I am not sure what you are asking exactly. You have an older computer and when you start up the screen remains black until it is time to log in? In my experience this is not an uncommon phenom here. the bios screen or setup sometimes won't show up or maybe happens so fast that it is easily missed. is there something that you are trying to do in particular? the more information you give us the more that we may be able to help you resolve your issue. please feel free to expand on what you are asking and ask away whatever is the issue that you are having.