Geek seeking Geek advice!!

[Ginger]

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

[Solver]

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

[BlueWolf]

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

[TheJagster]

Have you tried plugging it in?

[Ginger]

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)   

[ifm]

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"

[Ginger]

Jaggers ....  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??

[Ginger]

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"

No, it won't load in safe mode.

Nothing in the disk drive

Already tried that, and still black screen.

[ifm]

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

[BlueWolf]

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

[Ginger]

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.

[ifm]

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.

[BlueWolf]

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

[Solver]

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

[Ginger]

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.

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.

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

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