Windows 7 Black Screen at startup

[MC10]

Hello, I recently was away for about a month and I did not use my desktop for that period of time. I tried turning it on yesterday and it would show the BIOS screen and then a black screen. It doesn't display anything else.

I tried searching this problem and have tried various suggestions. I tried removing individual sticks of memory to see if it would fix anything. The motherboard keeps displaying FF, but one time it displayed 7F. I'm not sure if there is a problem with my video card or hard drive. I unplugged my video card and completely removed it and brushed dust off and plugged it back in, but that didn't fix it. Sometimes it flashes some text right after the BIOS screen, but it still just goes to black afterwards. What I think is my HDD light blinks sometimes and sometimes it doesn't light up at all. Could my hard drive have died?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Jimbo22]

It's possible that your hard drive has gone bad. I would double check all PCI connections, that they are firmly seated all the way and that all cables are fully seated...power connection and all connections to hardware and mobo.

 

[Jimbo22]

Doing a quick google search on FF errors I found this. With the 7F error a search reveals that it could be any number of causes from mobo, GPU drivers, networking....but the common theme with that one is that it's a driver issue of some sort. Make sure you have all the latest drivers install for all your hardware.

Motherboard FF error - YouTube

 

[Pauli]

If you have a laptop, it could be a battery problem. Unplug, recharge the battery, charge, and plug.

 

[MC10]

Thanks for all the help so far. I will recheck all connections later today. Is there a way to install drivers if I cannot access the system? I am not having an FF error. I didn't know it stood for Fully Functioning, I feel like a noob now lol. It cycles through other codes before going to FF so I guess that's normal.

It's not a laptop, which is what I'm using right now. Thanks anyways though.

I hope I can get this resolved soon. Is there a way to pinpoint if it's the video card or hard drive?

 

[Jimbo22]

Is the desktop a custom build or a retail purchase? You could try getting into the "advanced boot menu" and clicking "last known good configuration".

Advanced startup options (including safe mode)

 

[MC10]

It's custom built. I am currently disconnecting all the wires and cleaning dust. I haven't cleaned the dust out in a while so I think it's good that I'm doing so. I will try the advanced boot menu as soon as I start it up again.

I took a video of the computer starting up on my cellphone and when it flashes text right before it goes to black it said something about the SATA ports and that my hard drive is detected. I'm assuming my video card is the problem. The video card gets hot after just turning on my computer for a little bit. Maybe there is a problem with the card and I was going to upgrade my video card anyways. I'll see if I can borrow a video card from a friend and see if that works. Then I'll know if my video card is the problem.

I'll let you guys know if I make any progress. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[MC10]

I purchased a USB to SATA adapter and connected my hard drive to my laptop. The hard drive still works and I could access my files. I'm almost certain that the hard drive isn't the problem now. I have yet to borrow a video card from someone to see if mine isn't working. I could just buy a new one since I was going to upgrade anyways. I just want to make sure it's the card and not the PCI slot or something else. Thanks for all the help.

EDIT:
After the bios screen is displayed, it flashes these two really fast. What is AHCI bios? Is my bios messed up? I tried hitting Delete many times while it was starting up, but it didn't bring me into the bios setup. If it is corrupted or something, is there a way to fix my bios?


EDIT 2: I just tried the oven trick for my graphics card and it worked!
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

I also pulled out the CMOS battery for a bit, put it back in, and tried booting up again. It gave me some CMOS error message and I could press F1 and repair Windows or something.

I'm so happy my desktop works now. Thanks for the input everyone!