Notebook with black screen and flashing cursor

veryintrigued

Hi there

We have a notebook problem here. All has been working fine until last night when a strange pop up appeared asking for permission for a process to be run on the P.C. Clicked 'No' but then all sorts of scripts started to be run (inferring that files were being installed) and then a pop up appeared suggesting that the P.C had been virus infected and to clear it needed to buy some American software for 1 year, 3 years etc.

Turned off PC at this point and now when I boot up just get a flashing white cursor in the top right hand corner. F8 (safe mode boot up) doesn't work. Only F2 and F12 options available. Checked boot option on F12 and HDD is highlighted first.

The PC is a Toshiba NB200 notebook with no CD and no other peripherals connected and is only 18 months old.

Macafee virus checker is installed and up to date.

Please any clues - have spent lots of time on google looking for possible solutions - but most tend to point to a rebuild (arrgh) or recovery disk (no disk its a notebook!)

Thanks in advance

Browntoa

do you get the windows splash screen before the white cursor ??

is it windows 7 ??

try this bootable virus scanner (will burn the CD itself from the download )

http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-rescue-system

or the windows 7 recovery disc (you will need a program like IMGBurn to burn the ISO to CD)

http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/

which should allow you to access restore points

you will need to hit F12 to change the boot order to boot from DVD (you will need a usb cd drive to access )

recovery discs can be purchased from Toshiba for £30 if the worse case scenario and it needs a restore to factory (hopefully not ! )

edit...looks like yours has a built in recovery partiton

If you have European notebook model use F8 after start-up to enter “Advanced boot options”.
First option there should be “Repair my computer”. Choose this option and follow the menu on the screen - http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9102IR0000R01.htm

I just hope you will be able to enter system recovery options.

veryintrigued

Thanks for the swift reply - I appreciate this!! - Have added replies below]

Browntoa wrote: »

do you get the windows splash screen before the white cursor ??

No - get a Toshiba splashscreen - no windows splash screen though

is it windows 7 ??

No XP


try this bootable virus scanner (will burn the CD itself from the download )

http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-rescue-system

or the windows 7 recovery disc (you will need a program like IMGBurn to burn the ISO to CD)

http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/

which should allow you to access restore points

you will need to hit F12 to change the boot order to boot from DVD (you will need a usb cd drive to access )

These two options rely on a usb cd drive - yes? Thats going to cost?

recovery discs can be purchased from Toshiba for £30 if the worse case scenario and it needs a restore to factory (hopefully not ! )

once again this will reply on a usb cd drive?

veryintrigued

Browntoa wrote: »

edit...looks like yours has a built in recovery partiton

If you have European notebook model use F8 after start-up to enter “Advanced boot options”.
First option there should be “Repair my computer”. Choose this option and follow the menu on the screen - http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9102IR0000R01.htm

I just hope you will be able to enter system recovery options.

Thanks again - but unfortunately the F8 has no affect at all on rebooting - only F2 and F12 seem to 'work'.

Browntoa

got the horrible feeling its a hard drive problem

Browntoa

hold down the number "0" above the letter P and press the power button. Once you see the Toshiba splash screen, you can take your finger off the "0" key.See If the recovery manager loads

veryintrigued

Browntoa wrote: »

hold down the number "0" above the letter P and press the power button. Once you see the Toshiba splash screen, you can take your finger off the "0" key.See If the recovery manager loads

Thanks again!!

Maybe a small step forward - but possibly better than nothing!

With this method - I get the message "****** HDD RECOVERY MODE *****' in the bottom left corner. The top left still has the flashing cursor - the pc display sits like this - so have to power off.

The hard drive isnt whirring and pressing enter, F2, F8 or F12 has no affect at this point.

Edit - I may be able to get hold of a USB cd thingy - do you reckon thats still the best course of action?

Browntoa

no , flip the unit over and look for a cover where the hard disk is , remove the screw and then see if the hard disk is plugged in properly.

veryintrigued

Browntoa wrote: »

no , flip the unit over and look for a cover where the hard disk is , remove the screw and then see if the hard disk is plugged in properly.

Ok - will try this later. I also saw (on my numerous google searches) references to de-coupling the hard drive. I stayed away from this though as thought it to be more virus related.

Once again cheers for taking the time to get back to me - will let you know the results!

Browntoa

theres a plastic loop or ribbon normally attached to help pull if forwrads, then push it back

my googling leads me to suspect that you are not alone in this fault....

veryintrigued

Browntoa wrote: »

no , flip the unit over and look for a cover where the hard disk is , remove the screw and then see if the hard disk is plugged in properly.

Hmm two unlabelled covers on the reverse - the first smaller one has one 'small posi drive' screw holding the cover down and when taken off exposes some small chips and no lead that is obvious.

The second larger cover (this has the model name, part no, voltage info on it) has tiny star shaded screw heads which I havent got the tools to get into and dont want to risk 'rounding/shearing off'.

Bad news?