dreaded black screen of death

Hello,
I was on another forum that mentioned your Windows Recovery CD. I would hate spend the money if it can't help me. I wasn't allowed to copy/paste the entire string from the other forum, but here is some of it below. Would someone be able to please let me know to if you are familiar with this problem and if the Windows Recovery CD will definitely work for me? The laptop in question has Windows 7 (French version) and AVG anti-virus (free version). I don't have any software CD's or anything backed up. Unfortunately, I am not very tech savvy. Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance for any advice,
Treva


So my boyfriend gave me the laptop over a year ago. The laptop started to surf slowly. And, no matter what I was clicking on, any mouse click could cause strange websites to open up. I downloaded the EEK and then was led to the emsisoft support forum.
According to Emsisoft puter dude, Kevin's instructions I was to downloaded AdwCleaner, Junkware Removal Tool and Combofix. I emailed him the logs generated by the first two. However, when I downloaded ComboFix, my computer froze. I thought it was asleep, but I could not wake it up.



ShadowPuterDude

• Posted 27 July 2013 - 05:44 PM

Push and hold the power button until the laptop turns off. Then restart.

Once logged on, turn off sleep mode and hibernation.

Then try running ComboFix again.



treva

• Posted 27 July 2013 - 05:56 PM

I have tried that a few times now. When I press the button to restart, I only have a black screen, so I cannot log on or do anything at all except for power it back off.
I will keep trying.




ShadowPuterDude

Posted 27 July 2013 - 06:01 PM
When you switch ON your computer, start tapping the "F8" key to get "Windows Advanced Options"(if boot menu appears, press "Esc" key and keep tapping the F8 key)

Select "Last known good configuration"



treva

• Posted 27 July 2013 - 07:29 PM

Hi Kevin,
Pressing F8 upon powering on works, but I still end up at the dreaded black screen.

The laptop is made by Acer, so I when I tap F8 upon powering on, I get a screen that says Acer in big letters, and something like "press F2 for setup" in small letters at the bottom. That screen only lasts a moment, like a flash, I see a screen that says "Windows was not shut down correctly" and I have four choices of modes to restart the computer. Last known configuration is not an option. This screen has white letters on a black back ground. I've seen it several times in the past and would always choose the fourth option "start Windows normally". ESC did nothing from this screen. The only thing I can do is highlight one of the choices and enter. They all take me to the dreaded black screen.
Please help.
Thanks,
Treva




ShadowPuterDude

• Posted 27 July 2013 - 08:20 PM

At the black screen press CTRL+ALT+DEL

The Task Manager should start.

Click on New Task

type: explorer.exe

Click OK.

The desktop should start.

Run system restore.



treva

• Posted 27 July 2013 - 11:25 PM

Hi Kevin,
I just wanted to say that I still cannot get past the black screen. I tried CTRL+ALT+DEL several times including prior to my earlier posts. Once I get to the black screen, nothing works, not even CTRL+ALT+DEL. I cannot get past that screen. CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing. The only thing I can do is hold the power button down to turn the laptop off again. I also tried taking the battery out, waiting a few minutes, and putting it back in. That made no difference. I'm starting to feel hopeless. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

I don't know if it makes any difference but Windows 7 is in French (the laptop used to belong to my boyfriend, who speaks French). So the screen I can get to upon start up (with the white letters on black background) says "Récupération d'erreurs Windows" with these four start up options:

• Mode sans échec
• Mode sans échec avec prise en charge de réseau
• Invite de commandes en mode sans échec
• Démarrer Windows normalement

I'm guessing there is nothing different from its English equivalent, but just thought I'd mention that it's in French.
Thanks,
Treva (using secondary laptop)




treva

• Posted Yesterday, 08:42 AM

Good morning,
I just wanted to let you know that I did not get any prompts about Microsoft Windows Recovery Console. I have no idea if it is installed on the laptop. Combofix was doing a scan, making a log when I walked away.
Any suggestions you may have today would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Treva



ShadowPuterDude

Posted Yesterday, 12:45 PM
Windows 7 does not employ the Recovery Console. Windows 7 has a Recovery Environment.

Looking at the menu options, I don't see a "Repair your computer" menu item. There should be one.

The other option is to restore using the Acer eRecovery by pressing ALT+F10 at system start. If no backups were created, then the only option you willbe presented is to restore the system to factory defaults. That will restore the system to the same a the first time it was turned on. You will lose all data, and have to reinstall all programs with this option.


treva

• Posted Yesterday, 02:13 PM

Losing all my data is not acceptable. Would the ALT+F10 also result in all my files being lost, if no backups were created?





treva

• Posted Yesterday, 02:17 PM

When I get the press F2 for setup, it shows "Insyde H20 Setup Utility". I haven't changed any settings since I'm unfamiliar with what they are. There is something that says F12 Boot Menu (disabled). Would that menu be of any use, if I enable it?



ShadowPuterDude

Posted Yesterday, 07:44 PM
The F12 Boot menu only allows you to choose the boot device. So, that won't help in the particular instance.

Do you have a Windows 7 CD?



treva

• Posted Today, 07:32 AM

Nope, I don't have a Windows CD.
Before I try it, would Alt+F10 result in all my files being lost, if no backups were created?




ShadowPuterDude

Posted Today, 11:53 AM
treva, on 29 Jul 2013 - 07:32 AM, said:Yes

Neosmart makes Repair & Recovery CDs, available for a fee. https://neosmart.........