Hi all I recently upgraded from Dell 660s PC from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. This part went smoothly, no problems.
Afterwards I decided I wanted to clean things up so I did a Reset, remove everything from the Windows settings. This ultimately failed and I received an error message that the bootloader was corrupted. Computer would no longer boot up successfully.
Ok so I decided to do a clean install to fix this problem. Went through Microsoft's website and downloaded a tool to create bootable USB drive with Windows 10 installation files
Next I inserted USB drive into the broken computer, restarted, and the installation began without any issue. I got all the way to the screen where I choose which partition to install the OS on. I chose the correct partition and clicked ok, then left the room for a few minutes. I came back and encountered a black screen but the computer was still running. I waited about another 30 minutes but there was no change so I decided to reboot.
Rebooting did not fix the problem. The computer still starts and I can see the Hard Drive activity light flashing occasionally, but I do not see anything at all on the screen. No DELL logo at startup like there used to be, no loading spinner, nothing... Pressing F8 doesn't seem to help, I can't get into BIOS or anything. I've tried with and without the bootable Windows 10 install USB inserted, doesn't matter either way it's the same result - just a black screen.
I guess it could be a hardware issue but it feels like a very big coincidence that my error started happening during the Windows 10 install, so in my gut I feel like this is probably a software issue but I don't know. I never had any issues like this until the Windows 10 install.
I've tried both the HDMI and the VGA ports neither work. It has integrated video so these ports are directly on the motherboard. Any ideas on how to fix?
Ok I 've tried a few things:
I opened case and re-seated all the connections, no luck.
I removed the cmos battery in an attempt to reset bios, no luck, not sure if it actually reset or not.
I tested power supply with a multimeter when not under load, voltages look good overall, but I'm not sure I can really trust this because my multimeter is really cheap and the readings are not always very sensitive/accurate.