My sister in law has a Compaq Presario CQ50-139WM running Vista Basic (at least that's what's on the tag on her laptop). Since she was getting a boot error, she asked me to look at it.
I don't remember the exact error she was getting - some file was corrupt - I think it started with a C, but that's all I remember. I tried the last good configuration, directory services restore, safe mode.... they all brought up that same black error screen with the white lettering.
Then I hit F2 (I believe) on startup and accessed a menu that would let me temporarily change the boot order as well as perform system diagnostics. The diagnostic selection successfully tested the memory then went into a test of the hard drive. It failed almost immediately and the screen froze. I couldn't even turn off the laptop by holding down the power button. I gave up after 30 seconds, disconnected the power cord, removed the battery and once again held down the power button. This time it turned off. After reconnecting the battery and ac adapter I turned it back on and got nothing beyond the lighting of the power button and the wireless indicator. Nothing ever displayed - just a dead. black screen. Not even a mouse pointer. I heard no beeps or Windows jingle. I have 3 small light indicators on the bottom, just to the left of the touch pad. The first light has a power symbol, and it's lit. The second has what appears to be a lightning bolt, and it's dark. The third has the symbol for the HDD and it stays dark for about 20-30 seconds. Then it lights up for a couple of seconds and then goes dark again. Nothing ever comes up on the screen at all.
I've put in the Vista disk and rebooted. Nothing. I've hooked up a small external monitor, and hit the key combination to make the laptop screen display on it. Nothing.....
Anybody know what could've gone wrong?
I don't remember the exact error she was getting - some file was corrupt - I think it started with a C, but that's all I remember. I tried the last good configuration, directory services restore, safe mode.... they all brought up that same black error screen with the white lettering.
Then I hit F2 (I believe) on startup and accessed a menu that would let me temporarily change the boot order as well as perform system diagnostics. The diagnostic selection successfully tested the memory then went into a test of the hard drive. It failed almost immediately and the screen froze. I couldn't even turn off the laptop by holding down the power button. I gave up after 30 seconds, disconnected the power cord, removed the battery and once again held down the power button. This time it turned off. After reconnecting the battery and ac adapter I turned it back on and got nothing beyond the lighting of the power button and the wireless indicator. Nothing ever displayed - just a dead. black screen. Not even a mouse pointer. I heard no beeps or Windows jingle. I have 3 small light indicators on the bottom, just to the left of the touch pad. The first light has a power symbol, and it's lit. The second has what appears to be a lightning bolt, and it's dark. The third has the symbol for the HDD and it stays dark for about 20-30 seconds. Then it lights up for a couple of seconds and then goes dark again. Nothing ever comes up on the screen at all.
I've put in the Vista disk and rebooted. Nothing. I've hooked up a small external monitor, and hit the key combination to make the laptop screen display on it. Nothing.....
Anybody know what could've gone wrong?