Getting blue screen, NOT BSOD!

I've been working on a computer that was running very slowly. I ran all the virus scans suggested in the malware removal procedure posted here & didn't find anything. I disabled all unneccessary services & removed unwanted programs. I scanned the HD for errors & did an sfc /scannow. None of that worked so I did a Windows XP Repair install.

That's when I started getting nothing but a blank blue screen with just a mouse pointer. It will boot up, I'll see the Windows XP splash screen, I am able to log in with a username & PW, then I get a message saying I have to activate Windows before I can log in - do you want to activate now? I hit the yes button - then nothing but blue screen + mouse arrow. This is NOT a BSOD - I get no text on the screen saying there's an error. I checked the drive for minidumps, but there aren't any. Also, I can boot into safe mode via the command prompt, start explorer.exe and see my stuff, but Windows doesn't allow activation via this mode.

I'm hoping there's someone here who experienced this before & can just redirect me to another thread that has a solution. I know I can't be the first to experience this. I'd really like to avoid a nuke & pave as there are programs on it that can't be replaced. Please help! Thanks in advance.

 

True, but you can load your ethernet driver if it missing from this mode. Check the device manager to see if it's missing. Then report back for further instructions.

 

It's not missing. In fact, I see a total of 8 entries, none of which show any problems:

Direct Parallel
Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport (IP) - Packet Scheduler Miniport
WAN Miniport (L2TP)
WAN Miniport (PPOE)
WAN Miniport (PPTP)

I hadn't noticed these others before - just the basic Intel driver should be there. Do I dare delete the others? Would any deletions in safe mode make a difference when I reboot into normal mode? I ask that because I have attempted to make certain changes of settings in safe mode before & nothing really sticks after rebooting.

 

I know the following may not make sense immediately, but hear me out

Download IE8
Put it on a flash drive.
Insert flash drive into PC
Reboot your PC into Safe mode w/ command prompt again
type explorer
Access My computer
Access your flash drive
copy the installer of IE8 onto the desktop.
Run the installer of IE8
When complete, reboot windows into Normal Mode.
You should now be able to "Activate through the internet"

Don't delete the others.

 

I got IE8 installed (nice catch! I hadn't thought of that), but I'm still stuck with the same result. Just to be sure IE8 installed properly, I went back into safe mode as mentioned before & launched it. I answered the prerequisite questions about add-ons & installing updates. IE8 is working. I rebooted normally again but there was no difference in the activation predicament.

 

HOLD ON! Just after I posted my last message, I noticed the activation window showed up. It's just taking FOREVER to progress with mouse clicks and so forth. It seems my speed issue with this thing is still not resolved. The hard drive light shows that it's churning away at something, but I have no idea what. I guess I'll just have to be patient & hope it eventually activates. To be continued....

 

The activation showed up, but failed due to a bad license key - the sticker shows XP Home, but the PC had XP Pro installed on it. I was able to extract the XP Pro key beforehand and tried reinstalling with that. Bummer. Oh well....

The speed of this thing is just way too slow. I tried a spare HD & installed the XP Home OS on that - speed is fine, so the mobo & memory are ok. I ran SpinRite 6.0 on the 'slow HD' and found a couple bad areas. I think these were fixed but I'm not very familiar with this software yet so I'm not sure. Upon reboot, it was still slow.

In any case, I wasn't able to log in all the way into Windows Pro due to my activation failing (via both internet and telephone) so I'm thinking a nuke & pave with Windows Home is my only option now. Would you agree?

 

I would have to agree that it's a failing hard drive with a lot of corruption / bad sectors.

Yes. It failed because you can't use a Pro key on a Home Install/repair install.
Did you have the option to repair using a Win XP Home CD? That may have worked. But it still should not take forever to finally get to the activation screen. Plus, SpinRite is pretty accurate IMO.

 

XP Pro was installed when I got it & I have an XP Pro disk which I used to try to repair it, with the XP Pro key I extracted beforehand.

I also have an XP Home CD available. Are you saying that if I attempted to repair XP Pro with the Home CD & Home key, I might have been able to successfully repair the XP Pro installation? I just assumed that wouldn't work. I may be misunderstanding you.:confused

 

No.

I thought XP Home is what was originally installed on it since that's what the product key on the case displayed.

You're right. It wouldn't.