Windows unable to boot - 'black' screen

[Guest]

My Toshiba Sattelite A85 laptop with Windows XP Sp2 Home Edition 'out of the
blue' started to have problems with booting Windows. Initially, I was getting
the following error:

windows\system\vgaoem.fom file is corrupt or missing ... or something close,
and the system would just hang.

Sometims with another attempt to reboot the error would point to a different
missing file, but Windows would still not load.

Since my laptop did not come with the full Windows CD but only with the
System Restore, I attempted to get by the problem by loading Windows XP Home
Edition from a CD that came from Dell with my other desktop pc (at this point
I still was able to alter BIOS to boot from the CD drive, ahead of HDD).
However, all attempts to restart the system, either in safe mode or at the
last good restore point, etc., would also fail in a similar fashion.

I believe that at that point when attempting to load Windows I began to get
the following error:

STOP: C0000218 (registry file failure) the registry cannot load the hive
(file) systemroot\config\software
(at some point I also was getting: Stop: 0x000007E, but I didn't jot the
specifics)

I then attempted to get to the Restore Console in order to run some
diagnostics. I was stopped, however, by a message requesting the
Administrator password and I had no idea what that password was. My several
futile attempts of entering every imaginable password I could think of got
rejected each time as 'password invalid', including the 'null' password (by
just hitting: enter).

After checking the cable connections, resetting the hard drive and memory
(as per suggestions in the various posts) things got even worse. Now I cannot
even get to the Windows Welcome screen - every time I power up my laptop, I
hear the cooling fan and the CD drive both humming for a moment and then
everything goes quite and ... nothing! The screen stays 'black' throughout
and the keyboard also appears to be locked.
I tried this operation with and without the Windows CD - all with the same
results. Obviously, at this point I cannot enter any commands, scan for
viruses or anything - my laptop is completely dead!

Of course, I would like to recover some of the files and pictures from the
hard drive, if at all possible, but at this point I'm so frustrated that I'm
willing to give that up as long as I get my operating system up and running.

Dos anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks, Rich

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My Toshiba Sattelite A85 laptop with Windows XP Sp2 Home Edition 'out of
the
blue' started to have problems with booting Windows. Initially, I was
getting
the following error:

windows\system\vgaoem.fom file is corrupt or missing ... or something
close,
and the system would just hang.

Sometims with another attempt to reboot the error would point to a
different
missing file, but Windows would still not load.

Since my laptop did not come with the full Windows CD but only with the
System Restore, I attempted to get by the problem by loading Windows XP
Home
Edition from a CD that came from Dell with my other desktop pc (at this
point
I still was able to alter BIOS to boot from the CD drive, ahead of HDD).
However, all attempts to restart the system, either in safe mode or at the
last good restore point, etc., would also fail in a similar fashion.

I believe that at that point when attempting to load Windows I began to
get
the following error:

STOP: C0000218 (registry file failure) the registry cannot load the hive
(file) systemroot\config\software
(at some point I also was getting: Stop: 0x000007E, but I didn't jot the
specifics)

I then attempted to get to the Restore Console in order to run some
diagnostics. I was stopped, however, by a message requesting the
Administrator password and I had no idea what that password was. My
several
futile attempts of entering every imaginable password I could think of got
rejected each time as 'password invalid', including the 'null' password
(by
just hitting: enter).

After checking the cable connections, resetting the hard drive and memory
(as per suggestions in the various posts) things got even worse. Now I
cannot
even get to the Windows Welcome screen - every time I power up my laptop,
I
hear the cooling fan and the CD drive both humming for a moment and then
everything goes quite and ... nothing! The screen stays 'black' throughout
and the keyboard also appears to be locked.
I tried this operation with and without the Windows CD - all with the same
results. Obviously, at this point I cannot enter any commands, scan for
viruses or anything - my laptop is completely dead!

Of course, I would like to recover some of the files and pictures from the
hard drive, if at all possible, but at this point I'm so frustrated that
I'm
willing to give that up as long as I get my operating system up and
running.

Dos anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks, Rich

The progressive nature of your problems suggest a hardware
problem. Your best bet is probably to take the machine to
a qualified Toshiba repair centre.

There are several methods to retrieve your files. Here are
two of them:

a) From your backup medium. It may be too late to mention
this but good computing practice requires you to back up all
important files regularly to an independent medium.

b) By removing the hard disk and installing it in an external
USB case (which costs very little). This would enable you
to connect it to another PC and salvage your files.

With some laptops it is easy to remove the hard disk. With
others it is demanding because the keyboard must first be
removed. Ask your service centre if necessary.

