there are no error messages
the machine just sits there idle, doing nothing, locked
I left it overnight ( since this question was asked)
nothing has progressed
other places on the internet have suggested that I remove all devices from all USB ports in order to boot, but if there's no operating system on the HDD why bother?
I'd post a photo of the screen, but I don't have a camera that can take a photo with a filesize of 1000kb