blonde poker forum

HELP!!!

I had to do a reformat on my laptop yesterday, all went to plan and got the basics back on to do the updates it needed........ Service pack 2... yes I can hear your hearts sinking now, it was running fine with it before the reformat, but after the download and install it hangs on a black screen, it doesn't even get to the XP loading screen.

I've tried last good config, safe mode, the whole lot, but can't get anywhere near the operating system.

Am I going to have to bite the bullet and start all over again? I've searched all over the knowledge base (lololol) and the web, but can't find the help I need, Can anyone help?

Jane x

In my experience if you can't even get it to boot in safe mode then yes, I'm afraid you are going to have to bite the bullet and start again.

Just out of interest, why were you reformatting in the first place - is it possible your HD is shagged?

Stu

have you added anything to it?? ie upgraded gfx etc? (is it even possible with a lappy??)

are you getting anything at boot?? do you get a bios beep?(do lappys even have one? lol) any setup info etc or is it just pure blackness???

god i hate reformatting its a right pain but any problems are usually something very simple like a wire in slightly wrong or a floppy/cd in the drive

Have you tried plugging it in?

The thought had crossed my mind that the HD is on it's way out, yes.

It had been getting slower and slower ( to the point of unusable) over the last couple of months, no matter what I disabled and removed. The amount of work that I do on it through Uni is unreal, and thought that the only time that I could do the reformat was the break in the semesters. The HD was almost full, constantly.

It got to the point that I could't even play poker on it!! OMG!

There where no viruses ect, so I know that wasn't part of the problem.

It all loaded perfect after the reformat, it's just since reinstalling bloomin Service pack 2 ( Gggggrrrrrrrrr)  ;technophobe; 

will it load in safe mode?
what is in your disk drive?
try starting it and tapping F1 and changing the boot order to omit "network card"

Jaggers ....  :redcard: hhmmmmph

Ok, I can get into it with a bootable Knoppix cd that I have, but nothing trying to boot with windows. So to me it looks like a "start again" rather than the HD... possibly??

No, it won't load in safe mode.

Nothing in the disk drive

Already tried that, and still black screen.

usually if the hard disk gives you get an error (black screen/white text) saying something about a lead being disconnected.

looks like you gotta install again as unfortunate as it is, although shouldnt take very long. and try another source for sp2 perhaps?

IFM, I'm not getting any error messages or text at any stage, I've never come across something like this before.

Bluewolf, I got SP2 from MS.... I should of known better lol.

This may sound silly but has the screen packed up?
I don't think i've ever heard about a completely blank screen and i used to run a website dedicated to windows problem solving.

sounds about right M$ distributing rubbish (hope my xbox dont hear me say that :P)

Yep, start again.

I wasn't suggesting that your HD is totally shagged, just that it's corrupt enough to stop windows from booting.

Have you tried selecting Safe Mode With Command Prompt and then Safe Mode with Recovery Command Prompt.  That should at least run a full chkdsk /f to check for any bad sectors.

Stu

Nope, the screen is fine, like i said I can load knoppix and see all of that perfectly. It's got me stumped too lol.


Tried every one of the options, and it goes straight to the black screen, and doesn't move any further.

Biting the bullet as I type, will let you know the outcome later  ;pokergods;

 ;technophobe; damn pc's,  grrrrrrrrrrr

Thanks for all the help guys  ;)

Its my pleasure....anytime     ;)

Have you checked the fuse?

Most likely cause is a faulty Hard Drive.

A word of advise, you will prob be able to reformat the HD and load windows again, this will work for a while, but you will run into the same problem in the not too distant future.

I used to have the same problem on one of our PC's - now have a new hard drive with windows installed, users setup, programs installed, restrictions for what the kids can and cant do.

That Hard drive is now secure in its box, only to be used to copy onto existing hard drive - saves me around 5 hours time when the PC crashes.

Ok, it's crunch time ......

started over from scratch AGAIN, OS installed and have downloaded SP2 from another location......

I am about to do the first reboot,  watch this space..............

fingers crossed everyone!

If it doesn't work this time Ginge, make some tea and let a bloke fix it

sounds like shes got it in hand big chap. cheeky beggar!! ;D

mad

 ;technophobe;

need I say more?

Wow,

This is the first I've heard of SP2 actually stopping a PC from booting.

My laptop is running with SP2 but I'm happy with my PC has been running with no SP's evers since I got it.  I'm happy that my Firewall router and security programs are pluggin the security flaws.

Go without it.

Stu

Looks like I will have to do just that Solver, it DID install, the little yellow line changed to the little blue one even lol.

It looked like it was going to load, I got the windows XP screen, which I didn't last time, it then got stuck in a reboot loop, getting so far then restarting itself. I had to in the end switch it off. That's when I got the damn black screen again  >:(

I'm at a loss as to what's wrong, it's certainly a new one to me. I had to do a reformat last year, just after SP2 came out ( nothing to do with SP2 though) and it was fine, so why would there be problems this time?

Try this please.
Boot the comp and then tap F8 till you get the bios menu, in the menu there should be an option to change disable "automatic restart on system failure", this should result in you getting a blue screen next time it fails to boot and from the error may give you a clue as to the fault

Just did a quick search and most of these kind of problems are due to BIOS errors, the conventional wisdom appears to be to load up XP then flash the BIOS and then install SP2.

IFM, thanks again for help, in fact all of you.

I've tried just about every option and STILL get the black screen as soon as it tries to move on. What do you mean "flash the BIOS"?

upgrade the BIOS = flash it.
There were apparently conflicts with SP2:-

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5330486.html#

Cheers IFM, I'll have a go at that later, right now I've had enough of the damn thing lol.

Have you tried Dropping it, or throwing it against a wall?

If that don’t work you are going to need a HAMMER

LOL, no Bundle, I haven't gotten physical with it, YET.

It has had many nasty looks ( I would of been scared if it was me  ;scarymoment; ) and some very strong language thrown at it though, does that count?

really does sound like a conflict issue, but not sure how it can be on a newly formatted HDD, hav you added anything to the lappy since your last install hardware wise????

Not a thing Bluewolf, after both reinstalls, the only thing i have added is a internet connection, it's purely after SP2 goes on, that the problems start.  :dontask: