loaf Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 So the power went out last night. not sure if it's a coincidence or not but now the desktop just displays a black screen with the cursor in the middle. I can move the cursor. I'm using Vista Home Basic What I've done this morning: 1. unplugged all wires and plugged back in 2. turned off power strip and let sit for a minute before turning back on 3. booted up in safe mode (which will show the desktop icons) and ran a restore from Feb 5 4. started back up and right back to black screen. 5. Rinse and repeat step 4 about 100 times... thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I had something very similar happen and thought it was a virus. Took it in to work and our IT guy said the computer got turned off while installing updates and got "stuck". He did something and it's fine again. I'll ask him what he did. Best we can tell, the baby turned the computer off. She loves the blue light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Have you tried: Turn your computer on and immediately start pressing/tapping F8 on your keyboard repeatedly until you see a black screen with white writing that gives you a list of boot options. Use the down arrow on your keyboard to select the Last Known Good Configuration (Advanced) option. Granted this is a shot in the dark, but might work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 (edited) Thanks club and rr I don't have to tap f8 like a madman, it automatically brings up that screen. I was choosing the normal option until the one where I tried the safe mode thing. I'll try yours now edit: well, I was wrong, it doesn't bring up that screen. it brings up one to start in safe, normal or a command prompt. gonna wait for it do it's thing and shut down and crazily press f8 edit2: well, that didn't work Edited February 7, 2010 by loaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Thanks club and rrI don't have to tap f8 like a madman, it automatically brings up that screen. I was choosing the normal option until the one where I tried the safe mode thing. I'll try yours now edit: well, I was wrong, it doesn't bring up that screen. it brings up one to start in safe, normal or a command prompt. gonna wait for it do it's thing and shut down and crazily press f8 edit2: well, that didn't work Thoes are all the things I tried to no avail. Our IT guy didn't answer his cell so clearly he's not stupid. If he calls me back, I'll post his instructions, otherwise I might be able to help tomorrow once I get to the office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I'll assume that you are getting this before the log-in screen...but it might work even if it's after. Boot into Safe Mode and Create a new user w/ Admin Rights. Reboot and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 I never have to log in. I'm just usually presented with the desktop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I never have to log in. I'm just usually presented with the desktop Regarless, there still has to be a user account. My thinking is it got corrupted and is not allowing the OS to finish loading, but you can get in via Safe mode which only loads the necessary stuff. It's worth a shot as I'm running out of suggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 (edited) Worth trying a reinstall. I've never actually had to do one on Vista but IIRC there's an option to repair rather than reinstall from scratch. Edit: Power outages play hell with computers - worth having a spike and brownout protector. Edited February 7, 2010 by Ursa Majoris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 Got these instructions from another site: Press F8 during the bootup and go into safemode with command prompt. Although the desktop never shows up the "command prompt" should. Type "msconfig" into the command prompt and a window should popup. Then choose selective startup. Uncheck system services and startup items. Original Boot Configuration should remain checked. The computer restarts a couple of times and should then give you a desktop again. I did the above and it didn't work. I ran a full scan and it found and deleted a trojan. Restarted and back to black screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Got these instructions from another site:Press F8 during the bootup and go into safemode with command prompt. Although the desktop never shows up the "command prompt" should. Type "msconfig" into the command prompt and a window should popup. Then choose selective startup. Uncheck system services and startup items. Original Boot Configuration should remain checked. The computer restarts a couple of times and should then give you a desktop again. I did the above and it didn't work. I ran a full scan and it found and deleted a trojan. Restarted and back to black screen. PM sent. You could try this site: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm It's MS's "live care". It will take several hours. There is a Registry checker, virus scan and more. It has to be run in Internet Explorer, not FireFox, chrome, etc.. Also what Ursa said. Man we're running out of options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBunz Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 loaf.....found this tutorial from a user having the same sort of problem. Power outage.....black screen....no cursor. See if this helps. bleepingcomputer.com on Vista repair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 PM sent. You could try this site: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm It's MS's "live care". It will take several hours. There is a Registry checker, virus scan and more. It has to be run in Internet Explorer, not FireFox, chrome, etc.. Also what Ursa said. Man we're running out of options. thanks! seems my internet won't work in safe mode either... bunz, I'll give that read when I get home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 (edited) I would try booting your OS from a disk. Depending on your system it may be a different button but somehow you want to get to a boot (BIOS) screen that will allow you to choose where you boot from. Get a copy of your Windows and put it into the CD drive and select to boot from there. Then you can try to repair or reinstall (reinstall will completely delete all your chit so don't do that if you don't want to risk it). The other option is to take your HD out and add it to a different computer as a secondary HD to see if your chit is still there. If so, copy your stuff off and then reinstall or replace the HD. If the HD doesn't show up than you could have had a HD crash. (which sucks) A generic how to boot from a CD. Edited February 10, 2010 by Square Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 thanks! seems my internet won't work in safe mode either... There are typically two types of safe mode. One option with "network" and one without. So if a web program is causing the problem you can cut out the web or if you need to download a fix you can have it available as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 So what's the deal Loaf? Did you get that POS working yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share Posted February 12, 2010 I brought it in to work. Nothing I did was helping. They are going to reinstall the OS on Monday, it appears. Thanks to all that tried Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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