CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 4: Diagnosing and Troubleshooting in the Windows OS

Windows 9x Boot Sequence 1 2 3 Real World Scenario: How Might a Black Screen Error Happen?

Since startup messages happen before the OS can load, they are in text mode and on black screen. Since there is a common name Blue Screen, that is how I got this subtitle for such kind of startup messages.

You might get into the situation where you see just blank black screen without any message. This means the code in MBR could not be executed and you had better pray that the part of MBR, which holds information how the drive is partitioned, is ok. If you boot from floppy and can access the hard drive means it is ok.

If there is no valid partition, table and you do not have a backup I am afraid you will not be able to access any files. It is hard to recreate a partition table.

This means that MBR (Master Boot Record) of your hard drive is not okay.

Make sure that you do not have a floppy disk in your floppy drive; it can be that simple.

Make sure that your hard disk is detected and make sure that the boot order in the CMOS setup is correct.

Windows 9x Boot Sequence 1 2 3 Real World Scenario: How Might a Black Screen Error Happen?