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Thread: Blank Screen on Windows XP Startup

  1. #1
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
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    Blank Screen on Windows XP Startup

    Hi Guys and Galls

    Got a toughie (for me anyway) and need some expert advice

    Friends Pc - Booted to windows and i get a blank screen - No taskbar or Icons

    Tried Both 'Safemode' and 'Last Known Good Configuration' but had same results as follows.

    I Hit CTRL ATL DEL and got the task manager and theres no explorer.exe in the process's..So, i pressed new task and tried to load either Explorer.exe or C:Windows\System\Explorer.exe and the taskbar 'flashes' for a second and then goes off and Explorer.exe vanishes again from the process's.. I Can click 'Browse' on the 'New task' and my C: drive is their with all my files and windows folder in tact - i just cant seam to get it to load the desktop correctly... Ive looked through the process's and cant see anything abviously out of place their.... System Idle is at 98/99% and all the other Process's are at 0% apart from SVCHOST which jumps up a few % every now and again.. But theirs no explorer.exe and i cant load it.

    As i said before i tried Safe mode and i get the same problem - it loads to safe mode and i get the logo's and Build number (2600) but i get no icons or start menu and if i try to load explorer.exe the taskbar flashes and goes away again.

    Its really starting to confuse me because windows is their and all my files appear to be in the C: drive intact....... I think i 'may' have somthing to do with something called a 'shell process' but thats way out of my league and dont want to do somthing that may end up deleting my C: drive and making it worse..

    Any Help people would be extremly appreciated

    Thanks Guys

    Richard

  2. #2
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    It may be a virus/spyware or the Windows OS may have gotten corrupt.

    Try this article to see if it helps:

    http://vermont.wordpress.com/2006/05...xp-in-8-steps/


    If it doesn't fix it, then try a repair install of XP. Your data files will be untouched.

  3. #3
    Senior Member seanieboy77's Avatar
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    Ya sounds like a bad virus to me. But I would have to agree you might have to repair windows. Might be your best bet, otherwise if worse comes to worse you might even have to reformat and reinstall. But you can move files to another hard drive (external) before you reinstall.
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  4. #4
    Ultimate Member G's Avatar
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    Go here and scan using a pre-Windows scan from F-Prot for DOS.

    http://www.f-prot.com/download/home_user/

    See image of files required

    Otherwise double check your hardware is sound. Using the barebones approach.
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  5. #5
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
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    Thanks for all your replies guys.

    Its a good friends PC so i'll go and try and fix it tonight.. I will post back either way

    thanks for helping

    Richard

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
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    Hi all..

    Thanks again for the replies.. Tried what was on that list you provided to me from the link but no avail - i could still get into windows but could only load "task manager" and couldnt get "explorer.exe" to load BUT i tried opening MSWORD for crogram files\office...... and it loaded fine.

    So, i tried a system restore thing and got through the process ok.... then when it restarted i got a message that i had never seen before and cant even find it through a google search.

    When i load the PC before i get to any windows splash or startup screens i get a red box saying

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Your hard disk is too fragment you should uninstall Recovery Genius and defrag your disk"

    RG Not Found - Do you want to disk protect your hard disk [YES]

    F5 Default PU,PD,+,-.. Modify

    Enter Confirm

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If i click yes i get a screen stating do you want to back up all data on C: before proceeding..

    So, i decided to pull about because a> i dont want to risk loosing it all and b> im not sure where it could back it up too?

    Once again.. Any help is extremely appreciated..

    thanks guys

    Richard

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    Sometimes the easiest solution is a Repair Install or reformat and install clean . You can backup by slaving the drive in another pc if you dont have a usb enclosure .

    http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

  8. #8
    Ultimate Member tricktx's Avatar
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    thanks for the advice and i have considered that - but at the moment i cant even get to any of the windows screens.. This message appears staright after the initial Bios post of Cpu..ram etc.

    I treid pressing F8 to get the windows choice menu up and i set to boot from CD but i cant get that far unfortunatly.. Will have another go tomorrow though

    Thanks for the tip

    Richard

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member G's Avatar
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    It seems as if the Windows GU shell is busted.

    Now you can carry out a pre-Windows image using Acronis True Image or use a second HDD, install Windows and copy over your data.

    Regardless the operating system is busted and it is probably more efficient, after data recovery, to start over.

    Maybe an AV or malware program deleted explorer.exe as a false positive.

  10. #10
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    Its getting hard to follow you at this point . So , your saying you can't boot from an XP cd or Recovery disk ? Keep in mind , its been 2 wks and the pc is not fixed . Not every Windows issue can be explained or repaired... time to bite the bullet . Before its too late , slave the HDD in another pc and backup the data . I know it sounds harsh but its helpful .

  11. #11
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tricktx
    When i load the PC before i get to any windows splash or startup screens i get a red box saying

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Your hard disk is too fragment you should uninstall Recovery Genius and defrag your disk"

    RG Not Found - Do you want to disk protect your hard disk [YES]

    F5 Default PU,PD,+,-.. Modify

    Enter Confirm

    Like I said the other day, you have a virus/spyware stopping the system from booting. The program Recovery genius is causing your problems.

    http://www.gotogs.com/products/rg/RG...oduction.shtml

    You either need to boot into Safe Mode and clean the system or take the computer to a shop and get them to fix it.

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