Black screen with cursor

[panther1964]

I am getting a black screen with cursor when booting. I have tried booting in safe mode with no success. I have moved the hard disk as the prior in the boot sequence. I suspect I may have a virus. Diagnostics shows everything as pass. I have limited knowledge should I just seek repair from an expert? Any help would be appreciated.

System:
Dell Inspirion E1505 laptop
Windows XP

 

[panther1964]

I should note that I shut down my computer in the same fashion as the previous post. I have not added any new software or hardware. Also my computer did not come with any cd's to restore or boot with.

 

[dipo003]

Well,
If I may ask, did u just delete something on your box? Did you ever use an antivirus? usually this can be caused by file deletion/corruption or bad registry entry. during the black screen, try pressing ctrl - alt - del. so as to verify if the task manager comes up

 

[panther1964]

Hi,

Thanks for your post!

When I press ctr -alt- delete it reboots the computer, goes to the "Dell" screen then back to the black screen with a cursor in the upper left hand corner.

Nothing has been deleted that I am aware of. However, this is a family computer and I guess that is a possibility. Kapersky is the anti-virus that is installed on this computer. I have not been very impressed with it.