If your laptop has died then it would be a good idea to
use its disk as your backup medium for the next laptop.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Pegasus, for a prompt response, and I will definitely consider your
suggestion that this could be a hardware issue.
As for backing up files - well, we have some back-ups (this actually is my
daughter laptop), but none recently (bummer!).
I'm not familiar with the 'usb case' for the hard disk, but I also will look
into it, especially if it's not that expensive.
I have another laptop (Thinkpad Z60m), but I doubt that the hard disks are
compatible and whether I could use it for either troubleshooting my Toshiba
or for the data recovery aspect. I also have an external disk that is USB
attached, but again I don't know if it could be of any use here.
Also - when I provided the same decription over the phone to the 'Geek
Squad', the local computer 'fixer-uper' outfit, they assured me that my
problems are NOT hardware related, but probably a virus, and that they
definitely could fix it (for about 260 USD).
Any additional thoughts?
Thanks again, Rich

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Thanks, Pegasus, for a prompt response, and I will definitely consider
your
suggestion that this could be a hardware issue.
As for backing up files - well, we have some back-ups (this actually is my
daughter laptop), but none recently (bummer!).

If you have Outlook on your laptop, use it to schedule a
weekly reminder to back up your files, and stick to it!

I'm not familiar with the 'usb case' for the hard disk, but I also will
look
into it, especially if it's not that expensive.

Where I live they cost around $20.00. Physical installation is a
child's play. Under WinXP, no software installation is needed.

I have another laptop (Thinkpad Z60m), but I doubt that the hard disks are
compatible and whether I could use it for either troubleshooting my
Toshiba
or for the data recovery aspect.

The disks will be compatible but the installed version of
Windows won't be. Don't even try - use the USB case
instead.

I also have an external disk that is USB
attached, but again I don't know if it could be of any use here.

You can if it is a 2.5" disk but not if it is a 3.5" disk.

Also - when I provided the same decription over the phone to the 'Geek
Squad', the local computer 'fixer-uper' outfit, they assured me that my
problems are NOT hardware related, but probably a virus, and that they
definitely could fix it (for about 260 USD).

You previously reported that your screen remains black when
you boot the machine from your WinXP installation CD.
It is not possible for a virus to do this - if you really booted
from the WinXP installation CD and got a black screen then
you have a hardware problem.

Before forking out $260, ask your supplier to examine the
PC and give you a quote. This should cost you around $25.00.
If you have a computer-literate friend, ask him to have a
look at it first. And remember: Back up your data BEFORE
you let anyone play with your laptop. If you rely on other people
to do the right thing then there is a good chance that you will
lose the lot.

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for 'screwing my head on right' by insisting that this is a
hardware issue.
Following your suggestion, I attempted some basic diagnostics ( I'm somewhat
'handy', even though one could not tell by reading my posts) by first
removing the battery, then the hard disk, and finally one of the memory cards
and ... eureka! - I'm back in business.
Well, not totally, I'm still getting the: "STOP: C0000218" error, but at
least I'm, past that dreaded black screen now.
I now will concentrate on researching the above error and if you (or anyone)
would have any other good suggestions here, then - by all means, I would
definitely welcome and appreciate any help.
Richie

 

[Guest]

Well, now I'm in the Recovery Console and again I'm being stumped by the
Admin Password.
I previously checked with Toshiba and they insisted that no passwords of any
kind were set by them, and since I also didn't set any, this password request
must then be coming from the Windows CD supplied by Dell (which I'm using to
load Windows).
Any thoughts how to get over this hurdle?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Well, that's another bit of diligent house keeping.
If you have a car then I'm sure you have at least
two sets of keys. Why? With Windows you should
have at least two admin accounts, each with a
password that is locked away, for reasons that
are much the same as with your card keys. You
appear to have none.

To bring your house in order you can use this tool:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

I actually wonder what you expect to get out of the
Recovery Console. It is an extremely limited mode
of operation and not many problems can be fixed
while inside it.

 

[Malke]

Well, now I'm in the Recovery Console and again I'm being stumped by the
Admin Password.
I previously checked with Toshiba and they insisted that no passwords of any
kind were set by them, and since I also didn't set any, this password request
must then be coming from the Windows CD supplied by Dell (which I'm using to
load Windows).
Any thoughts how to get over this hurdle?

