Can´t boot, or enter safe mode, need urgent help

[Al_Jourgensen]

Hello community

I´m facing a problem that i can´t solve. I have windows vista, upgraded to windows 10....

I had "Avira" installed on my Acer, but the constant publicity made me uninstall it with revo uninstaller, in the end, when i reboot, i couldn´t enter in my BIOS, safe mode, or windows.

After reading numerous forums, i can´t seem to find a solution, the only thing i could fix was entering in the BIOS again, by removing the "BIOS battery" and plug it in again. After this, windows shows up again the load screen, he also shows the log in screen, but after the login screen i only get a Black Screen where i can only see the mouse pointer.

I also notice that if i press Ctrl+Alt+Del, i can get into task manager, i can also bring up command prompt running it through the task manager, but my desktop is completely dark/gone......

I also try to run explorer.exe from the task manager but nothing happens, i checked if any other instance of explorer was runnig but no luck, there isn´t any......

I also did a command in my cmd, "taskkill /f /im explorer.exe" that i read in a forum to reset explorer.exe, but in the end it only shows up an Error saying he can´t connect to the server.......

I also tried Hiren´s boot cd, but with so many options i don´t know what to choose, i only did a check disk (no errors found), a memory test (no errors found), i also run malwarebytes, it found 2 malware files in system32, but after i reboot to clean them, i remove the usb that has Hirene boot cd, and nothing happen, i´m not sure if they were removed.....

I was wandering if there is a way to boot tweaking from an USB (like Hiren´s boot cd), and try to fix this mess.....

I thank you for your great job on this software, and for the possible answers to my case.

Thank you

[Boggin]

There is a portable version of Windows Repair and while I've never used it, I believe you still need to use it from within Windows and isn't bootable.

Open the cmd.exe from Task Manager and enter rstrui.exe

This should open System Protection to see if you can use your restore points to before you uninstalled Avira, although I can't understand why uninstalling an AV program would cause you this problem.

If you are unable to use the restore points by this method then from the cmd prompt enter -

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

shutdown /r /t 00

and that should boot you up into Safe Mode where you should be able to use your restore points.

To revert from using Safe Mode, you can either use msconfig by typing that at Start then press enter and under the Boot tab, uncheck Safe Boot or from the cmd prompt enter - bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot then enter the shutdown cmd again to reboot.

[Al_Jourgensen]

There is a portable version of Windows Repair and while I've never used it, I believe you still need to use it from within Windows and isn't bootable.

Open the cmd.exe from Task Manager and enter rstrui.exe

This should open System Protection to see if you can use your restore points to before you uninstalled Avira, although I can't understand why uninstalling an AV program would cause you this problem.

If you are unable to use the restore points by this method then from the cmd prompt enter -

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

shutdown /r /t 00

and that should boot you up into Safe Mode where you should be able to use your restore points.

To revert from using Safe Mode, you can either use msconfig by typing that at Start then press enter and under the Boot tab, uncheck Safe Boot or from the cmd prompt enter - bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot then enter the shutdown cmd again to reboot.

Hello my friend and thank you for your kind answer

I tried to restore it with a windows boot usb, following the normal procedure, but every restore point gives me an error, something like 0x00000*** and 0*** and it doesn´t restore

The cmd that i´m talking about is within windows after the login, where i can only run the task manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del, i don´t see star menus or anything else, everything is black

When i try to go into safe mode by pressing F8, nothing happens, and if i try to run it through the windows USB, i don´t even have that option to boot it in safe mode

i could try the cmd commands that you are advising me to, but i tried some and nothing happens or works.....i can only see the mouse pointer, nothing else, strange thing is the login, why does he login to a black screen....

this is unbelievable.....but i´m going to try those commands to try to run it in safe mode

i´ll feedback latter

Thank you for your attention

[Boggin]

If that cmd gets you into Safe Mode and you get a screen, run MBAM again where it should tell you if you are now clean.

Depending upon what those infections were, they could have corrupted your restore points, but without a proper error code then it would be impossible for me to try and diagnose why they failed.

In Safe Mode you can go into msconfig and under the Boot tab, check the box for Network - Apply - OK and after the reboot, reinstall Avira.

You need to Ethernet connect to get Internet in Safe Mode in Win 10.

You can then revert to normal mode as I've described to see if it will boot normally.

[Al_Jourgensen]

If that cmd gets you into Safe Mode and you get a screen, run MBAM again where it should tell you if you are now clean.

Depending upon what those infections were, they could have corrupted your restore points, but without a proper error code then it would be impossible for me to try and diagnose why they failed.

In Safe Mode you can go into msconfig and under the Boot tab, check the box for Network - Apply - OK and after the reboot, reinstall Avira.

You need to Ethernet connect to get Internet in Safe Mode in Win 10.

You can then revert to normal mode as I've described to see if it will boot normally.

I´m going to try it

as for the error code, i´m going to do the same procedure so i can tell you the error code.

I just want to try to get in a windows environment, from there i´ll fix anything, but it has been difficult....

Thank you again, i´ll feedback later

[Boggin]

Okay.

[Al_Jourgensen]

Okay.

My friend, i really thank you for the safe boot tip, i manage to enter, but still after made one pass with malwarebytes it didn´t detect nothing.....then i run tweaking and it didn´t solve the problem, i´m still getting the black screen.....

beside i didn´t solve my problem, i really thank you for your precious tip

.....i don´t know what i´m going to do with this now......running out of options....

[Boggin]

Have you left a CD/DVD in the drive or have any external drives plugged in ?

Did you reinstall Avira ?

While there have been negative reports about Avast, I haven't seen anything about Avira.

When uninstalling an AV program it is best to use it's Uninstaller.

There may be residue of the program in the registry, but I think reinstalling it rather than digging through the registry for any bits should be the first thing to try.

It's difficult to know what has caused this black screen and would have to be quite a coincidence for your graphics to have gone down when you uninstalled Avira.

Did you manage to replicate the error code for the restore point failure or try your restore points in Safe Mode ?

There are a couple of cmds you could try to see if they get you back up and they are -

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

shutdown /r /t 00

and see if there's any improvement after the reboot.

You could try Windows own tools to see if they work in Safe Mode by clicking on the Start button - Settings - Update & Security - Recovery - Restart Now but that may just boot you back into a black screen in normal mode.

I've forgot to ask - what are you using to post on ?

I assume the machine that has the problem is a desktop ?

I'm not sure if Event Viewer is available in Safe Mode without trying it, but that should have something recorded - ignore any Critical Event ID 41 as they just relate to any power shutdowns - click on Error then on Show All Instances of This Event in the lower right pane and then check recent time stamped errors.

[Al_Jourgensen]

Have you left a CD/DVD in the drive or have any external drives plugged in ?

Did you reinstall Avira ?

While there have been negative reports about Avast, I haven't seen anything about Avira.

When uninstalling an AV program it is best to use it's Uninstaller.

There may be residue of the program in the registry, but I think reinstalling it rather than digging through the registry for any bits should be the first thing to try.

It's difficult to know what has caused this black screen and would have to be quite a coincidence for your graphics to have gone down when you uninstalled Avira.

Did you manage to replicate the error code for the restore point failure or try your restore points in Safe Mode ?

There are a couple of cmds you could try to see if they get you back up and they are -

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

shutdown /r /t 00

and see if there's any improvement after the reboot.

You could try Windows own tools to see if they work in Safe Mode by clicking on the Start button - Settings - Update & Security - Recovery - Restart Now but that may just boot you back into a black screen in normal mode.

I've forgot to ask - what are you using to post on ?

I assume the machine that has the problem is a desktop ?

I'm not sure if Event Viewer is available in Safe Mode without trying it, but that should have something recorded - ignore any Critical Event ID 41 as they just relate to any power shutdowns - click on Error then on Show All Instances of This Event in the lower right pane and then check recent time stamped errors.

