Black Screen With Cursor After Windows XP Splash Screen
I have a client who was installing IE8 on his laptop. The install said to not turn the computer off during it, which he noted. He unplugged the laptop, thinking the battery would hold, and it didn't. It shut the laptop down. Now, when the laptop boots, after the Windows XP splash screen, it goes to just a black screen with the cursor. The cursor can be moved, but no menus come up. CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't work. Come back 15 minutes later, and no progress. When you restart it, it says Windows didn't shut down properly, and give you boot options. I've tried all the Safe Modes with the same result. I've tried Last Known Good with the same result.
In my searching for an answer, I saw something that suggested it might be a corrupted registry, which made sense, so I tried to do that using this KB article:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545, but that didn't work either. When It came to boot back into Windows to try to run System Restore, same black screen showed up.
I then tried to repair the installation of Windows from the XP Pro CD. It appeared to do everything it was supposed to. After it was done, booted into Windows, and got the same black screen.
Also, in my searching, I came acroos this post in which the poster assumed that the Windows Update files that were updating wrote something to say to continue installation on reboot, but since they didn't complete, it corrupted something: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/1120965.htm
Nothing I've been trying is working. Any ideas on what's going on and how to correct it? The only access I have is System Recovery Console, and if I have to, I can drop the drive into another computer as a slave and do what I need to do.
It's looking like I have to reinstall, but I don't really want to do that, so I want to keep that as a last resort only.
In my searching for an answer, I saw something that suggested it might be a corrupted registry, which made sense, so I tried to do that using this KB article:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545, but that didn't work either. When It came to boot back into Windows to try to run System Restore, same black screen showed up.
I then tried to repair the installation of Windows from the XP Pro CD. It appeared to do everything it was supposed to. After it was done, booted into Windows, and got the same black screen.
Also, in my searching, I came acroos this post in which the poster assumed that the Windows Update files that were updating wrote something to say to continue installation on reboot, but since they didn't complete, it corrupted something: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/1120965.htm
Nothing I've been trying is working. Any ideas on what's going on and how to correct it? The only access I have is System Recovery Console, and if I have to, I can drop the drive into another computer as a slave and do what I need to do.
It's looking like I have to reinstall, but I don't really want to do that, so I want to keep that as a last resort only.
Hi,
Make a new window instillation on the same laptop but put the operating system name to different name than windows folder call it ex. Windows1 . Simply you will have two operating systems on same computer and you will boot from the new one. You will be able to recover the documents, drivers and user profile but not the programmes from faulty operating system to the new one. After that delete and faulty windows and set the boot only to the new one.
Best regards,
Make a new window instillation on the same laptop but put the operating system name to different name than windows folder call it ex. Windows1 . Simply you will have two operating systems on same computer and you will boot from the new one. You will be able to recover the documents, drivers and user profile but not the programmes from faulty operating system to the new one. After that delete and faulty windows and set the boot only to the new one.
Best regards,
ASKER
Skywalker,
I've already tried all the safe modes with no luck. I've also tried uninstalling IE8 from the System Recovery console booted from the XP CD. It looked like it uninstalled about half of it, but that didn't fix it either.
Imadimad,
There's no additional free space on the hard drive to make a new partition. Do you mean install it in the same Windows installation?
I've already tried all the safe modes with no luck. I've also tried uninstalling IE8 from the System Recovery console booted from the XP CD. It looked like it uninstalled about half of it, but that didn't fix it either.
Imadimad,
There's no additional free space on the hard drive to make a new partition. Do you mean install it in the same Windows installation?
try a system restore :
Boot into Recovery Console, log on, and follow this procedure:
cd\
cd %systemroot%\system32\conf
ren Default Default.bak
ren Sam Sam.bak
ren Security Security.bak
ren Software Software.bak
ren System System.bak
cd\
cd system~1\_resto~1
dir
[NOTE: There should be one or more RPx directories in the directory listing. Examine the date & time each RPx directory was created; these represent instances where Restore Points were created. Use the date/time information to select a RPx directory (i.e., Restore Point) which you believe precedes the problem you're attempting to resolve.]
cd RPx [where x is the number of your selected RPx directory]
cd snapshot
copy _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT %systemroot%\system32\conf
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM %systemroot%\system32\conf
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM %systemroot%\system32\conf
exit [This will exit Recovery Console and restart Windows with the registry settings from the Restore Point.]
