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odd computer problem.
My step sons Toshiba laptop boots up, shows the toshiba logo (at the bottom it says press f2 for setup and press f12 for boot menu.) then goes to a black screen. This isn't a power problem because the black screen is bright. (confirmed by trying a 2nd monitor) The screen is completely black. No white blinking line or anything. Im stumped at the moment. I dont really care about it because we have like 5 other computers but hes having wow withdrawels and wants his back :P. Any input would help as I am really curious as to what could be causing this. I should also note that I can get into the setup menu and the boot menu. I guess this would be the BIOS but there is no option anywhere that I can get to to run in safe mode. Help me figure this out. Not frustrated but very curious.
Comments
Saw something similar on a Dell Inspiron once.
It was a backlight problem.
I had this same issue on my daughters toshiba laptop. Her power supply was beat up a bit. I went ahead and replaced the power supply and battery off amazon. It was the power supply that failed. Worked well once i plugged the new one in and has worked fine since. Hope this helps.
I see that you confirmed the power supply issue already. It sure seemed like the exact issue I had. Best of luck.
your power chord may be in the process of going bad. It might just have enough juice to boot to the splash screen and not anymore. Another thing to look at is really trying to get into bios and try to start in VGA mode, you might have a video driver problem. Ifyou can get to vga mode you may be able to reinstall the drivers.
I don't know if its a power or monitor issue if you can get into those setup/menu options no problem. I guess look at what the POST order is and that is probably what your issue is going to be. My money is on the RAM being bad (bad RAM will let you boot, but freeze while counting RAM).
**edit** I would also agree a possible video card/driver issue. But at least checking the RAM is easy
Just pull one RAM stick at a time and put them back in the reverse order attempting to boot the computer each time. That is if there are multiple RAM sticks, if there's only one then it will be more difficult to tell.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
If you can get into the BIOS and see the results then your monitor and its backlight is working.
In the BIOS check to be sure the hard drive is recognized and is also in the boot order list.
The boot options list with Safe mode is a Windows OS list. It will not show up if the system can't find a bootable hard drive with a Windows OS on it..
If the HDD is not recognized it may just have come loose from it's power/data connections. If that's the problem you'll have to look up how to access the HDD, unplug the power brick and remove any and all batteries before checking the drive
You can also check to see if your optical drive works by puttin a disc in it and starting the system. If the optical drive is in the boot order then the system will tell you it found a disc w/out an operating system or it will boot if the disc does have an OS on it.
This. (in response to grunty)
If you can get through the POST (and are able to see words..etc on the screen at that point) it's probably not the screen.
But if it boots to the point of where the OS should have been loaded, you may have HD issues, whether it be a corrupted sector where your OS is located or just a general HD failure.
Going into safe mode would occur after the BIOS and POST screens (you may have to frantically mash the F8 key continuously during the bootup process, there is only a very short window (pun - hah) of time for it to recognize immediately after the BIOS POST and before Windows starts booting up on it's own.
Check this short guide out for some tips:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm