[Fructis]

Hi Everyone,

Apologies if this is a re-run of the usual 'black screen' posts on the XP forums; I've had a search through the site and as yet haven't found anything that solved the issue...

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**System**

Dell Dimension 3000 (Celeron)
Windows XP Home edition SP2
(**To my knowledge I haven't got SP3, (through custom/selective updating of Win Updates), but XP may have subtly updated my system without my knowing it).

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**Hardware changes made**

-512K RAM to 2GB RAM modules
-Wireless PCI card
(Both have been on the computer for at least a year and have been working fine)

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**Issue**

A few days ago I downloaded, mounted and opened a *possibly* suspect .ISO file and tried to open a .pdf from within it.
The system froze during this process, I restarted and then the following...

-Dell startup screen, followed by normal Windows XP splash screen as normal, then just a black screen with a moveable pointer.

-I have access to safe mode, but the same black screen occurs, (it has the usual "safe mode" text written around the edge as per normal and a moveable cursor).

-All four green diagnostic lights are on at the back of the tower.
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**Attempted Remedies (not necessarily in this order)**

-Accessed and backed up hard-drive via PuppyLinux on a CD; makes me think that there's nothing wrong with the hard-drive, as it is perfectly accessible.

-Removed all USB peripherals and restarted PC; no changes.

-Tried restarting to 'last known good configuation' from (F8 Safe Mode Screen); no changes.

-Pressed shift key 5 times followed by 'bleep'; no changes.

-Taken network and wireless cards out and restarted PC without them; no changes.

-Removed CMOS battery to reset BIOS; no changes.

-Checked hard-drive connections were seated properly and generally tidied/dusted inside of tower; no changes.

-Tried bringing up Task Manager from Safe Mode (Ctrl+Shift+Esc); failed.

-Entered repair console from XP disk, then backed up and replaced user32.dll with the original, just in case Sasser virus was an issue; no changes

-Repaired windows using the XP disk. This changed nothing, other than the mouse cursor being made slightly bigger (?!)

-Tried 'fixmbr' through the Recovery Console; no changes.

-Scanned majority of the backed up hardrive files and Avast! flagged pagefile.sys as a virus. Scanned it using McAfee on another computer and it didn't find a problem. I've backed it up and deleted it anyway; no changes.

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**Haven't Tried**

-Virus-Scanning the contents of the hard-drive remotely.

-I'm concerned about recovering from registry, (should it be corrupted), using the recovery console because according to this article (Microsoft Website) it will apparently create usernames/passwords that didn't previously exist; due to OEM OS installation.

-Reformatting and Reinstalling OS; I would rather avoid a complete reinstall at the moment; although I know this needs doing soon.
I have a tendency to think that this is an easily-solvable problem because all components seem ok, hard-drive is accessible and XP loads normally at first.

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...Sorry for the SERIOUSLY long-winded post. I realise I may have over-killed the problem with all manner of google/internet-forum solutions, but am at a complete loss of how to go from here

Does anyone have any ideas that I should try before finally reformatting?

Any help would be very much appreciated; many thanks.

[Fructis]

"Bump"

[Fructis]

Hi All,

Problem solved...Offline system restore from Recovery Console:

http://2pure.net/index.php?session=0...cle=1150238652

Follow it carefully and make sure to be exact when typing commands.


Works like a treat!

Regards