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Thread: stuck on startup screen

  1. 03-11-2010, 09:39 PM #1
    gwlogue
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    stuck on startup screen

    got a laptop running VISTA Home Premium that won't start in normal mode. It gets to the startup screen with the @Microsoft Corporation brand at the bottom and the heartbeat bar above it running left to right. But it NEVER starts!

    It will start in safe mode.

    I have no error messages to search on. Any ideas whats up or how to proceed?
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  2. 03-12-2010, 07:19 AM #2
    BipolarBill
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    First, disable the "splash screen" so that you can possibly see at what point the problem resides:

    http://www.myitforum.com/articles/1/view.asp?id=11819

    Do that in Safe Mode.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  3. 03-13-2010, 09:54 AM #3
    gwlogue
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    OK. I disabled the GUI boot.

    At startup there are a few seconds of a very pretty, light blue design then the screen goes black.

    I left it sitting for a while while I watched some TV and I noticed about a half hour later a cursor appeared in the middle of the screen but it went again.
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  4. 03-13-2010, 04:13 PM #4
    BipolarBill
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    I guess it's time to repair:

    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial148.html

    If this is the same PC as the other, you may have a bad display driver. Does it have an nVidia card? If so, you need to revert to an older driver.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  5. 03-13-2010, 07:46 PM #5
    gwlogue
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    Different laptops. This one is a Toshiba running Vista. The other is an IBM running WinXP. I can get to Safe mode on this one. The IBM can't even get into safe mode.
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  6. 03-13-2010, 09:04 PM #6
    BipolarBill
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    You should run the repair.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  7. 03-13-2010, 09:13 PM #7
    gwlogue
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    She did not give me a CD/DVD when she asked me to try to fix her laptop but there is a System Repair option on the list presented along with Safe Mode, etc. I have tried that twice now with no luck. I will try again and select System Restore if it is available.
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  8. 03-14-2010, 08:02 AM #8
    BipolarBill
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    If you're going to be fixing other people's PCs, you have to be ready to format and reinstall. You have to be prepared to save their data to another drive before you do that too. Be sure to ask for all CDs and DVDs that you need to do these things.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  9. 03-14-2010, 08:21 AM #9
    gwlogue
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    I am at that stage now. I have done everything I can think of and a reinstall is in order. She has some university projects to get off before I try to reinstall. Thanks for helping.
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  10. 03-14-2010, 10:05 AM #10
    BipolarBill
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    It would be a good idea to instruct your customers about the importance and methods for backing up their systems as well. I'm sure you know - an extra hard drive and software like Acronis True Image.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  11. 03-14-2010, 10:22 AM #11
    gwlogue
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    I have preached backups many times. They never seem to get the time or it is too confusing for them. If anyone ever comes up with an easy to use, simple, unimposing tool to do backups they will make a LOT of money.

    In this case the laptop belongs to my sons sister-in-law, not a customer. She is in university studying early childhood education. Friends/family don't listen either.
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  12. 03-14-2010, 11:18 AM #12
    gwlogue
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    I rebooted the system to make sure I could still get into safe mode and it came back saying Windows wanted to check the disk for errors. Seemed like a reasonable action so I let it continue. It did a few things then started displaying:

    replacing invalid security id with default security id for file nnnnnnn

    and it looks like it is doing it for every file on the system.

    Is this OK?
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  13. 03-14-2010, 12:07 PM #13
    gwlogue
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    Oh Oh...now I'm getting a disk read error at boot!!
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  14. 03-14-2010, 02:45 PM #14
    BipolarBill
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    The trouble with CHKDSK is that it can sometimes convert *everything* on a disk to nonsense. I'm sad to say that this appears to be what just happened.

    You are going to have to take the drive out of the laptop and try to salvage her data. You will need some sort of external drive enclosure that can host her drive. My guess is that it's a SATA drive, but you will have to verify that.

    I'm sorry. Short of a complete drive failure, this is about the worst thing that can happen.
    MS MCP, MCSE
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  15. 03-14-2010, 03:51 PM #15
    gwlogue
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    When I spoke to her she said she had copied all of her school projects to USB key before giving it to me. Her personal photo's, music collections, etc, are gone however. She was considering an upgrade to Win7 anyways so this is not earth shattering for her. Just very upsetting.

    And I have learned a valuable lesson. Never trust anyone, even MS, when it comes to maintaing and repairing MS systems.

    Thank you for your help. It has been a painful lesson.
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