Member Avatar for Member #1088926

I have a Dell Inspiron 620 desktop. I was working on iTunes when the computer froze. I couldn't get it to do anything. I ended the itunes process in task manager. Everything still froze. I turned the computer off for a bit. Turned it back on and all that came up was a black screen with a solid white dash in the upper left corner. The fans are running, sounds like it is working, but nothing. No disk in the CD will come up on screen. It just remains black. I have unplugged everything but mouse and keyboard and no USB plugged in. The white dash or underscore does not flash. There are no beeps. Is this a bad hard drive problem? Oh, I tried another monitor and the same screen comes up: black with that solid white dash at the top.

Edited by Reverend Jim because: Closed thread
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A solid, non-blinking underscore in the top-left usually means the system handed off from POST but never found a valid bootloader. Before assuming the drive is dead, check two things that commonly cause this: that the internal drive is detected and first in the boot order, and that no external USB devices are confusing the boot. On a Dell, tap F2 at power-on to verify the drive is listed in BIOS, and tap F12 to run the built-in Pre-Boot diagnostics (ePSA/SupportAssist) and a thorough hard drive test. If diagnostics pass, the issue is likely with the boot records or Windows, not the hardware. (dell.com)

Good instinct by to test the disk externally. If you attach the drive to another PC and Windows Disk Management prompts you to "Initialize" it, stop if you care about the data. Initialization writes new partition metadata and can erase existing data, making recovery harder. Instead, do read-only checks (SMART/health) or clone the drive for recovery first. (learn.microsoft.com)

If the drive is detected and passes diagnostics but still will not boot, repair the boot records from Windows recovery media. After choosing Repair your computer > Command Prompt, run:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Start with Startup Repair, then use the commands above if needed. This rebuilds the MBR/boot sector/BCD that often get corrupted after a hard freeze. (support.microsoft.com)

Extra tip: if BIOS does not see the drive, power off, reseat the SATA data and power cables at both ends or try a known-good cable/port before replacing hardware. Then rerun the Dell diagnostics from F12. (dell.com)

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Member Avatar for Rik_

The first thing you need to do is test your hard drive. You will need to take it out and test it with another computer with a usb adapter and hdtune which can easily be found with google.

Member Avatar for Member #1088926

Can I do that test on a computer that does not have as big of drive capacity as the hard drive that I believe may be bad? I do have the USB adaptor and if I understand correctly, the hdtune is something I can download onto another computer?

Edited by Member #1088926
Member Avatar for Member #1088926

RIK: I have the USB and hard drive hooked up to HDTune program. So far the computer nor the HDtune recognizes the drive. When I went into computer mgmt it shows a drive connected but it says it needs to be intialized and I am not sure if I should do this to the main drive for my other computer. Will initializing it erase it?

Member Avatar for Member #1088926

I want to post back here to let everyone know that I got my computer working again. I have read and read on this site. One person suggested cleaning, checking all connections inside after unplugging everything. my power was okay and my hard drive tested okay. It was suggested when I restart my computer to press 'ALT' and 'F10' which I did. A screen came up. I was not able to click any of the choices so as last resort I just hit 'enter' and lo and behold, my computer screen came back and started normally. It doesn't look like I have lost anything. I am not exactly sure what I did other than work at it half the night and all of today, but I am happy to report this fixed. I am glad to know about the HDtune using the USB adaptor. I learned a lot about that process as well. THANKS!

Member Avatar for 5hubham

Make sure HDD is connected with mother board with sata cables.

Member Avatar for hibatahir

i think there is operating system probelm reinstalling the OS may resolve the ISUUE

commented: @h, -1 for sig spam and dragging up the old thread. +0
Member Avatar for JamesCherrill

5hubham, hibathir:

I'm sure you are trying to be helpful but this topic is FOUR YEARS OLD!
And, the problem was reported as having been SOLVED FOUR YEARS AGO!

Do you really think that the original poster is still waiting for an answer from you?
Please think before posting.

Edited by JamesCherrill
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