Black Screen - White Cursor After Reboot???

Greetings all...

WinXP Pro... Applied a HotFix to a working system (SP1) and when I went to reboot it does the Win XP screen then goes to a black screen with a white cursor.....

I have tried the repair option from the install cd numerous times with no effect. I have done CHKDSK, FIXMBR etc and nothing changes... I hate to do a complete reinstall... Safe mode has the same effect....

All I get is a Black Screen with a LARGE White Mouse Arrow...

?????

Thx
Scott

 

Hi Scott. Not sure exactly what you are seeing. Does it look anything like the picture below?

 

Nope,

It loads after the XP Spash Screen and it is completly blank with a White Mouse Pointer....

Scott

 

Had a similar problem a while ago. I was about to do a full (Acronis TrueImage) backup but decided to update Nero InCD packet writing software to the latest update, literally just before the intended backup. Rebooted after the update to a blank screen (not even a cursor!) tried everything you did, but ended up having to reformat. Only had that type of fault once. Maybe someone can offer you some hope. But a reformat maybe the end result.

 

Now and then, a computer I know will not boot- I get the Packard Bell splash screen, the a blinking cursor in the upper left.
Anyway, I clear CMOS and the comp comes back to life like it never knew it hiccupped. Don't know if this will help you, but it's worth a shot.

CMOS is the info your mobo uses to boot, and clearing it resets it to the board's default settings. To clear cmos, shut down and unplug the comp from the power source. Open the computer, disconnect the wires that run from the power supply to the mobo. There are a set of pins that need to be "jumped" which ordinarily means resetting the position of this tiny little piece of plastic from position 1-2 to 2-3 for a moment, then back to 1-2. Put everything back together and reboot. You will probably have to enter BIOS (usually a tap on the delete key at boot) to reset your system date and any special settings you need to have for your hardware. You can almost always consult your mobo manual online, if you don't have one, and you're unsure what to do.

Good luck with it!
Johanna

 

Since a repair install doesn't fix it, you don't have many options left. All we know is, it's making it through the bootloader files and being dumped onto the ntoskrnl, whereupon it stalls. Sounds like missing shell components but a repair install should have fixed that. Since it didn't, that makes it sound worse and possibly Registry corruption. You can try the Registry replacement using the copy found in the C:\WINDOWS\repair folder via the Repair Console command line but that a tough job.

If you have data that is important, you might want to take steps to protect it such as a drive image or slaving the drive to another system.

ps. I forgot to add, unplug all unnecessary peripherals (even cards) and try for a boot. There may be some fractured driver being called up that stalls the boot process. Safe Mode normally circumvents that but you can't be sure it can handle everything.

My hunch would be video drivers are corrupt.

 

Applied a HotFix to a working system (SP1) and when I went to reboot it does the Win XP screen then goes to a black screen with a white cursor

Based on your description, you installed a hotfix, which contained changed software for the operating system. This new software is causing a malfunction of the GUI, but is not preventing the machine from booting. Safe mode, which disables most third party stuff does not prevent the malfunction. Based on that, it would be my recommendation to remove the hotfix to restore the system to the previous software.

Which hotfix? What files were in it? Perhaps we can just manually remove the hotfix from the affected machine, using recovery console, a boot disk, or a parellel installation. Can you get in using 'safe mode with command prompt'?

 

I am assuming you tried "Last Known Good Configuration" from the F8 boot options menu? I don't notice that you mentioned that. I always forget to ask the obvious and assume the worst.

 

I did the windows\repair thing and replaced the files, and still the same exact issue??? I have also unplugged everything not needed to make the system boot and still nothing... I cant get into safe mode, and even VGA Mode (which bypassed the video drivers) wont work.. I would think when I did a repair installation it would have fixed things, but no..

Scott

 

I agree a hotfix was the culprit, because that was the last thing I did, but how do I undo a hotfix if I cant get into safe mode??? All I can do is get into the system recovery prompt... How do you do any uninstallation from there???

Scott

 

Hold down the f8 key right after the POST screen (first visible image) while attempting to boot. That should give you the menu screen with the option to use the last known good configuration, among other things.

 

I can get to that screen w/o any problem, but no matter what option I choose it just brings me to the same old black screen.... Is there any way to remove service paks booting from the XP CD Recovry Console??

 

I know of no way to uninstall any hotfix from the command line. It would require inside knowledge of the particular hotfix and some special skills for reversing its actions. Beyond most of us mortals. Probably time and labor intensive.

The only hope that I can think of would be IF you could supply the name of the demon hotfix that caused this problem and then IF it had a history of causing some specific problem that was repairable by editing some area, then there MIGHT be a ray of hope.

 

Most hotfixes are just replacement files, no reg changes.

I'll ask again, what hotfix did you install?

Its easy to undo them once you know which one you are dealing with. If you rename the existing ones, back the old bits out of the uninstall directory and also stomp the \system32\dllcache.

You have two ways out of your current situation, unwind the hotfix, or 'upgrade install' and lose all your programs.

 

Ben,

It was 2-3 Hotfixes at a time. All I know was it was the last ones before SP2 (which I didnt want to do). Any/all info on undoing the hot-fixes would be great.. Are they time stamped????

Any info to follow from your info above would be great, as I dont have much to lose at this point!

Thx

Scott

 

Code:

C:\WINDOWS>dir /od /ad
10/12/2004  08:13 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB834707$
10/12/2004  08:13 PM    <DIR>          $hf_mig$
10/12/2004  08:13 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB885884$
10/16/2004  12:37 PM    <DIR>          Sun
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB873339$
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB885835$
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB886185$
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          $NtUninstallKB885836$
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

As you can see from the above, I installed 4 hotfixes on 12/14. Lets look at one

Code:

C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB885835$>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 3C2F-743E

 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB885835$

12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          .
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          ..
12/14/2004  08:09 PM    <DIR>          spuninst
08/04/2004  02:20 AM           176,512 rdbss.sys
08/04/2004  02:15 AM           451,456 mrxsmb.sys
08/04/2004  03:56 AM           721,920 lsasrv.dll
               3 File(s)      1,349,888 bytes

In this hotfix, 3 files were updated, 2 .SYS files and a DLL. The DLLs live in \windows\system32 and the sys files are down in \windows\system32\drivers

The next step would be to rename the existing files and copy in these files from the uninstall directory. In addition to all of this, you will need to replace the \windows\system32\dllcache copies of the files with the ones from the uninstall.

 

Black Screen plus Mouse Pointer fixed.

Had exact problem, including Safe Mode, on an XP system with no service packs installed. Repair install from original XP Pro CD had no effect as others have found. Boot CD (Bart's PE) and virus checkers found a few trojans but fixing did not cure the problem. Search of the Windows directory suggests that last installs (and therefore probable source of problem) was an auto update of several hotfixes and an IE update, which agrees with other posts here.
SOLUTION THAT WORKED: create a Slipstreamed XP install disk incorporating SP2 and repeat the repair install.
If you don't understand 'slipstream', see excellent guide at www.winsupersite.com (technology showcase pages).

 

I have got the same problem. The screen likes normal Windows environment but with no icon, no tray icon,, no status bar. there is nothing but only the arrow pointer.

Help, please.

 

Hi workingman and teledu, welcome!

Please start new threads. You'll get more attention and it'll be easier to follow. Thanks.