Unable to reboot

[GregoryR]

During a recent reboot, my PC failed to respond.  I receive the blue HP screen with the four function key options at the bottom.  But then the screen goes black and a small underscore blinking "curser" appears in the upper left corner. Nothing else happens.  Any ideas ?

(....why do these things ALWAYS happen just before tax time???)

Gregory

[Allan]

What happened just before the problem appeared (new hw, sw, error, virus, etc)? What OS?

[GregoryR]

Absolutely nothing.  The computer was working fine until this morning when this incident occurred.  Using Vista.

[Allan]

Try booting to the Vista CD and selecting Startup Repair (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/startup-repair)

[GregoryR]

I don't have an actual CD as the computer came pre-loaded with VISTA. Will one of the function keys that interrupt the Start up process (blue screen) help?

[Allan]

I have no idea - I've never used an HP so I don't know what they do.

[flipflopjd]

I don't have an actual CD as the computer came pre-loaded with VISTA. Will one of the function keys that interrupt the Start up process (blue screen) help?

F8 safe mode F11 factory reset

[GregoryR]

THANKS!  Will the factory reset erase all of my files? (Which shouldn't be a big deal since I have everything backed up to Carbonite....right?  I HOPE SO!)

[flipflopjd]

THANKS!  Will the factory reset erase all of my files? (

Which shouldn't be a big deal since I have everything backed up

to Carbonite....right?  I HOPE SO!)

Yes it will

Which shouldn't be a big deal since I have everything backed up