Black screen only !!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Malke
  • Start date Start date
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Malke

Isaac said:
Hi all,
A strange thing just happened. I installed "Spy Doctor" and than
uninstalled it. Upon restart the Welcome screen came up and after giving
my PW - after a few seconds of "Logging On" everything disappeared - just
the curser remained !
Ctrl-Alt-Del brought up the task manager and 'new task' will start
Internet Explorer , Outlook Explorer, whatever program I want. Tried
to run 'Explorer' in order to revive the usual screen with the task bar
and the icons - NO GO.
So, good people - what to do ???
Tia, Isaac
Click to expand...

Can you get into Safe Mode? Do this by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the
computer is starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate
using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here.

If you can't get into Safe Mode, try Last Known Good Configuration from the
same screen. It sounds like "Spy Doctor" has altered the winlogon entry in
the registry. You may need to load the registry hive from another
installation and change it. This is the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Userinit string value should be:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

Obviously it will be easier if you can get into Safe Mode or Last Known
Good. Report back for more help after trying that.

Malke
 
Hi all,
A strange thing just happened. I installed "Spy Doctor" and than uninstalled
it. Upon restart the Welcome screen came up and after giving my PW - after a
few seconds of "Logging On" everything disappeared - just the curser
remained !
Ctrl-Alt-Del brought up the task manager and 'new task' will start Internet
Explorer , Outlook Explorer, whatever program I want. Tried
to run 'Explorer' in order to revive the usual screen with the task bar and
the icons - NO GO.
So, good people - what to do ???
Tia, Isaac
 
Malke,
First thing I tried was 'Safe Mode' , same thing.I did see the 'safe mode'
notices where it should be - but the screen stayed black !
I also tried 'Last Known Good Configuration' , same result.
In order to do the registry thing- I need more help, how can I get this key
and how do I enter it to the registry ?
And thanx again,
Isaac
 
Isaac said:
Malke,
First thing I tried was 'Safe Mode' , same thing.I did see the 'safe mode'
notices where it should be - but the screen stayed black !
I also tried 'Last Known Good Configuration' , same result.
In order to do the registry thing- I need more help, how can I get this
key and how do I enter it to the registry ?
And thanx again,
Isaac
Click to expand...

Try one more thing first. Can you get into Safe Mode Command Prompt (from
same place as Safe Mode)? If you can get into the Command Prompt, do:

c:\Windows\System32\restore\rstrui.exe [enter]

This will start the System Restore program and you can try to restore to a
time before you installed Spy Doctor.

Don't forget, I'm just *guessing* that the winlogon key has been damaged.
Since I can't see your computer, please remember that. There could be other
reasons why Explorer isn't working. You might have had pre-existing malware
for all I know.

If you can't get into Safe Mode Command Prompt and run System Restore, I'd
probably want to see what was happening by using a Bart's PE disk. Here's a
link to MVP Ramesh's page about repairing winlogon with Bart's.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

Another approach would be to do a Repair Install, but I would rather know
what was really happening on the machine before I did that. If malware has
caused the issue, then a Repair Install won't work.

All of these approaches require a fairly high level of computer skill. Only
you know what your skill level is. If you don't have the ability and/or
other machines to troubleshoot this, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop.

Oh, and all through this I've assumed that you were smart and have all your
data backed up so if you end up having to wipe and install Windows that
isn't disastrous. If I'm wrong, then you should retrieve the data first
with a Bart's PE or Knoppix, or even by slaving the drive in a working XP
box.

Malke
 
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