Black screen with blinking cursor at boot-up, ugh.

[Lexiotyr]

Hey everyone,

First time poster, but a long time reader (and not to good with computers). I was hoping someone who has had this issue has solved it, or someone just know enough about computers to help me, here goes:

When I boot my computer, the logo comes up (Alienware Aurora) and loads a bit, then it goes to a black screen with a blinking white underscore in the top left corner. I have a feeling it is because windows isn't loading to the correct place (HDD, CD/DVD, etc), and have tried to fix it several ways: Switching the BIOS stuff, trying to use the boot disc (I'm not sure if I used the right one), etc. If I cant fix it myself soon, I'm going to have to take it to someone (Geek squad, etc.). Anything would be a big help.

Thanks in advance for any help, appreciate it.

[Butler Log]

is the boot order correctly set?

Do you get any sort of error message?

[Lexiotyr]

I think the boot order is incorrectly set, but I'm not sure what to do. And no, no error message.

[Butler Log]

Ok. Make sure there are no discs in optical drives.

To set the boot order, reset the computer.

When the alienware logo appears, repeatedly hit DEL about every half second. A screen will appear where you can change settings. You are looking for "boot order" (or words to that effect). Depending on how old the computer is, you can either drag icons around to place the drives in the correct order, or will have to change it using the keyboard. When the hard-drive that contains the OS is at the front of the boot drive order, save and reboot the computer (Usually F10).

[Lexiotyr]

Ok, I'll try that. Thanks a lot, hope it works.