Your Computer May Pause with a Black Screen If You Press ESC During Startup

If you press the ESC key while your computer is starting, your computer may pause with a black screen. If this problem occurs, you can press any other key to resume the startup process.

The boot loader checks the F5 and F8 keys during the startup process. In the internal key buffer, F5 and F8 are represented as an ARC sequence that has the same first byte as the ESC key. As a result, the boot process stops.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this problem, press any key when the computer pauses at a black screen during the startup process.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows XP Service Pack 1.