Black screen with cursor problem. Need Help

jlv · 01 Apr 2016

Ok. I need some help. I don't know really anything about computers. My daughters computer crashed. Its a Dell Inspiron 1545. I can F2 to the bios screen, but no where can I even find the operating system in the BIOS.
The trouble started one morning when we tried to boot it up. It came up like normal to the Windows screen, but seemed to freeze and was acting like it didn't want to completely load up. I assume it had a virus. We tried to run malwarebytes on it. It ran and we deleted the things it found. When it rebooted, it did the same thing. It was struggling to pull up Windows again. We turned it off and tried to reboot again and got the black screen with cursor. It wouldn't allow me to do anything. Every time I push a button it would just beep.
I can control+alt+delete and reboot the computer and press F2 to get to the BIOS. However, it doesn't show any operating system at all that I can see. I think I'm reading everything right.
I read online that one way to try to fix the black screen of death was to down load a windows media creation tool onto a USB drive, but you need to know if your computer is a 32 or 64 bit. I have no clue and I can't seem to find it. What I found is this:
Bios Version =A13
Pentium R Dual-Core CPU T4400 @2.2GHz
Processor Id = 1067 Ah
Primary hard drive = 320 GB
Video Controller = Intel GM45 graphics
Could someone please help step me thru the process of getting this thing back up and running? I gave her my Dell D630 and now I have her computer. There is nothing on it that we are worried about losing. I tried to run a repair function we found on the computer. We did that a couple of times, but was unable to find any errors or problems.
Your help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, btw, this computer use to have Windows 7 on it before we did the upgrade about 4 or 5 months ago approx. Don't recall exactly how long ago it was, but it was way after the release first came out, but she's had it for at least a couple of months now if not longer. It seems to have been working fine till now.

Thank you.

simrick · 02 Apr 2016

jlv said:

Ok. I need some help. I don't know really anything about computers. My daughters computer crashed. Its a Dell Inspiron 1545. I can F2 to the bios screen, but no where can I even find the operating system in the BIOS.
The trouble started one morning when we tried to boot it up. It came up like normal to the Windows screen, but seemed to freeze and was acting like it didn't want to completely load up. I assume it had a virus. We tried to run malwarebytes on it. It ran and we deleted the things it found. When it rebooted, it did the same thing. It was struggling to pull up Windows again. We turned it off and tried to reboot again and got the black screen with cursor. It wouldn't allow me to do anything. Every time I push a button it would just beep.
I can control+alt+delete and reboot the computer and press F2 to get to the BIOS. However, it doesn't show any operating system at all that I can see. I think I'm reading everything right.
I read online that one way to try to fix the black screen of death was to down load a windows media creation tool onto a USB drive, but you need to know if your computer is a 32 or 64 bit. I have no clue and I can't seem to find it. What I found is this:
Bios Version =A13
Pentium R Dual-Core CPU T4400 @2.2GHz
Processor Id = 1067 Ah
Primary hard drive = 320 GB
Video Controller = Intel GM45 graphics
Could someone please help step me thru the process of getting this thing back up and running? I gave her my Dell D630 and now I have her computer. There is nothing on it that we are worried about losing. I tried to run a repair function we found on the computer. We did that a couple of times, but was unable to find any errors or problems.
Your help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, btw, this computer use to have Windows 7 on it before we did the upgrade about 4 or 5 months ago approx. Don't recall exactly how long ago it was, but it was way after the release first came out, but she's had it for at least a couple of months now if not longer. It seems to have been working fine till now.

Thank you.

Hi jlv and welcome to Tenforums.
Probably the easiest thing to do is download the ISO from MS TechBench and do a clean install.
Look up the specs on the system at support.dell.com and see how it came delivered (32/64bit). Grab the service tag if you have it or just use the model number.

jlv · 03 Apr 2016

simrick said:

Hi jlv and welcome to Tenforums.
Probably the easiest thing to do is download the ISO from MS TechBench and do a clean install.
Look up the specs on the system at support.dell.com and see how it came delivered (32/64bit). Grab the service tag if you have it or just use the model number.

The Microsoft website says they recommend creating the disc, USB, or ISO file from a computer running Windows 7 or 8.1. I only have laptops with Windows 10, Ubantu, Chromebook, and one using Vista. Can I use any of these and still not mess up my working computer?

2) If I use a USB stick to make the file, can I erase it later and use it for something else. I have a 32 gb USB stick that I recently bought to store some pictures on and important files that I didn't want to store on my computer. Its kind of a back up for my computer. If I delete the current files on my USB stick and use it to make this ISO file, can I then go back and delete the ISO file and reuse the stick to store my documents again, or should I order another USB stick? I think I even have some blank CD-R 52x 700MB 80 min disc that a bought to try to burn a spinrite.iso file and was unsuccessful. I don't know what I did wrong. The file showed up on the disc, but it would never do anything. I wasted all but one maybe two of the disc I bought. Not sure if one would be big enough for the ISO file of Windows 10 or not. I really don't understand all this stuff, but have been getting by with internet help.

Thanks.

jlv · 03 Apr 2016

FYI: I did find thru the Dell website that I have a 64 bit system. Thank you for that information. I do greatly appreciate the help.

