Windows opens to blank blue screen

i start up in windows and come to a blank blue screenwith hourglass. pc won't start. ideas?? help old guy please.

 

hi pc is dell dimension 4600c windows xp. if i boot in the safe mode iget ablue screen with windows xp logo and a cursor. message: windows is starting up -.but it doesn't. nothing happened with CTRL-ALT-DEL

 

If the computer has a CD-ROM drive, and if you can get into BIOS, make sure the boot sequence is set to check the CD drive BEFORE the internal disk drive (the boot disk is usually drive C).

If all that is okay, here is a way to at least salvage your data before doing anything else to destroy it......

Find a CLEAN (non-infected) computer to use. Download a bootable Linux ISO image (a "LIVE" CD). You can find a ton of 'em here......
http://www.livecdlist.com/

I recommend GRML, UBUNTU or DEBIAN -- but there's plenty of good ones.

You can find bootable Windows images too, but my reason for suggesting a Linux CD is that your computer could be infected - the symptoms you describe can be caused by a number of nasty malware applications. If you're lucky, it's just a corrupt driver, but it's best to play it safe until you know.

If you are not comfortable doing this yourself, ask a computer shop to make you a bootable linux CD (almost anything but Knoppix), and while they are at it, a slip-streamed Windows bootable CD w/current antivirus and antispyware, and GMER or some other rootkit detector/remover.

The first exercise will be to see if you can boot into a usable system with one of those. If NOT, that indicates you have a hardware problem.... bad video card maybe (but from your description, I don't believe it's likely).

If you CAN boot into a usable system, then get an external USB drive and copy your important files to it (unless you already have a backup somewhere).

Run full scans with antivirus and antispyware, then if they found nothing do a scan with the rootkit detector/remover.

If you can boot into a Windows environment with a bootable Windows CD, go to the Start menu, choose Run, and enter sfc /scannow
Note that you will need a copy of your original Windows CD if sfc finds any corrupt file(s) that need to be replaced. If you don't have one, I think a computer service shop is your best answer. They are equipped to find whatever is wrong, and even though the cost can add up, you will have a lot less aggravation. On the other hand, if you enjoy tinkering, you can learn some things by doing it yourself.

Worst case: buy a new computer. They are inexpensive these days.

Good luck with it.

 

Try this ...
Start the Recovery Console using a Windows XP CD (or an XP Recovery Console .ISO image that has been burned to CD).

• Insert the CD in the computer's optical disk drive tray.
• Start or re-start the computer so that it boots from the CD. You may be prompted to "Press any key". (If the system does not appear to be booting from the CD, you may need to enter the BIOS Setup Menu and change the boot order, so that the CD-ROM/optical disk drive is set to boot before the hard disk drive.)
• When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R key on your keyboard to start the Recovery Console.
• The Recovery Console will ask which Windows installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would type the number associated with the installation you would like to work on and press the <ENTER> key. If you have just one Windows installation, type 1 and press <ENTER>.
• You will be prompted for the Administrator's password. If there is no password, (and this is most likely), simply press <ENTER>.
• You will be presented with a C:\Windows> prompt. (Please advise if you are not seeing a C:\WINDOWS> prompt.)

At the C:\Windows> prompt, type chkdsk /r and press <ENTER> (Note: There is a space between "chkdsk" and "/r")

• 
  This will take some time to run and at times may appear stalled but just let it run.
• If any errors are found/repairs made, run chkdsk /r again, and repeat if necessary.

Type "exit" at the prompt and press <ENTER> to close the Recovery Console and restart your system.

Does Windows start normally now?

 

Hey there,

Dont know about dells but with Packard Bell I worked on mid last year I had to tell the bios to enable some sort of format sorry forget which NT..? hmmm then press F11 at start up and there was the recovery partition became available...

Not sure if Dell supports a similar function...

G.luck

 

plodr

I unfortunately dont have the time to follow every link posted, I appreciate this. I was just trying to be of assistance and not an ***, he may have a non destructive recovery option if this is applicable to this build? I apologise if my last post was unhelpful or put this persons data at risk that was certainly not my intent.

Regards

 

As plodr says

Yes, definitely learn how to create images they will, make you realise how smart you awere when your p.c turns toast or bad infection that will take to long to remove.

If possible a regular back up schedule is best for a home user, depending on the amount of data.

l8r:wave

 

Thanks to every one for thier advice.
I followed AustrAlien's instructions and i'm back up and running, if a little
erratically. While new dells don't come with installation discs this Dimension
4600c was built in 2003 and all discs were included. Ran anti virus and spyware
and found no major issues. Found that when I left clicked on a file while in IE8
nothing happened. I switched to Firefox and everything works ok, so may have
something to do with IE8. Anyway I see a new pc in my future.
Thanks r2d2waldo

 

Thanx guy i'll do that ,. Dell offers a $30. option to transfer files from the old pc to the new . Is this a good a--idea ?I don't want transfer the demons that are on my old pc to the new one.