Alright... so this would be my first post asking for help, and hopefully the last.
Basically, I have a younger brother who I gave an older Dell tower too. He has a problem with patients, etc. etc.
A night or two ago, AVG was running a diagnostic on the computer, and got to a point, as reported by him, where the program asked him to not reboot/shutdown the computer. (Here's where the impatience part comes in). So he wanted to shut it off, and it had been around a half hour he said... well... that was too long for him apparently, and he proceeded to do a hard power-off. (Held button for 3-5 seconds).
This is where the problem arises. I found a post on your forums about black screens, but most of them consisted of messing with setting pertaining to the GFX card. My intuition tells me that it has little to do with this. It is highly possible that the driver for the upgraded PCI graphics card I installed may have been trashed... but I am more concerned that something more along the lines of the registry... or maybe boot tables.... I don't know...
So... anyone got some tips for me? I'm at a loss as to what to try to even begin checking this out.
For sures:
- Won't move past what WOULD be the login screen of the booting process. Absolutely black screen, whether in safe mode, normal, last good config., none of it.
- When at this black screen, I can see the white cursor perfectly clearly, no jagged edges or anything... and the black background seems to be "clean"... if that means anything... (reason why I assume the graphics card is okay.)
- EDIT: I can also USE the cursor just fine. The mouse is using a serial port, rather than a USB... as is the keyboard. Both seem to function correctly.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated,
Celtic
Basically, I have a younger brother who I gave an older Dell tower too. He has a problem with patients, etc. etc.
A night or two ago, AVG was running a diagnostic on the computer, and got to a point, as reported by him, where the program asked him to not reboot/shutdown the computer. (Here's where the impatience part comes in). So he wanted to shut it off, and it had been around a half hour he said... well... that was too long for him apparently, and he proceeded to do a hard power-off. (Held button for 3-5 seconds).
This is where the problem arises. I found a post on your forums about black screens, but most of them consisted of messing with setting pertaining to the GFX card. My intuition tells me that it has little to do with this. It is highly possible that the driver for the upgraded PCI graphics card I installed may have been trashed... but I am more concerned that something more along the lines of the registry... or maybe boot tables.... I don't know...
So... anyone got some tips for me? I'm at a loss as to what to try to even begin checking this out.
For sures:
- Won't move past what WOULD be the login screen of the booting process. Absolutely black screen, whether in safe mode, normal, last good config., none of it.
- When at this black screen, I can see the white cursor perfectly clearly, no jagged edges or anything... and the black background seems to be "clean"... if that means anything... (reason why I assume the graphics card is okay.)
- EDIT: I can also USE the cursor just fine. The mouse is using a serial port, rather than a USB... as is the keyboard. Both seem to function correctly.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated,
Celtic