Pegasus has pretty well covered that this may be a hardware issue. I see
some other things happening here that haven't been covered, though. So
here are my thoughts (Pegasus, I hope you don't mind me popping in):

1. Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr. If you don't know the drive mftr., Seagate's SeaTools
Desktop works very well. You will create a bootable CD with the file you
download and you need third-party burning software to do this. The
built-in XP burning program is not capable of doing this. If the drive
fails any physical tests, it needs to be replaced.

1a. If the drive fails any physical tests, it will probably not be
possible to retrieve data from it. If the data is crucial and cost is
not an issue, you should send the drive to a professional data recovery
company such as Drive Savers (www.drivesavers.com). Costs start at
around $500 USD and go up from there. Only you can determine the value
of your data. If the drive is failing, every time you spin it up you are
at high risk of destroying data, so stop what you are doing if you want
to get the data back.

1b. If the hard drive does not fail any physical tests, put it in a USB
drive enclosure and attach to a working computer to pull the data off.

Standard caveat: If you can't do the testing yourself because you don't
have the skills and/or equipment, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad).

2. There is no reason for you to be in the Recovery Console because
there is nothing useful you're going to be able to do from there. So
don't waste your time with it.

3. Most Dell XP CDs are BIOS-locked and will fail if they don't find a
Dell BIOS. Since you have a Toshiba, the CD will not find a Dell BIOS.
Assuming that the hard drive is physically sound (which is an assumption
that you shouldn't make yet), you will need to do any repairs with a
generic OEM XP CD that matches the version installed (XP Home, Pro, or
Media Center).


Malke

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Pegasus has pretty well covered that this may be a hardware issue. I see
some other things happening here that haven't been covered, though. So
here are my thoughts (Pegasus, I hope you don't mind me popping in):

Two minds are better than one - great to have your opinion too.

 

[Guest]

Well, it appears that my Toshiba Satellite is back in business - thanks to
your, Pegasus and Malke, suggestions, and I was able to salvage all important
data from the hard drive, to 'boot' - .
As Malke suggested, I purchased the USB hard disk enclosue ($55 at Best
Buy), which allowed me to attach the disk from the 'bad' pc to my other
laptop. I then transferred all documents from that disk, first to my 'good'
PC, and then to an external disk. Finally, after removing the bad memory, I
restored Windows on the Toshiba laptop, utilizing the Windows Restore disk
provided by Toshiba (but unfortunately wiping all the data in the process
...), I copied all documents back to my Toshiba from the external disk.
In addition, I ran the available diagnostics for my hard drive (CHKDSK and
those provided by Windows) and found several bad sectors, although none had
critical errors (as per messages).
I already contacted Kingston and they are sending me a replacement for the
bad memory module - thanks to the lifetime warranty.
Of course, I immediately backed up my system to the external drive - a
lesson learned!

Thanks again for all the help - it definitely was an 'interesting' and eye
opening experience.

Rich

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm a little dismayed at the price you paid
for your USB case. It may have been "Best Buy" for you but where
I live they cost only around US$20.00 for a 2.5" disk.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm a little dismayed at the price you paid
for your USB case. It may have been "Best Buy" for you but where
I live they cost only around US$20.00 for a 2.5" disk.

Best Buy is an extremely expensive place to buy almost everything. I
remember once dropping into one to see if they had a USB extension
cable. They did, but it was $30 US. I didn't buy it, but went home and
searched on the internet, where I found one for $.01 (not a
typo--that's one penny). Shipping was $4.99, but the total of $5 was
acceptable and *much* cheaper than Best Buy.

Best Buy, with its combination of high prices and uninformed staff, is
a very poor place to shop for anything.

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

Except when they have Verbatim DVDs on sale! ;-)

Tom

|
| Best Buy, with its combination of high prices and uninformed staff, is
| a very poor place to shop for anything.
|
|
|

 

[Unknown]

Strange they have that name. I agree, their prices baffle me.

 

[Jack Ass]

This could be the practice run of "Black Screen of Death" implemented by
MS on Vista machines!! XP machines cannot be ruled out if MS wants to
extract money from customers quickly.

MS has started installing files on XP machines without users' consent
and I won't be surprised if this is the case with you.

Read it here:

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/09/18/2946921.htm

Jack

 

[Guest]

I also thought that the price of this gizmo was a little steep and I didn't
hesitate to complain to the salesman. However, considering that it was
getting late and I wanted to get to the bottom of this problem, and also that
the close by Radio Shack has recently closed its doors, I had little choice.
I could get even with that outfit by just returning this item - now that I'm
done with it ... if I was a deceitful person, that is.
Oh, well - another lesson learned.
Rich

Strange they have that name. I agree, their prices baffle me.