Recover from blinking cursor Windows XP boot problem

I hit the power button on my laptop, saw the Fedora boot screen, then it went blank to load Windows XP with nothing more than a blinking cursor. Naturally, I blamed the linux loader, so I got an old DOS boot disk out and did fdisk /mbr. After rebooting, I got rid of my linux loader (I wasn't booting into Fedora anyway), but it was still just a blinking cursor. I used several utilities on the Ultimate Boot CD to try to force a boot or write a new master boot record, but no success. Finally, the solution was the Windows XP install disk repair console (if you remember your administrator password).

The fix: Boot to the Windows XP install CD and hit R to boot into repair mode. In the console, I typed fixmbr then fixboot. I'm not sure which one of it did the trick, but my system boots again. I read in some forums people had success with a program called Partition Table Doctor. I didn't get to use it, but perhaps it will be of some use to someone else.

Submitted by deekayen on Fri, 12/15/2006 - 2:22am

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stupid blinking cursor.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 12/20/2011 - 4:03pm.

I'm gonna try the fixmbr and then fixboot now. i hope it works Ive tried fixboot before and did nuthing so maybe both....thank u sooooo much

my computer turns on

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 2:41pm.

Use Windows 7 DVD

You can use the Windows 7 DVD to repair these black screen issues in the system. For this, you need to insert the DVD in the system and then restart the system. You will be then prompted to press any key to boot from the disk. After pressing any key, you will reach the “Install Now” screen. In this screen, you need to select the ‘Repair Your....

For more information click: http://www.techyv.com/questions/recover-blinking-cursor-windows-xp-boot-...

Thanks

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 1:14pm.

I got the blinking line last night. I used a previous point to restore it to and everything and nothing was working. I tried the fixboot last night but that didnt work, when i saw your post i used both at the same time and IT WORKED. finally, i was up all night

Thanks again!

That is i used FixBoot and

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 1:15pm.

That is i used FixBoot and FixMbr at the same time then restarted.

My comp did that all i did

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 4:19pm.

My comp did that all i did was have to unplug my ipod. So if u have anything usb plugged in take it out. If that doesn't work follow the above instructions

My laptop's USB port was

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 01/04/2012 - 11:38am.

My laptop's USB port was plugged into a laptop cooler, with 4 USB ports; nothing else was connected. I got the blinking cursor. Removing the USB plug solved the problem. Thanks for such a simple suggestion. (Windows 7; Lenovo)

Thank you!

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 2:22pm.

I was having same issue. Five failed reboot attempts. Read your post and as a result unplugged by Blackberry from PC. Then rebooted with no problem.

blinking cursor problem

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 7:50pm.

I've played around with this on my laptop. I get all the way to the Recovery console but when I press R, the machine doesn't respond and the machine shuts off? Any ideas what is going? I'm running xp on an acer aspire 1640.

thanks a load!!! :D this was

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 03/21/2011 - 2:17am.

thanks a load!!! :D this was driving me crazy with the different solutions posted and none working. after a while i couldn't think straight :p. this worked like a charm. thanks again

blinking cursor at boot problem

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 07/14/2011 - 10:35am.

check the cdrom or dvd cable config. I found Ihad a bad cd rom. It was in constant boot mode. Ichanged that and all is well now . Hope this helps,good luck.

My computer experienced a

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 9:05am.

My computer experienced a blinking cursor and I didn't know what to do. I was willing to call an remote computer service but my budget was not enough so I had no choice but to fix it on my own.

After a lot of trials and errors I've found out that the problem was on the CPU fan; it was loosen up so I tightened it a bit -problem solved :D

Cannot believe it, but this

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 2:53am.

Cannot believe it, but this worked. For those whole don't recall their admin password ... it's probably blank. Just hit return when it asks for the password.

Booting Problem in Dos intel 965 pinless board

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 5:50am.

i have a intel 965 motherboard. and now cant boot up. when i start the computer it is showing ( | ) Line blincking, Please tell if any one konw the solution

Thank you in advance

Warm Regards Ashish

My Computer will not start with XP Disk

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:28pm.

I get a blinking cursor on a regular boot. When I try to boot with the XP disk it says setup is inspecting my computers hardware configuration and then the screen goes blank and nothing happens.

I have a Compaq Presario X1000 laptop with a 160gb HD and 2gb ram.

I am using the XP system CD which came with the computer.

I am able to push F10 and get into the computer setup.

I tried switching out the 160gb hard drive with the original 60gb drive and it worked. I upgraded to the 160gb HD about 8 months ago and it has been working fine up until yesterday.

The problem started with a disk read error on bootup. I inserted the XP system disk and it worked but did not give me the option to repair the installation. I went into the recovery console and did a chkdsk /r and it repaired something. I tried rebooting but this time would only get a blinking cursor. I then tried a fixmbr and then fixboot and now I cannot get the computer to start with the XP disk.

Any ideas?

My Computer will not start with XP Disk

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:27pm.

I get a blinking cursor on a regular boot. When I try to boot with the XP disk it says setup is inspecting my computers hardware configuration and then the screen goes blank and nothing happens.

I have a Compaq Presario X1000 laptop with a 160gb HD and 2gb ram.

I am using the XP system CD which came with the computer.

I am able to push F10 and get into the computer setup.

I tried switching out the 160gb hard drive with the original 60gb drive and it worked. I upgraded to the 160gb HD about 8 months ago and it has been working fine up until yesterday.

Any ideas?

wow.. worked like a jem...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/11/2009 - 2:37pm.

wow.. worked like a jem... thanks a ton man :)

Blinking Windows Startup

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 2:48pm.

Just swapped drives in Dell GX280 computers. One computer is 3.0mhz, & this one is 3.2mhz. After a couple of days, the startup started to blink on & off. I could type in my password in between blinks, & that worked, but was a hassle.

This fix worked gr8, using fixboot, as directed. Thanks, & Aloha.

Thank you

Submitted by Anonymous from Finland (not verified) on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 3:40pm.

Thanks, this worked on my parents' computer today. I had installed and uninstalled Ubuntu on a Windows XP machine, probably something went wrong and a blinking cursor was I all got before googling to this page. :)

sure shot fix for blinking cursor

Submitted by major jha (not verified) on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 11:30pm.

same as above.... press R to repair

select 1 for the partion to be selected

press the admin password

press fixboot

nd thts all...........

enjoy

Cursor blinking Problem

Submitted by Ajay (not verified) on Sun, 09/07/2008 - 1:53am.

My notebook(HCL, L-19 modle, Celerone processor),have been some problems since last few days, I will be thankful if you kindly provide me solution for them. 1. cursor is blinking at very fast rate since last few days 2. i can't work with copy paste command of Word document...as i tries to paste in WORD Document it pastes print screen instead of pasting the copied sentence. 3. whenever i am playing a media file, the picture and sond is creating problem. The later two problems are occuring only when the First one is happining.

Thank you, thank you, thank

Submitted by Asp (not verified) on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 4:04am.

Thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much! The cursor blinking started happening to me after I installed a program, and restarted my computer ON THE NIGHT before my final exam!!!! I was freaking out - like seriously freaking out! Yours is the only trick that seemed reasonable across the internet, and it WORKED!!!!!!!! Soooooo happy!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Big hugggggg!