Windows 7 – black screen
Hi,
I use a PC with Win7 professional 64 bits.
It is in a network. I do not have the Admin privileges.
It boots up with normal screens and after login remains blocked in a black screen where only the mouse I can move and only the task manager works. Windows explorer does not start even if I “force” it with “New Task”.
The same black screen appears even if I am in Safe Mode.
I can start in command prompt mode and I run chkdsk. It says that runs as Administrator. Now is running and will take 3 hours.
Any suggestions of how to debug further?
I use a PC with Win7 professional 64 bits.
It is in a network. I do not have the Admin privileges.
It boots up with normal screens and after login remains blocked in a black screen where only the mouse I can move and only the task manager works. Windows explorer does not start even if I “force” it with “New Task”.
The same black screen appears even if I am in Safe Mode.
I can start in command prompt mode and I run chkdsk. It says that runs as Administrator. Now is running and will take 3 hours.
Any suggestions of how to debug further?
Try logging on to it with another user account. If necessary you may have to get your admin to create one for you. If it works under that other account, your profile is corrupt.
ASKER
the remote IT assistance said the Win7 is "broken" and reinstall may be needed.
How do I repair/recover corrupt profile?
The problem appears also in Safe Mode.
As much as I remember "sfc /scannow" works inside Windows. Can I do it also under dos prompt after boot in command prompt mode?
How do I repair/recover corrupt profile?
The problem appears also in Safe Mode.
As much as I remember "sfc /scannow" works inside Windows. Can I do it also under dos prompt after boot in command prompt mode?
You can't repair corrupt profiles. You can just create a new one and use that.
ASKER
Correct, but rather than copying over the data from your corrupt profile to the new one, I'd restore the data from the backups, as the data could also be corrupt. But first you must login as a different user to find out whether it is a corrupt profile or not.
ASKER
It seems that none of the suggestions above will help me, because I am not allowed to touch the PC. The IT guys must come over and look at what happened.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Just for my info and curiosity:
1) If I login from a different user, then how do I know is a corrupt profile or not?
2) How do I know if only windows is broken and not the user profile?
3) What if I boot from an external device as DVD-ROM or USB stick and I have a virtual Windows there on that device? Then I can see the existing drive and all its content. Or if I disconnect the existing internal drive physically and I attach it externally to another PC. What steps should I follow to check the Windows integrity and the user profile corruption?
1) If I login from a different user, then how do I know is a corrupt profile or not?
2) How do I know if only windows is broken and not the user profile?
3) What if I boot from an external device as DVD-ROM or USB stick and I have a virtual Windows there on that device? Then I can see the existing drive and all its content. Or if I disconnect the existing internal drive physically and I attach it externally to another PC. What steps should I follow to check the Windows integrity and the user profile corruption?
If you login using a different user account, and everything works there, you can assume your original profile is corrupt.
If under the new user account you still have the same issues, it's a windows or hardware problem.
Booting from different media, or connecting the disk to another PC will only allow you to copy data off. It won't help much in fixing the problem. But that wouldn't make too much sense, as the data is probably stored on your servers anyway. Besides, as you don't have admin rights, policies in your company probably also restricts you from trying things like that, which could get you into trouble. You should just get your IT department to fix this for you.
If under the new user account you still have the same issues, it's a windows or hardware problem.
Booting from different media, or connecting the disk to another PC will only allow you to copy data off. It won't help much in fixing the problem. But that wouldn't make too much sense, as the data is probably stored on your servers anyway. Besides, as you don't have admin rights, policies in your company probably also restricts you from trying things like that, which could get you into trouble. You should just get your IT department to fix this for you.
ASKER
Fair enough.
Here is the last thing that I would like to ask on the present subject.
Trying to remember all the steps that I have done with a day before the "holocaust", because usually I try many things which sometimes put me in trouble, but in the same time I learned a lot, the hard way to learn, I remember that among other programs, I installed next RAMDisk :
https://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/
As I have 16GB RAM I used 8GB for RAMDisk.
Then the program allows in simple steps to move/redirect the Windows TEMP, TMP folders on the RAM Disk.
Everything worked fine, even with reboot and some test trials programs that I used after that point.
I am thinking that maybe one of the programs installed afterwards or maybe the Windows itself or the regular backup made by server entered in conflict with new path of the Windows TEMP file. But I am not so sure about it, because even if its redirected and the new folder does not exist, seems that that is created automatically. What I do not know is the user profile impact and the server backup.
The question is then: could be possible at redirection of the Windows TEMP/TMP folder to RAM Disk to go in such "black" trouble?
If yes, then maybe the correction of the Windows TEMP folder path to its original state, done from command prompt, where (strange!) I have access, seems as Administrator, would solve the problem.
