I have the blank screen after I chose to re-format my computer. After I selected the re-install, the laptop rebooted itself and asked one more time at startup if I would like to continue. I then selected “no” and the computer would not boot past the blank screen. I tried loading the BIOS to no effect.
Without additional information about the process, we’re going to have to do a little troubleshooting here. I’m guessing that something prompted you to start the reformat process in the first place - any symptoms or error messages you were getting might offer some clues as to what is happening with your system. I’m not sure why you selected “no” when asked if you wanted to continue - was there a problem with the reinstallation at the time?
Display Drivers
Before you go back to the CD that you were using for the reformatting, it’s possible that you are having a problem with the display drivers. Can you get into Safe Mode by pressing F8 at startup? If you can, then go to Start and then choose Run. At the prompt, type in: Devmgmt.msc. Remove the display adaptor device completely and then shut down the computer. Reboot normally and see if that solves your blank screen issue.
Hardware Problem
Most of the time, a blank screen is caused by a hardware issue such as a motherboard problem, a bad processor, memory or graphics issues. Because I don’t know what prompted you to start the process in the first place, I’m not sure if it is an original hardware problem or the fact that the reinstallation was never completed.
Reformat
The Windows installation disc features a “repair” installation that repairs important components and leaves your data intact while reinstalling the operating system altogether will require that you wipe out your partitions and start all over again, losing all of your data and settings. Were you able to do a complete backup of your data before you started the original reformat? If not, this might be a good time to pull the hard drive and either get the data off by putting it in another computer as a slave or by using an external drive to get the data and save it in another location.
Can you start the repair process over again by putting the CD in the drive and turning the computer on? If you can, try to do another repair. You will see a Welcome to Setup screen - press Enter. You will see a licensing agreement - press F8 to agree to that. You will then have to press R to have Windows start the repair by reinstalling important components. This repair could take over an hour, and you will then have to answer questions as if you were installing Windows for the first time.
Reinstall
If you have your data tucked safely away in another location, you can reinstall the operating system using the CD. Do the same process as a reformat, but choose to install a fresh copy of Windows. You will have to delete the existing drive partitions and reformat the hard drive for this process to be successful.
If you can’t get any response using the CD, you need to look into possible hardware problems. This is a lot of trial and error and you might want to get some assistance to test each piece of hardware that might be the culprit.
