You guys are gonna love this one

This is my wife’s computer and has Windows XP with all the latest updates thru about Nov 5th. And it was running fantastic.

Before we begin I’ll tell you 1. what I have on the computer, 2. what it’s doing and 3. what I’ve tried to do.

I. What I have on the computer:

Emachine 600mhz, 6g hd, 200 mb ram…..all are close estimates as I remember

Windows XP

Wyvern Works Firewall (I see this as a hinderance)

Spyware Blaster

Spybot

Ccleaner

CleanCache

II. What it’s doing…the problems

For some reason the other day the screen went black while the wife was typing along.

After you reboot and it runs thru it’s process the Windows XP logo comes up and then black screen, no visible mouse, nothing.

After numerous reboots and switching monitors I realized we had a problem. Everything I read said I have a new hardware installation conflict/problem but we haven’t installed anything new.

I then thought that I had deleted something while running Ccleaner, which is a strong possibility. FWIW, yes I save before deleting but what does that matter if you can’t access it? Catch 22 kind of thing.

III. What I’ve tried

I can go to safe mode. Matter of fact it takes me there right away. I’ve tried every type of safe mode listed including hitting F5 for VGA mode.

Normal mode and last known (can’t remember the rest of the phrase) both go black after Windows XP logo.

Safe modes start their process and just stop showing what has loaded but the screen doesn’t go black, the computer just locks up allowing nothing more to take place.

I then tried to reload the Windows XP disc using (R). It asks me for the system number…I hit “1” and it takes, no problem. Then it ask me for the Administrator password and I hit “ENTER” because I know we don’t use a password and it says “Wrong password you moron!” or something similar. I’ve tried every password I can think of, rebooting every third try.

I went to this site for password recovery http://www.loginrecovery.com. I did everything between the two computers and when I input the disc so these guys could help I get this…FORBIDDEN PAGE! YOU DON’T HAVE ACCESS…don’t try that again or we’ll hunt you down kind of thing.

So that didn’t work. Then I tried this one http://www.openwall.com/john and made nothing happen.

I then tried this one which takes you through setup, as opposed to (R).

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=305

Pretty good one actually but Windows tried to install over my existing partition or wanted me to create another partition, which I’m lost at that point...

OK fellas, is there a fix or do I just hit “format c: /u” and get on with my life?

 

As you say you can get to Safe Mode then I would suggest that the video driver for "normal" use has keeled over.

Try re-installing the graphics driver for the video card that you have.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. I just got home from work so I'll try both of your suggestions tomorrow.

Really appreciate the link.

BTW, 256 mb of ram. I must've been thinking of ibuprofen...200mg!

 

Hi learner,

Like TimW said (wrote), 6 gigs ain't much to work with. If nothing helps, do a swap, think of this as a reason to upgrade to a bigger HD.

 

yeah well.. i had a similar problem with my harddrive/ motherboard and my dad took over, he ended up spending like 300$ on fixing it on a computer i spent 200$ on which ended up not working after fixed anyway. if you come to a spot that you need to spend 100$ or more to get out of i would say you should just buy a new one... you can get a 2-3ghz computer with a nice setup for around 300$.