Here is an example how to do it:
http://answers.perforce.com/articles/KB_Article/Changing-the-Windows-TEMP-Directory
What do you think?
I am not going to do it, but I need to understand.
Here is the last thing that I would like to ask on the present subject.
Trying to remember all the steps that I have done with a day before the "holocaust", because usually I try many things which sometimes put me in trouble, but in the same time I learned a lot, the hard way to learn, I remember that among other programs, I installed next RAMDisk :
https://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/
As I have 16GB RAM I used 8GB for RAMDisk.
Then the program allows in simple steps to move/redirect the Windows TEMP, TMP folders on the RAM Disk.
Everything worked fine, even with reboot and some test trials programs that I used after that point.
I am thinking that maybe one of the programs installed afterwards or maybe the Windows itself or the regular backup made by server entered in conflict with new path of the Windows TEMP file. But I am not so sure about it, because even if its redirected and the new folder does not exist, seems that that is created automatically. What I do not know is the user profile impact and the server backup.
The question is then: could be possible at redirection of the Windows TEMP/TMP folder to RAM Disk to go in such "black" trouble?
If yes, then maybe the correction of the Windows TEMP folder path to its original state, done from command prompt, where (strange!) I have access, seems as Administrator, would solve the problem.
Here is an example how to do it:
http://answers.perforce.com/articles/KB_Article/Changing-the-Windows-TEMP-Directory
What do you think?
I am not going to do it, but I need to understand.
The only situation I can think of where the RAM disk could cause issues would be if you were installing some new software, and the system crashed or rebooted before that was finished, which of course would have cleared the contents of the temporary folder which the installer used and so the installer didn't finish and that would have left it in an unknown state. But that still shouldn't cause the issues you have.
ASKER
OK.
I will not close the present question until next week when my PC will come back.
My boss will take it to the IT guys tomorrow. Anyway, I do not "suffer" too much without it, because I have a second one...
The story becomes interesting as each day unfolds. As I mentioned yesterday several times that I could (at least try) to repair it by myself, but my lady boss insisted that no, I shouldn't, the IT guys must do it, and today finding out that will take almost 1 week to have it back when I could fix it in max. 2 days locally, well a "bird" told me that my lady boss likes and wants to meet somebody from IT service company for personal reasons, but of course she could not tell me that directly...so my PC problem arrived in the proper moment and she tried to make the problem bigger than is, in order to have a good reason to drive there...
Man, these PC stories are so unexpected!
I will not close the present question until next week when my PC will come back.
My boss will take it to the IT guys tomorrow. Anyway, I do not "suffer" too much without it, because I have a second one...
The story becomes interesting as each day unfolds. As I mentioned yesterday several times that I could (at least try) to repair it by myself, but my lady boss insisted that no, I shouldn't, the IT guys must do it, and today finding out that will take almost 1 week to have it back when I could fix it in max. 2 days locally, well a "bird" told me that my lady boss likes and wants to meet somebody from IT service company for personal reasons, but of course she could not tell me that directly...so my PC problem arrived in the proper moment and she tried to make the problem bigger than is, in order to have a good reason to drive there...
Man, these PC stories are so unexpected!
ASKER
Hi rinidi,
Thank you for various good suggestions provided.
Last week the PC was repaired and I had it back.
The HDD crashed, at least that is what I know from IT guys. It seems that WD blue are not so good. I had a 500GB one.
They replaced it with a SATA3 6Gbit/s 2TB Seagate. Unfortunately I had over 260GB data and they did not have one SSD 500GB. They had only 250GB SSD at that moment, the 1TB was too expense for what I use anyway and I needed the PC back.
The IT guys are nice and gave me back the old HDD, so I can analyze it by myself. In the past I repaired and recovered many times data from bad HDD. I will not use it anymore, but I need to recover some configuration settings for certain programs. The IT guys provided a recovery of the data and installed the main programs, but besides that I use many other specific software.
Well, the story ends with a simply HDD replacement.
Thank you for various good suggestions provided.
Last week the PC was repaired and I had it back.
The HDD crashed, at least that is what I know from IT guys. It seems that WD blue are not so good. I had a 500GB one.
They replaced it with a SATA3 6Gbit/s 2TB Seagate. Unfortunately I had over 260GB data and they did not have one SSD 500GB. They had only 250GB SSD at that moment, the 1TB was too expense for what I use anyway and I needed the PC back.
The IT guys are nice and gave me back the old HDD, so I can analyze it by myself. In the past I repaired and recovered many times data from bad HDD. I will not use it anymore, but I need to recover some configuration settings for certain programs. The IT guys provided a recovery of the data and installed the main programs, but besides that I use many other specific software.
Well, the story ends with a simply HDD replacement.
if it appears also in Safe mode it´s strange because problem persists also when minimal configuration is loaded. Maybe the fastest way would be reinstall windows if possible