My laptop is suddenly having problems booting up. The initial BIOS screen appears, offering F2 setup and F12 Boot Menu options, but then a black screen with a blinking cursor shows up and I am unable to do anything. I've tried selecting both the F2 and F12 options during the initial run, but I still just get the black screen with the cursor. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

does safe mode work? Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Glad to Help!

The only way I've ever accessed safe mode is by pressing F8 during the boot, and that doesn't work. Is there another way? I did install ITunes a week ago, if that might have had some effect. No other installs for months.

Can you boot to the CD? Life's more painless for the brainless.

Okay. The fifteenth (literally) try for Safe Mode gave me the reboot menu, and I selected Starting from the last known good configuration. Which seems to have worked. I guess we'll see if it's a recurring problem. Hoping not and crossing your fingers is a valid IT choice, right? Thank you very much for the help.

>>>The only way I've ever accessed safe mode is by pressing F8 during the boot, and that doesn't work<<< What happens? Does it freeze on the driver page or doesn't it allow you to get to the safe mode? If it's freezing on the driver page, give it time, it will load, could take from 2 minutes to several hours, BUT, it will load. If you don't get to the safe mode page, start tapping F8 continuously immediately as the PC is booting up. Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Glad to Help!

Can you boot from a CD? If so find a way to boot to the command prompt then type "cd \" hit enter then type "edit boot.ini" hit enter and after fastdetect type " /safeboot:minimal" so that it looks like this "fastdetect /safeboot:minimal" (yes that is a space after fastdetect. Restart and see if that takes you to safemode “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”