Boot into Recovery Console, log on, and follow this procedure:
cd\
cd %systemroot%\system32\conf
ren Default Default.bak
ren Sam Sam.bak
ren Security Security.bak
ren Software Software.bak
ren System System.bak
cd\
cd system~1\_resto~1
dir
[NOTE: There should be one or more RPx directories in the directory listing. Examine the date & time each RPx directory was created; these represent instances where Restore Points were created. Use the date/time information to select a RPx directory (i.e., Restore Point) which you believe precedes the problem you're attempting to resolve.]
cd RPx [where x is the number of your selected RPx directory]
cd snapshot
copy _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT %systemroot%\system32\conf
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM %systemroot%\system32\conf
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM %systemroot%\system32\conf
exit [This will exit Recovery Console and restart Windows with the registry settings from the Restore Point.]
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Hi,
You dont need to create new partition. Just you need to specify different name for the folder that will have the operating system files. During normal windows instillation you will be asked the folder name that you want to install the windows, name it anything except windows. You will need just small space on the hard disk that is enough to the OS. If you dont have space on the hard disk, boot the computer using Dos CD and delete some folder.
Regards,
You dont need to create new partition. Just you need to specify different name for the folder that will have the operating system files. During normal windows instillation you will be asked the folder name that you want to install the windows, name it anything except windows. You will need just small space on the hard disk that is enough to the OS. If you dont have space on the hard disk, boot the computer using Dos CD and delete some folder.
Regards,
SOLUTION
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ASKER
Thank you everyone. These sound like they just might work. I will have to try them all tonight, so it may be a few hours before you here from me.
ASKER
Sorry for the delay in a response.
Nobus,
I tried to do the restore from the recovery console, but the system~1 folder denies me access. Microsoft says that that folder is not accessible through the recovery console. So as I'm writing this I am downloading the UBCD to give that a try, and I'll let you know how it goes.
I did run a Repair from the XP CD before I had started this thread, but it didn't completely finish. It went through and looked like it installed everything, but when it restarted to finalize everything, it booted back to the black screen. Hopefully it didn't wipe out the restore points.
Nobus,
I tried to do the restore from the recovery console, but the system~1 folder denies me access. Microsoft says that that folder is not accessible through the recovery console. So as I'm writing this I am downloading the UBCD to give that a try, and I'll let you know how it goes.
I did run a Repair from the XP CD before I had started this thread, but it didn't completely finish. It went through and looked like it installed everything, but when it restarted to finalize everything, it booted back to the black screen. Hopefully it didn't wipe out the restore points.
If you can't get XP back and running, I would take your hard drive out and put it into another computer as slave and backup your data, then reinstalling Windows XP.
ASKER
Skywalker,
Yeah, that'll be my "if all else fails" plan.
Yeah, that'll be my "if all else fails" plan.
access denied : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881
ASKER
Sorry for such a long delay in a response.
Nobus, I tried using the UBCD4Win to restore the registry files, but that still didn't work. I started with just the SYSTEM file, and that actually made Windows boot to a black screen withOUT a cursor showing up at all. Once I copied all of the other 4 files, it was back to the black screen with a cursor.
I think the only fix is to reinstall, so that's what I'm going to do.
Thanks again everyone for all your input. I at least learned something.
Nobus, I tried using the UBCD4Win to restore the registry files, but that still didn't work. I started with just the SYSTEM file, and that actually made Windows boot to a black screen withOUT a cursor showing up at all. Once I copied all of the other 4 files, it was back to the black screen with a cursor.
I think the only fix is to reinstall, so that's what I'm going to do.
Thanks again everyone for all your input. I at least learned something.
ASKER
Thanks for all your help. I at least learned something from all of this, even if nothing worked. Thank for a quick response, even when I wasn't equally quick.
Have you tried going into Safe Mode? I would try going into Safe Mode and try uninstalling IE8.