Hello again my friend, thank you, really, for your attention

 i´m going to answer in the order of your questions

I don´t have any drives plug in or cd/dvd;

I din´t reinstall Avira, instead i uninstall also avast, i did everything in Safe Mode environment;

The error code for the restore point failure is 0x81000201, i have 14 restore points, all of them give me this error, that they are damaged....;

I didn´t try the cmds yet, i´m running malwarebytes and tdskiller to see if something pops up, then i would try the cmds, i was also thinking in the "reset this pc" option, but i´m afraid of losing data...i manage to create a windows 10 iso in Safe Mode environment, i´m going to try to install windows again without losing data....i only hope that this don´t give me an error like the one before, that he could not continue with the reset, but i was running it trough usb stick and not from the hard drive, and also it was the newest version, the version that i have on the notebook is an upgrade version;

I didn´t understand this question "I've forgot to ask - what are you using to post on ?"

Regarding the event viewer, i have several event IDs, like this ones:
10005 - DCOM error 1084
55 - this one talks about MFT, file reference 0x9000000000009, it´s impossible to know the name of the file
8200 - this one refers to the system restore
3 - readyboot stopped 0xC0000188
701 - service control manager
7001 - service control manager
3095 - Netlogon
121 - 0x80004004
7023 - service control manager
7043 - service control manager
10010 - DCOM
1000 - explorer.exe error - 0x55c9b75e - 0xc0000005 - 0x00129e19 - 0xeec - 0x01d254ef067eaacf
214 - appreadiness


thank you once again

[Boggin]

It isn't advisable to run two antivirus programs even if they don't have their own firewall as that can cause a myriad of problems, although I don't think a black screen is among them - although I could be wrong.

Before you were able to boot up into Safe Mode with Networking, what machine were you using to post on the forum ?

Did you try a normal boot after uninstalling Avast ?

I don't think you will be able to do a repair install from Safe Mode with Networking as I believe the Windows Installer service needs to be running and it isn't in Safe Mode.

If those bootrec cmds don't do anything for you then shutdown and boot into the BIOS to change the Boot order to read from the DVD drive before the HDD - insert your disk - press F10 to Exit and Save - confirm then press any key to boot from CD/DVD when prompted.

Change/confirm the currency input then select Repair your Computer - Troubleshoot

You could try the Startup Repair, but it tells me that it can't auto repair mine even though there's sod all wrong with it - but give it a try and if it tells you the same, click on Advanced to return to the menu and select Command Prompt.

Enter bcdedit |find "osdevice"

That is a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \

In this mode it doesn't always see the OS in C:

Enter sfc /scannow /offbootdir=X:\ /offwindir=X:\Windows

Where X=your partition letter and wait to see what that reports.

For clarity, there's a space before each /

Hopefully it will repair any corruption from the incorrupt source of the install disk.

[Al_Jourgensen]

It isn't advisable to run two antivirus programs even if they don't have their own firewall as that can cause a myriad of problems, although I don't think a black screen is among them - although I could be wrong.

Before you were able to boot up into Safe Mode with Networking, what machine were you using to post on the forum ?

Did you try a normal boot after uninstalling Avast ?

I don't think you will be able to do a repair install from Safe Mode with Networking as I believe the Windows Installer service needs to be running and it isn't in Safe Mode.

If those bootrec cmds don't do anything for you then shutdown and boot into the BIOS to change the Boot order to read from the DVD drive before the HDD - insert your disk - press F10 to Exit and Save - confirm then press any key to boot from CD/DVD when prompted.

Change/confirm the currency input then select Repair your Computer - Troubleshoot

You could try the Startup Repair, but it tells me that it can't auto repair mine even though there's sod all wrong with it - but give it a try and if it tells you the same, click on Advanced to return to the menu and select Command Prompt.

Enter bcdedit |find "osdevice"

That is a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \

In this mode it doesn't always see the OS in C:

Enter sfc /scannow /offbootdir=X:\ /offwindir=X:\Windows

Where X=your partition letter and wait to see what that reports.

