Symptoms:

1. When you restart a computer running Windows, the computer may stop with black screen after the power-on self test (POST) is completed.

2. After installing Microsoft update, the Windows can't start and freezes on process a file.

Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Run Last Known Good Configuration: Last Known Good Configuration is a startup option to use when the system cannot start in normal or safe mode. Try that first if you can't start the computer and know it worked before something changes. You may be able to recover from most recent hardware and software changes made since you last started the computer. To do that, press F8 while booting the computer, then select Last Known Good Configuration.

2. Run Safe Mode: Save Mode also called clean boot is a very useful tool, especially for booting problem caused by software changes. In most cases, if there is software conflict, clean boot should let you get into the OS and disable suspect problematic software. To run save mode, press down the F8 key just before Windows boots, and select Safe Mode.

3. This issue may occur if you have an external CD\DVD, External storage or a floppy disk that is not compatible with the Windows. If Safe Mode doesn’t fix the problem, unplug all external connections, and then boot using safe mode again.

4. It could be the master boot record (MBR), partition tables, boot sector, has been damaged. In this case, run the following command:

FDISK /MBR to fix it.

5. If the system files or registry are damaged, you may want to use Recovery Console and System Restore to recover it. Run Windows Setup and choose the Repair option. Choose the Inspect boot Sector and Restore Startup Environment options.

6. If all above don’t fix the problem, you may want to take the hard disk and add it to another computer to recover the data.

7. Restore from the backup.