Black Screen of Death

[kansuwan]

Elderly Acer Aspire; Win 7.  One battery replacement, but no other problems.  Used heavily for work and surfing.  AVG 2014 and spybot loaded to keep the devil at bay; automatic back-up to external HDD.

 

Switched on this morning -> black screen with caption 'No operating system found' in top left corner;

 

Switched off;

 

Switched back on and pressed F2 to enter 'Set Up'.  Told it to go to default mode;

 

.....which worked and all seems well now.

 

But can any 'puter pros tell me why it happened, thin end of an imminent total collapse etc?

 

Thanks

[stef74]

HDD

 

Dell have blue screen death.

 

starts this way- can run it protected mode- but soon.... kapooooooof.

[mrjd]

Hard to say sounds like a software (windows problem) get a windows disk for your version if it is windows so you can do a repair cheap in Thailand

 

Course may be wrong if you transport a lot may be a loose connection somewhere inside unplug / replug (hard drive and memory ram )

 

Often seen this when an improper shut down means you held the close button instead of letting shut down properly.

 

Main thing is you have a back up so take the chance and check it is actual..

 

Would not see as the end of computer happens the odd time

 

Regards

mrjd

 

PS: Being in Thailand overheating can be a problem with dirty fans(cooling system) inside the machine unlikely though just a thought

[Davie Duke]

The more recent upgrades of AVG are real memory hogs. AVG 2014 turned my dual processor 2G ram Toshiba Satellite in to a slug that eventually became practically inoperable. I changed to Comodo free version https://www.google.co.th/search?q=Comodo+free+version&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs&gws_rd=cr&ei=-akjVIT1MI7j8AXXnIDABA installed Cleanmem https://www.google.co.th/search?q=Cleanmem&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs&gws_rd=cr&ei=C6kjVOPdB8a48gWowYHACg - ran windows tweaks https://www.google.co.th/search?num=100&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&hs=Xpi&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=rcs&q=tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio_setup&oq=tweaking.com_windows_repair_aio&gs_l=serp.1.0.0.104858.104858.0.106924.1.1.0.0.0.0.220.220.2-1.1.0....0...1c.2.54.serp..0.1.218.ggQ4Q2_0DRY - and ran reg first aid https://www.google.co.th/search?num=100&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&hs=Iri&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=rcs&q=registry+first+aid+review&oq=%27regristry+first+aid%27&gs_l=serp.1.4.0i13i30l2j0i22i10i30j0i22i30l7.35574.44270.0.50758.21.21.0.0.0.0.206.3422.0j20j1.21.0....0...1c.1.54.serp..1.20.3195.GixMPBQ9MvM. Now she is a new fast machine.

[kansuwan]

Thanks to all - I'll bookmark this and report any recurrences. 

mrjdd -

*Bought pre-loaded with legitimate Win7;

*Unlikely to be overheating - lap-top always sits on an external cooler (cheap as chips from Big C); 

*Always shut down rather than put into sleep/hibernate at the end of sessions; 

*Travels with me monthly from the north to/from BKK, but in a Belkin bag - never dropped;

*Password protected boot - no household fiddlers.

DavieDuke -

*Re AVG - I should have added that my AVG is the free download version; updates itself and no apparent slow-downs as a result.

*Intel Core i3 processor with 4GB ram. 

[CyberPro]

Elderly Acer Aspire

 

'No operating system found'

 

Based on the above I'd make sure my data is backed up. There are several cost-effective cloud methods for doing that. 

 

An ailing backup computer, which I haven't spared the time/money to fix yet, sometimes returns messages like "No operating system found". When it gets to that point I boot with the Windows install disk, do a reinstall (ie replace missing/corrupt files) and it works for awhile. So far the data folders are not affected. Your system may be on it's final legs. Good luck. 

[Davie Duke]

Thanks to all - I'll bookmark this and report any recurrences. 

mrjdd -

*Bought pre-loaded with legitimate Win7;

*Unlikely to be overheating - lap-top always sits on an external cooler (cheap as chips from Big C); 

*Always shut down rather than put into sleep/hibernate at the end of sessions; 

*Travels with me monthly from the north to/from BKK, but in a Belkin bag - never dropped;

*Password protected boot - no household fiddlers.

DavieDuke -

*Re AVG - I should have added that my AVG is the free download version; updates itself and no apparent slow-downs as a result.

*Intel Core i3 processor with 4GB ram. 

Is your AVG also running Watchdog?

[SteadyG]

In my case, it happened to me when I used to play online games due to heating issues with my old GTX 285 Graphic Card till I bought a new AMD Sapphire r9 280x toxic addition . I believe it's an nVidia problem. In a matter of a fact there is not a single straight answer to the problem on nVidia official website.

[Newguy1967]

It's hard to make reasonable assesments without the make and model of the PC.  Like going to a mechanics and saying my car is playing up - What Car?

 

No OS found could be for a multiple of reasons either software (OS or some drivers corrupt) or hardware (HDD needs to be removed and firmly reconnected or RAM failing (causing DATA corruption issues)).

 

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=%27No+operating+system+found%27&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox&channel=nts&gfe_rd=cr&ei=-bEmVOC5H-LC8geF0oCgAw

 

Post back the make and model otherwise there is just a lot of "pissing in the wind" and the blowback splash can be messy.

[doodlekatz]

No OS found can be because your OS corrupted, the drive is failing, or the controller on the mobo.  The 1st 2 are the most likely.  Back up everything you ant to dave and re install Win7.  If that doesn't fix it the next step is getting new drive and installing. ( under $100 USD )  failing that if it is truly and older machine time to think about a new one. A replacment mobo will likely set you back over half of what your machine is worth IF you can find one and some one to do the work.