Only Black Screen After Stopzilla Download

I downloaded a free trial version of Stopzilla, after the restart I only get a black screen. I can tap the F8 key and get to the safe mode menu, but all options lead back to a black screen. My friend wants to take a recovery disk and wipe my hard drive clean, but I want to see if anyone knows of an alternate route. I'm on XP. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks

 

Greetings, micheleb33.

Do you have your Windows XP disk? If so, you may be able to boot to the disk and enter the Recovery Console.

 

No I dont, unfortunatley I got a deal on this CPU a few years ago from Frys and it came loaded with XP but no disk. Is it something I can purchase now? thanks for responding.

 

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find XP disks.

Does the machine have a recovery partition that you know of?

 

I dont know.:confused

 

Ohhh ohh Just as I was looking for a blank disk I found an CP Product Recovery cd rom...actually 3. Each one is labled the same but with CD1 CD2 and CD3. You think I should wait for someone that knows what theyre doing?

 

Do you mean locally, or someone here at Major Geeks?

 

haha yeah here locally. But I'm asking them to try to get to see about getting to the Recovery Console first. He was ready to just reload everything. Thanks for your help!! Looking for a blank cd I found these disks. My toddler son has played with all of these before and messed up my order. Should have looked through all of them.

 

Just messing with you - I may not know what I'm doing, but somebody here does.

I'd suggest burning TimW's Recovery Console .iso to a disk and booting to that disk. From the console, you should then be able to run a 'fixboot', which may solve your problem. Steps for using the Recovery Console can be found here.

I'd hold off on using the recovery disks until after you've tried the console - for the most part, OEM recovery disks will revert your machine to a factory default state, which usually means losing all saved data. If you wish to go that route, other steps must first be taken if you wish to salvage your stored documents, pictures, etc.

 

So I put this disk in the drive and when I boot up it should read it? Or should I go to the safe mode and do something?

 

Hi michele,

If you downloaded the rc.iso file and burnt it to disc as an image file it should be bootable.

Yes, start the computer with the disc in the tray and you should be prompted to hit any key to boot from CD.

 

Yeah I'm just getting nothing on the screen. Still black after the windows screen.

 

Unfortunately this didnt work, still a black screen. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

Can you start the machine in Safe Mode with Command Prompt? If so, at the command prompt, type rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.

The machine should then revert to the most recent Restore Point. If the procedure doesn't solve the problem, try it again, and the machine will revert to another Restore Point if one exists.

 

I finally got something. I started the computer and tapped the F8 key to get to start up mode to try what you suggested and got something new. I still have this RC image disk inthe drive it flashed through running a bunch of things, Windows setup, kernel debugger and others (too fast to get all the names), then I got to a Recovery Console, it had three options so I picked recovery to repair system.
Type Exit to quit Recovery Con
1. C:\Windows
Which Windows installation would you like to log onto <To cancel, press enter>?
From the other link you gave me to the Microsoft windows
I pressed 1 enter
now I am at a C:\Windows prompt. Not sure what to type, but I'm going to keep reading that MS page.
thanks

 

I did fixboot. that is 'successfully written'. Not sure what else to do.

 

So you used fixboot at the command prompt in Recovery Console and then ejected the CD and still get the blank screen?

Go back to recovery console and at the C:\Windows prompt type "type C:\boot.ini" and does the default line match the long line below it? (the bolded parts and particularly the partition numbers [ie. 1] match?)

*******
Also while in RC type "dir C:\" and list the files in your next post.

 

Yes I got everything you got there, except mine is Windows XP Home Edition.

Under the dir, I got, 26 files:
autoexec.bat
autoexec.ex5
Book1.xls
boot.ini
config.msi
config.sys
documents and settings
drivers
ets
extend6lt
inf.log
intel2562.log
io.sys
logfile.xsl
msdos.sys
msxml3msms
ntdetect.com
ntldr
program files
recycler
swsetup
system volume information
temp
windows
wutemp
wutemp
yserver.tst

I originally did this damage to my computer on 11/21/10 so I dont know if its necessary to point out the files with those dates are: config..msi,program files, windows.
thanks for your help!

 

Hi, Michele

I'm sorry but I have never had much success with fixing XP in the start up loop. I only joined this thread to help with burning the rc.iso.

You have all the basic files needed to start XP in the C:\ directory (as far as I know) and the boot.ini looks OK to me.

I hope someone else who has read more threads involving the start up loop can assist you.

 

I still havent fixed this. Has anybody ever recovered from this?? thanks

 

I read all the posts and I don't know what happens when you turn the computer on at this point in time. Do you get a loop? Do you get a black screen? Do you get a BSOD?

Can you start in safe mode? Can you access the BIOS?

The three CDs you found, what is the label on them? I'm not sure if you have restore disks, driver disks or a combo of restore and driver disks.

(This is for me, not for you Michele, just in case I need to explain I don't have to hunt it down again
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897)

 

I still get a black screen no matter what. I used the XP Recovery Console that Tim had me dl and then did the fix boot and still have only black screen when I restart.
My Product Recovery CD's I havent tried to use yet. I was hoping to be able to restore the computer.

 

I don't want to interfere if plodr has a plan. One thing you haven't tried is running chkdsk /r from the Recovery Console prompt. I don't know that it will help but it couldn't hurt.

 

Sach, the system did run through something that took about 15 - 20 mins. but when I rebooted I still only have the black screen. Darn. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

Those recovery disks - have you tried booting to any of them? I'd just like to see if they are bootable - you don't necessarily have to do anything with them, but we`should ensure that they are viable disks as a last-ditch measure.

 

How can I test them. Change the bios/first boot back to cd-rom and put them in and see what I get?

 

Yes.

 

Yeah it looks like it will work. I got a 'To restore your operating system' Do you really want to process restoration? yes or cancel.

I'm thinking the computer is unfixable at this point and I should restore. Is this something I should get help on or can I do it on my own, do you know?

 

The restoration process should be straightforward - any questions, just ask.

If there is any data that you wish to save before performing the format/reinstall, I suggest downloading and booting to a live Linux distro such as Mint or Ubuntu, from which you may be able to transfer your data via flash drive. Those distros are .iso images - you would burn the image to disk just like you did the Recovery Console, and boot from that disk.

 

Thanks it was really easy, only took about 15 mins. Thanks so much for your help.

 

Did you perform the XP restoration, and it was successful?

 

Yeah, it was easy and fast. The only thing I'll be missing are some videos and pics from the last few months. Well lesson learned. I knew one day that was going to get me! Once I get a perm job I'll shop for a new computer, this one's old and that was probably part of the problem. Thanks for all your help.

 

Good job! Glad you got it sorted, and thanks for the feedback. :major