to my Mac with a USB cable but can't get anything to display. Any suggestions?

I just bought a new Epson projector, connected it to my Mac with a USB port and can't get any display. Any suggestions?

USB is not a Video Interface. to use it with this projector, you must have downloaded and be running:
Macintosh
USB Display v1.50
Mac OS X (v10.7 - v10.7.x), Mac OS X (v10.6), Mac OS X (v10.5)
epson14423.dmg - 2.9MB - posted on 10/24/11
This file contains the Epson USB Display v1.50. This software, along with a USB cable, allows you to display images from your computer to your projector.
Installation instructions:
Double-clicking this file creates a disk image on your desktop.
Open the disk image.
Double-click the installer icon to begin the installation.
Download Now
I think it may be superior to get a VGA or HDMI adapter and use the display features built into your Macintosh.

Black Screen on startup with message saying searching for storage devices

1. Hp Pavillion Desktop a6720y
2. Windows Vista 64 bit
3. Searching for storage devices at startup
4. No changes made that I can think to software or hardware

Soundmaster, welcome to the forum.
It appears that you have a failed hard drive. You can run SMART diagnostics from the BIOS to see what it says.
Please click "Accept as Solution" if your problem is solved.
Signature:
HP TouchPad - 1.2 GHz; 1 GB memory; 32 GB storage; WebOS/CyanogenMod 11(Kit Kat)
HP 10 Plus; Android-Kit Kat; 1.0 GHz Allwinner A31 ARM Cortex A7 Quad Core Processor ; 2GB RAM Memory Long: 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM (1600MHz); 16GB disable eMMC 16GB v4.51
HP Omen; i7-4710QH; 8 GB memory; 256 GB San Disk SSD; Win 8.1
HP Photosmart 7520 AIO
++++++++++++++++++
**Click the Thumbs Up+ to say 'Thanks' and the 'Accept as Solution' if I have solved your problem.**
Intelligence is God given; Wisdom is the sum of our mistakes!
I am not an HP employee.

Blank black screen with just mouse pointer after logging in windows 8.1

First of all On starting the system, it was taking much longer time than usual.. Then after logging in it showed only a blank black screen with white mouse pointer.. had to force shut down (shut down also took longer time).. on starting went to safe mode and ran extensive system check.. HARD DRIVE SMART CHECK PASSED but HARD DRIVE SHORT DST CHECK FAILED...I have the recovery discs and the notebook is under warranty..

Hi
If your hard drive is failing on short DST test then you will need to contact HP in your local region and arrange with HP a repair ( Hard drive replacement ) . You say your machine is still in Warranty then the cost of shipping and repair will be covered by HP .
Checkurtech
****Click the White Kudos star to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****

After a one week logout and shutdown my macpro 1,1 laptop shows a black screen at startup attempts. The battery is fully charged and both resetting the power manager and zapping the PRAM have failed to permit startup. What else can I try?

After a one week logout and shutdown my macpro 1,1 laptop running OSx 10.6.8 shows a black screen at startup attempts. The battery is fully charged and both resetting the power manager and zapping the PRAM have failed to permit startup. What else can I try?

Startup – Black screen with cursor
Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

Equium A100 black screen on startup

Toshiba Equium A100 laptop
Completely black screen on startup so please don't say go into safe mode etc, because I can't.
I can't see a thing.
Like once in every 100 goes it will come on and I can F12 to boot from the format disk but it eventually freezes before completion.
Video showing what's happening - BTW the buttons you see me pressing are Fn+F5 I've heard that that sometimes works, but yeah, it didn't.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb7KcROckVI
Thanks.

Hi
Look not good dude I think its an serious hardware issue
I checked the movie and cannot hear a beep when the notebook passes the POST (power on self-test). So for me it looks like something wrong with the hardware
But did you try to connect an external monitor in order to check if something would be visible on second screen? Check this
You could also try this:
Disconnect AC adaptor, remove the battery, wait some time (3-5 hours), then connect both parts and try to power up the notebook. If this fails, well in such case have no many other ideas. Ohhh wait maybe you could check the RAM modules. Try to power up the notebook using one module in each slot

Black screen on startup early 2008 macbook pro

I am very disappointed with Apple right now. My early-2008 15 inch macbook pro shows a blank/black screen on startup. The hd runs fine and I can dim and undim the backlight on the screen but it stays black/blank.
I talked to an Apple rep and she told me that it was probably my graphics card (which I asked her specifically about when I researched and found many other people like myself with the same issue and then the lawsuit that came as a result). Of course, Apple no longer replaces the graphics card (like a true business person would) as of December 2012 even though they know the cards in the macbooks pros are defective. The Apple rep told me that I would have to take it in to a Apple tech to get it "officially" diagnosed as the graphics card being bad (which would cost me @$150 just for it to be looked at!) and then I would probably still have to pay for the repair!
Of course this happened in the middle of the week while I was in the middle of working on a sermon and other presentation projects. So I had to do my best to try to work from scratch without access to the info on my hd because the graphics card is defective.
Apple, you know the card is defective so please just replace the card! I'm not asking for any perks or upgrades! Just to be able to use my Macbook Pro that, up until now, I have been bragging about and telling everyone how happy I was to switch over from windows!
HELP!! HELP!! HELP!! HELP!!

