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Windows Vista goes blank after start up on Acer laptop
Hi all,
I'm having a very strange time trying to fix a friend's laptop. He flipped the lid down in hibernation mode as normal and when he opened it up again, the screen blanked on resume.
I forced a shut-down and then started it up again and it went through the motions. I got the vista logo and then the 'Welcome' screen as usual. At the point when the desktop appears, it just goes blank. The cursor remains and can be moved around as normal but the background is simply blank/black.
I start it up in safe mode it does exactly the same thing. The screen is black but with the safe mode text at each corner. In safe mode I can Ctrl + Alt + Delete to get me to that screen but if I try any of the options (Task Manager etc) it just reverts to blank as well.
When I try to shut down, it reverts to blank so I can never do a clean shut-down.
I am stumped.
Many thanks in advance...
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Answers
Here is a similar case: http://www.experts-exchang
However ultimately the user ended up backing up their data, and blowing away the old install and re-installing from scratch (you could consider removing the HDD and connecting it to a different PC as a slave drive, if you should chose to do this I would highly recommend scanning the drive for malware FIRST)
You are correct, using Ubuntu will NOT disrupt ANY of his personal data or OS. Ubuntu is a bootable OS, its a really great tool to have around, check it out!
This is also a great way to determine if Hardware is fully functional. If you assume an issue is hardware related you can boot using Ubutnu (or similar bootable OS) and see how Ubutnu handles the environment in comparision to Windows. More often than not you will find that Windows SOFTWARE configurations are the cause of the *majority* of issues.
It is a graphical user interface and you'll probably find that you catch on pretty quick. I am not an ubuntu guru (woah tounge twister) but it has saved my back on more than one occasion. There are great support communities out on the web that love Ubuntu, google any questions about it you may have, i'm sure you'll find plenty of info.
HEY! I had a complete brain-fart....
Ubuntu has a LIVE OS where you only need the CD, nothing is installed on your HDD. I'm not sure if the link i've sent you will bring you to this version or the full version which actually requires you to install to the Hard-drive such as windows.
I am really sorry, it has been a long day and I should've just stayed off of EE!
Unless you want to download Ubuntu just for giggles (which i would still recommend for future use) I would go grab a copy of Knoppix http://www.knoppix.net/
many appologizes for the confusion. I promise I will think with my head rather than my fingers next time. Knoppix is the way to go, it is a live OS, it uses only the files on the CD to boot and definately does not disrupt existing files and data.
Check these for references:
Knoppix may have F-prot or ClamAV already installed.
http://www.oreillynet.com/
http://forums.whirlpool.ne
Here is what I would consider doing, it all depends on your timeframe, and whether or not there is a usable backup of this users data.
-You could attempt to complete a repair install on the machine if you have an installation disk, a repair installation will not delete the users personal files it will only overwrite system files.
-You can physically pull the hard-drive out and connect it to a different pc using a cable converter (IDE/Sata to USB) available for around thirty dollars or less from most computer related retail stores (or online). You would then run anti-virus software against the drive and could perform general maintenance to attempt to resolve the issue.
-Most new pcs have a recovery partition that can be used to revert the pc back to the original state it was in when it left the factory. This would erase all personal data and essentially clean the slate on the machine.
-You can continue to play around with Knoppix, which isnt a bad idea, but I hate to say that I am not 100% sure there will be built-in anti-virus. Regardless this is a great way to test the hardware, and you may also be able to hook-up an external data source to save some of this users personal data off of the current hard-drive for backup/recovery purposes.
Hi Joe. Thanks for all your help. I managed to back up his his important data (thanks to Knoppix and a big memory stick) and a do a clean install. A more experienced friend pretty much attempted to do what you said but he had the wrong cable. (I think the laptop was SATA and his cable was IDE). As it happened, we didn't need it in the end.
Once again, many thanks.
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by: joefreedomPosted on 2009-06-03 at 13:01:42ID: 24540628
Could be a malware infection.
I would recommend downloading and running Ubuntu (a bootable OS), then loading a linux compatible AV scanner such as Avira AntiVir.