Oh, I also wanted to say that I do have a Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD that I borrowed from a friend. I thought maybe by inputting it into the D drive that it would somehow run and bring my black screen of death back to life. However, it didn't do anything. I'm not even sure what to do. LOL I was just hoping that if I put it in the disc drive and started it up, that the computer would take over. Is there maybe something I could do with that Windows 7 disc? When I started the laptop up with the Windows 7 reinstallation DVD, I get a screen that pops up and says "Press and key to boot from CD or DVD....." I've tried pressing the space bar, letter keys, and the Enter key, but nothing happens. I do have the boot sequence starting with the DVD/CD drive.

simrick · 03 Apr 2016

jlv said:

The Microsoft website says they recommend creating the disc, USB, or ISO file from a computer running Windows 7 or 8.1. I only have laptops with Windows 10, Ubantu, Chromebook, and one using Vista. Can I use any of these and still not mess up my working computer?

You need to go to the Microsoft TechBench web site and just download the ISO - don't use the Media Creation Tool website. You won't mess up a computer by just downloading the W10 ISO.

jlv said:

2) If I use a USB stick to make the file, can I erase it later and use it for something else.

Yes.

jlv said:

I have a 32 gb USB stick that I recently bought to store some pictures on and important files that I didn't want to store on my computer. Its kind of a back up for my computer. If I delete the current files on my USB stick and use it to make this ISO file, can I then go back and delete the ISO file and reuse the stick to store my documents again, or should I order another USB stick?

Yes, the USB stick must be completely empty when you copy the ISO files to it. Once you are finished with it, you can delete the ISO files and put your personal stuff back on it.

The ISO file is one big file that you save to the hard drive of the computer you're using to download it. Then, if it's a W10 or W8 computer, you can just highlight the ISO file, right-click and select MOUNT. Once the ISO is mounted, you can copy all the files inside the ISO to your USB stick.

jlv said:

I think I even have some blank CD-R 52x 700MB 80 min disc that a bought to try to burn a spinrite.iso file and was unsuccessful. I don't know what I did wrong. The file showed up on the disc, but it would never do anything. I wasted all but one maybe two of the disc I bought. Not sure if one would be big enough for the ISO file of Windows 10 or not.

No, a CD is not big enough; you'd need a DVD-R for this.

jlv said:

I really don't understand all this stuff, but have been getting by with internet help.

Thanks.

jlv said:

FYI: I did find thru the Dell website that I have a 64 bit system. Thank you for that information. I do greatly appreciate the help.

No problem - we're here to help!

jlv said:

Oh, I also wanted to say that I do have a Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD that I borrowed from a friend. I thought maybe by inputting it into the D drive that it would somehow run and bring my black screen of death back to life. However, it didn't do anything. I'm not even sure what to do. LOL I was just hoping that if I put it in the disc drive and started it up, that the computer would take over. Is there maybe something I could do with that Windows 7 disc? When I started the laptop up with the Windows 7 reinstallation DVD, I get a screen that pops up and says "Press and key to boot from CD or DVD....." I've tried pressing the space bar, letter keys, and the Enter key, but nothing happens. I do have the boot sequence starting with the DVD/CD drive.

A W7 disk would install W7 - it won't help you fix W10.

jlv · 04 Apr 2016

simrick said:

You need to go to the Microsoft TechBench web site and just download the ISO - don't use the Media Creation Tool website. You won't mess up a computer by just downloading the W10 ISO.

Yes.

Yes, the USB stick must be completely empty when you copy the ISO files to it. Once you are finished with it, you can delete the ISO files and put your personal stuff back on it.

The ISO file is one big file that you save to the hard drive of the computer you're using to download it. Then, if it's a W10 or W8 computer, you can just highlight the ISO file, right-click and select MOUNT. Once the ISO is mounted, you can copy all the files inside the ISO to your USB stick.

No, a CD is not big enough; you'd need a DVD-R for this.

No problem - we're here to help!

A W7 disk would install W7 - it won't help you fix W10.

Okay, now sure what I am doing now. I used my Acer laptop with Windows 10 and a blank 32GB USB stick to go to the website and download the Windows 10 ISO file. After I downloaded it onto my computer, I went to transfer it to the USB stick. When I opened the download, it pulled up NTI Media Maker 9, but I couldn't figure out how to down load it onto a USB stick, the options it seemed to be giving me was to download it onto a DVD disc. I tried to copy as well as move the Windows 10 ISO file to my E: drive with the USB stick, but I kept getting a message that the file was bigger than 2GB and they were unable to move it. Can you tell what I am doing wrong or do you have a suggestion for me? To clarify: I found the download and tried to highlight it and Right Clicked. I didn't see the option to "Mount". I tried "Send to" and tried my USB Drive E:, but it said the file was too large for the destination file system. The file is 4.11GB. My USB is 32GB.

OldMike65 · 04 Apr 2016

@jlv
If your mount option is missing, use this tutorial to repair it. Option 1 here is the link.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html

jlv · 04 Apr 2016

OldMike65 said:

@jlv
If your mount option is missing, use this tutorial to repair it. Option 1 here is the link.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html

Sorry. I downloaded the Mount file. My Registry Editor came up and said "The keys and values in the C:\user\...\ADD_Mount_context_for_ISO_IMG.reg have been successfully added to the registry". I logged off my computer and restarted it. I came back to downloads and highlighted my Windows 10 download and tried to Right Click again and still don't see "Mount". Did I download Mount wrong? After it downloaded I clicked on Run and gave it permission to save. I didn't change where to save or anything like that.

OldMike65 · 04 Apr 2016

Could you please tell us the exact name of the Windows ISO file you have on your computer?? It should have the file extension of
.iso also.

jlv · 04 Apr 2016

OldMike65 said:

Could you please tell us the exact name of the Windows ISO file you have on your computer?? It should have the file extension of
.iso also.

When I go to downloads, it shows my file as "Win10_1511_1_English_x64" under the name heading. Then it gives the "date modified" and "Type" as well as the "Size". The Type is: "NTI iso file". The size is: 4,310,660 KB.