If you experience distorted video or no video . . . take your affected product to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store to determine which service and support options are available. If you plan to visit an Apple Retail store, make a reservation at the Genius Bar using http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/
No, it has not cost anything in the past.
Note: as of Dec 7th 2012, it is unlikely products qualify for this extended repair coverage.
That does not mean it's an automatic "no."

I recently bought, from the original website of Adobe, Photoshop elements 13. However, when I go with my mouse pointer over the menu, It hangs or he works very slow. Does anyone have an idea how I can fix it? I have already downloaded updates, both from A

I recently bought, from the original website of Adobe, Photoshop elements 13. However, when I go with my mouse pointer over the menu, It hangs or he works very slow. Does anyone have an idea how I can fix it? I have already downloaded updates, both from Adobe and Windows. I have a new pc with window 8.1.

It could be a coincidence, but I rebooted the machine and (knock on wood) PSE13 seems to be working ok.

2007 intel based iMac has the white screen of death with the mouse visible?? WHATSUP

My 2007 Intel based IMAC has the white screen of death with the mouse cursor as the only visible item. What is up with this? Is this the equivalent of the windows blue screen of death?
Doug

Read the "More Like This" thread links located at the bottom left of this page.

Mavericks Grey Screen & Black Screen on Startup

While working with the new Mavericks iMovie and GarageBand, the screen of my refurbished 17" MacBook Pro (bought new last year) became white with vertical light grey bars. I forced shut down. Upon restart after the Apple logo and pinwheel go away, there is just a grey screen that doesn't disappear or turn into the desktop (I waited about 15 min). I forces shutdown again. I tried this another time or two with the same results.
I tried holding option to get to the Restore disk. I chose the Restore disk, but after the logo and pinwheel, now a black screen. Repeated with same results. I tried resetting the NVRAM, a few times in a row, and same grey screen. I tried safe boot mode; after the barber pole filled completely, black screen.
In both black screen (likewise with grey screen) the computer is still on; I hear the fan. When it's black screen and I force shut down, I can see the screen flicker off.
Any ideas?
Thank you!

I just tried resetting the NVRAM two times, and on the last chime held down the option key for Restore disk screen. When I hit Restore, Apple logo and pinwheel as before, but instead of a black screen, it's a black screen with thin vertical blue lines. Weirdest thing.
Thanks for any advice!

.mov from 4S is black screen when played with QT and QT 7/lion

Q1. .mov from 4S is black screen when played with QT and QT 7 on lion/mac book pro.
Q2 Also I want to burn it in DVD with common video format. Any recomment free burner software?
Very very very urgent!! Please help.

Hello there,
I have a similar problem! Windows 7 shutdown unexpectedly and since that I can not reboot in windows anymore only with safe mode where everything is a mess.
Also when it's trying to reboot in windows a blue window appears,says something about drivers and it is counting something (79.78...till100)but I m not able to read it cause it disappears immidiately and then black screen and then it turns to reboot in mac which works fine.
I m sorry if I confused you with my english...
If anyone knows please help!
Thanks

Update to 10.6.1 black screen at startup

hello,
I have a MBP bought in June 2007
I was trying to upgrade to 10.6.1 and now I got a black screen at startup. Only the keyboard has the backlight on. Nothing on the secreen. What should I do ?
thank you

A place to start might be this article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573?viewlocale=en_US
It's also possible that you have the NVIDIA problem:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
If you can't get it working following the steps in the first article, you can contact Apple regarding the NVIDIA repair program.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: S.U.

I always get a black screen & error message with YouTube, white screen on Facebook videos.

I always get a black screen & error message with YouTube. White screen on Facebook videos. I am using Firefox 17.0.1.
There is no more content to provide.

If you use extensions (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) like Adblock Plus or NoScript or Flash Block that can block content then make sure that such extensions aren't blocking content.
Start Firefox in [[Safe Mode|Safe Mode]] to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
*Do not click the Reset button on the Safe mode start window or otherwise make changes.
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
You can check for problems caused by Flash updates and try these:
*disable a possible RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin extension for Firefox and update the RealPlayer if installed
*disable protected mode in Flash 11.3 and later
*disable hardware acceleration in the Flash plugin
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Flash#Troubleshooting

Black screen on startup MacBook Pro

I am using a MacBook Pro IntelCD with OS10.5.4 all has been working satisfactorily till today. Today when I boot up it displays the grey screen with Apple logo, then spinning wheel and eventually goes to a black screen. Starting with safe boot does exactly the same although it spends a long time, 6-10 mins, in the spinning wheel zone. Booting into Windows is fine and the computer works perfectly.
Obviously something is wrong with Mac OS. Is there something to try before having to re-install the OS. Thanks for your help.
Mike

Is this black screen with white type that eventually ends with a command line prompt or just a black screen? If the former then the computer is booting into Darwin or single-user mode. If the former then see these two discussion threads for a possible solution:
Computer booting into Darwin Fix
Apple - Support - Discussions - Booting to Darwin-BSD Screen
If the solutions proposed in the above do not help, then you will have to reinstall OS X:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Black screen on startup with a mouse pointer but can't do anything???

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for