For clarity, there's a space before each /

Hopefully it will repair any corruption from the incorrupt source of the install disk.

I post in the forum with other notebook, and i did try the normal reboot after uninstalling Avast...same thing.....intaling Win in Safe Mode is impossible, and if i do it from the Usb stick asks me for a serial that i don´t have.....the restore point says in all of them, that the memory is read not "something".... and an error code.

The bootrec cmds says that bootrec.exe is not recognized as an external command bla bla bla........

The sfc cmd says that the arguments passed to sfc are invalid. The offline dir specified points to the online system......

I don´t know what is going on...or what else i can do....but i thank you for your attention my friend

[Boggin]

Did you run the bootrec and offboot sfc cmds after you booted up with the install disk ?

I've tried both of them on my Win 10 laptop and they both run successfully when I booted up with my install disk, so I'm not sure why you got those fail errors.

When you booted up with the install disk, did you try the Startup Repair option ?

[Al_Jourgensen]

Did you run the bootrec and offboot sfc cmds after you booted up with the install disk ?

I've tried both of them on my Win 10 laptop and they both run successfully when I booted up with my install disk, so I'm not sure why you got those fail errors.

When you booted up with the install disk, did you try the Startup Repair option ?

I type it in safe mode, and normal mode, my mistake.......the startup repair also gives me an error.........but......i manage to enter again in normal mode, pull up the task manager again, and from the search button i manage to get to my usb stick and run the setup, but i had to right click on it, and choose open, now is searching for updates......it didn´t move yet, but let´s see if he installs now......i really can´t understand why i can pull up task manager, and run something with a black screen behind.......let´s see what happens, i´ll feedback....one more thing was that i used the upgrade tool from microsoft, it got to 44% then he restarted and nothing happen....

[Boggin]

When I do a Win 10 repair install, I opt out of it looking for updates as it can get stuck on those.

I'm puzzled about the 44% reboot - mine reboots about the 30% mark and then again at 74%.

It is strange how it will run on a black screen as it requires user input to accept the EULA and to keep all of your stuff during the reinstall.

How much can you see of the reinstall ?

[Al_Jourgensen]

When I do a Win 10 repair install, I opt out of it looking for updates as it can get stuck on those.

I'm puzzled about the 44% reboot - mine reboots about the 30% mark and then again at 74%.

It is strange how it will run on a black screen as it requires user input to accept the EULA and to keep all of your stuff during the reinstall.

How much can you see of the reinstall ?

Ok, so with the update utility he get to 44% and restarted, then nothing happened, so i manage to open the task manager again, in normal mode, and from there i clicked in new task, and then in "Search", it open a window and from there i was able to see my USB stick with windows 10 in it, i had to right click on setup and try to run it like this because if i clicked "ok" nothing happen either, so from here, he open up the installation menu and did everything normally and finally i manage to install windows again without losing any files.

I really want to thank you for your kind help and attention, if it wasn´t for the bcdedit cmd to get to Safe Mode, maybe i couldn´t be able to do this in normal mode, strange things happen, and this was beyond my comprehension, but it´s one more for my CV......

Thank once again really

[Boggin]

So you're okay now ?

Download BlueScreenView to see if the computer made a Memory Dump file to see what had caused the black screen in the first place.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

[Al_Jourgensen]

So you're okay now ?

Download BlueScreenView to see if the computer made a Memory Dump file to see what had caused the black screen in the first place.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Ok my friend, later i give you feedback, i´m in my office now....thank you

[Al_Jourgensen]

So you're okay now ?

Download BlueScreenView to see if the computer made a Memory Dump file to see what had caused the black screen in the first place.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

the software doesn´t show nothing...maybe is from the new instalation of windows...

[Boggin]

That's possible but a repair install doesn't normally touch non-system files - perhaps it didn't create a dump file.

Open Windows Explorer - right click on This PC and select Properties - Advanced system settings then on Settings under Start-up and Recovery.

It should look like mine if it's set to create Memory Dumps.