Computer boots to black screen 2

[cindyb1953]

My pc was running slow and the memory usage was unusually high, so I rebooted the pc. It runs thru the Dell screen, and the Norton GO BACK, then boots to a black screen. I ran the DELL diagnostic cd on the pc with no errors. I have taken the hard drive out and put it in another pc with different monitor and it still boots up to the black screen. I have run the GWSCAN diagnostic on the hard drive while in this pc and it finished with no errors found. I can F2 and F8 into the Setup or Bios areas. The Go BACK feature is useless.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

You said you can F8? Can you get to safe mode? Is this an XP Machine?

- Computer stops responding with a black screen when you start Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/314503

You could build a BartPE CD to create a bootable CD to get into the HDD.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

...or try

http://www.bootdisk.com/

to create a boot disk to test the MS method above.

Use the Recovery Console to repair the MBR and primary boot partition.

-How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/

If you can't get it working from there try a repair install. You will be able to keep your data.

- Perform a Repair Installation

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[Tarsuslu]

Which OS are you using?

For XP, you may want to try using the console for some repairs. CHKDSK and FIXBOOT may come in handy. You can also try repairing the Windows installation or using a third party application for a system restore. Vista, on the other hand, has its own "fix things" option on top of the Advanced Options menu (F5 on startup).

Not to start bashing things here, but I've never made any important use of Goback. It brings more harm than good most of the time.

 

[cindyb1953]

I can get to F8, but there is no safe mode option. I am running XP. I will try the repair install, as I really want to keep my data. Actually only pictures, but that is what i was working on when this all happened, so no backup.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

What options are you given when you press F8? Did you try to Recovery Console method yet?

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[cindyb1953]

Sorry, it isn't F8, it is F2, which is the BIOS setup utility. F10 is the boot device selection. Which gives me 4M-GCR, 3M-Maxtor & IBA GE Slot 0208. I can't find the Recovery cd, so it will be tonight before i can make one.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

You will need the actual XP OS CD. I don't believe you will be able to do a Repair Install or use the Recovery Console with just a recovery disk.

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[cindyb1953]

I am out of town, so don't have access to my cd's. I have a friend bringing hers tomorrow, so will try the repair from her XP OX CD. Thank you!

 

[cindyb1953]

I finally had some time to try and work with this and got into safe mode. I get errors: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partiition(2)\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe,hal.dll,KDCOM.dll, Boot.VID.dll, config]system, config\system log. I get these in any Safe Mode. I also tried last known good config and it just went to the black screen again. Did a virus cause this do you think?

 

[cindyb1953]

I have found the XP home edition OS cd. is that what i need?

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

Thats the disk.

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

If you do the repair install, I believe you will need to download all of your updates again from Windows Update.

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[cindyb1953]

All I want out of this are my pictures. If i then have to reinstall everything, i can live with that! I have tried to repair the MBR, and bootcfg /rebuild and many more things, but it always comes back to 'missing hal.dll file'. I also created a boot floppy disk with the Ntldr and Ntdetect.com files from the i386 folder and a boot.ini file. Nothing is working. Any ideas?

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

Ok try this.

Boot into the Recovery Console. Try the bootcfg command again, but try it this way. At the prompt type the following pressing enter after each line.

attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
del C:\Boot.ini
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot

Try restarting the machine now.
Still not fixed? Try...

Verify that the hal.dll is indeed missing by typing this at the command prompt.

dir hal.dll /s

If it says File not found then it is not there.

Try expanding the hal.dll file from the XP CD to your hard drive to replace the hal.dll file with the following command.

expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

The drive letters for your drives might be different, so make sure they are correct. Try restarting the machine now.

Still not fixed?

Did you try the Repair Install? This is different than repairing by the Recovery Console. You will be replacing all the Windows System files while keeping your data intact.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

Still not fixed? Take the hard drive out of your computer and put in another computer as slave and try to get the files off that way or try the BartPE CD method I gave earlier to rescue your files to a network share or take the hard drive out of your computer and put in another computer and try to get the files off that way.

If you ARE NOT able to repair your OS and you ARE to rescue your files, you may want to do Dell's system restore feature to return your computer to the way it was brand new when you bought it. This will save you the hassle of having to do a clean install or having to hunt down your Recovery CD. When the computer boots up press "Ctrl + F11" to activate the hidden recovery partition. Assuming your computer has this feature...I have used this on Dell's that were several years old, so yours may very well have this feature, this is alot quicker than reformatting the drive and reinstalling Windows from scratch. Hope this helps!

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[cindyb1953]

thank you! I tried everything down to the repair install. That and the BartPE cd will be this evenings entertainment. I am still hopeful! Or naive!

 

[Sleepsalot]

If worst comes to worst. Buy a new HD and install it do a clean install. Then use the old drive as a slave drive this will save your important data as you will be able to copy most every thing.

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.

Wayne