my laptop screen just doesnt show anything but a blinking curser at the top left corner whats wrong with my laptop?

[doedoe1200]

My laptop screen won't show anything but a blinking cursed at the top left hand corner. what's wrong with my laptop?

 

[ratedk]

Most likely a Hard Drive failing/failed, or corrupted Operating System. Try pressing F8 at startup to see if you can go into safemode with networking. If so, take the opportunity to backup any important files.

Using a hirens boot cd, you can test the S.M.A.R.T status of the Hard Drive