acer vista laptop startup black screen

hi all

i have searched but couldn't really find a related topic unless i missed it.
i have a acer laptop with started as vista but recently upgraded to win 7.
in both cases i startup and the sometimes the screen stays black with a blinking character on the top left.
i am sort of worried my computer will fail soon. if any one can help
id surely appreciate it

 

Only sometimes? I'd run a chkdsk /f, this could be a failing HD, hope your data is backed up. If not, do that ASAP, then run the checkdesk utility from a command prompt. I believe it will then run on reboot. :wave:wave

 

yes umm cant say for sure how much id say 1 of 5 startups maybe i shut down then restart and it boots

 

ok i ran what you said i saw the pop up prompt rebooted nothing
i went in prompt and did it again says access denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. you have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.

i have no idea what its saying, i am the admin of the computer
any addition help?

 

Yes, Vista!

Click the start button, RIGHT click the command selection, select Run as Adminstrator, this gives you the elevated command prompt.:wave:wave:wave

 

ok i did it it said could not be ran because i just installed win 7 like 2 days ago.

i have a seagate 1tb ex hdd. i backed it up on the utility they have but had lots of errors due to windows file hidden and stuff like that

is there a preferred one that anyone else uses.

 

Sorry, should have seen that.

Same procedure
chkdsk c: /f

Or follow the instructions here:
http://www.w7forums.com/use-chkdsk-check-disk-t448.html

Same result.

 

nope i was able to slightly read what it said it wasnt on screen long but went something like this

can not complete due to error from recently installed OS
not sure on exact wording

thanks for the attempts to help

 

And did you try the method laid out in the link in my last post? Opening My Computer, right clicking on drive c:, etc?

Also try running a memtest from here;

http://majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html

Let run for about an hour, any errors here?

 

yes i did, i will run this post later ty

 

ran 2 hrs cause i had to run out 200% 0 errors

 

Can you maybe run it in safe mode?

At least your memory sticks seem okay.:wave:wave

 

ok brandypeppy,

i thank you for your help, i replaced the hard drive from a 160 to 500 and its still doin it so i guess we can rule out the hd.

matt