Black screen of death after IOLO defrag

[monosierra]

Hello All,

My laptop (Dell Studio 1550, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit) just gave me the black screen upon start-up. The Iolo System Mechanic had defragged the registry, I think, and it seems that the process had damaged my laptop's registry.

I've ran sfc /scannow with no issues, but the memory diagnostic test froze. I am now running System Restore but it seems from prior threads that a clean re-install is necessary.

Would like to know if this is indeed the only solution, and if so, how do I go about re-installing without an installation CD (Dell never sent one, and I had bought the laptop abroad while I was in college).

Thanks!

 

[usasma]

System Restore is the most likely solution for black screen issues. Updating drivers is another one that works on occasion - but to do that you'll have to get into Windows. Can you boot into Safe Mode with Networking?
I'm also concerned about the memory test freezing. Please try these free diagnostcs: Initial Hardware Diagnostics

Beyond that there are many, many different things to try - but IME I've found that it's rare to actually fix it this way.
You can continue to search for suggested solutions as I did - but I eventually gave up and resorted to a wipe and reinstall (this is what I do at work).

If you don't have recovery disks then you should contact Dell for a set. There's info about that here (for those in the US): Order Recovery Discs (USA)

 

[monosierra]

Thank you. I tried the Last Known Good Configuration and it worked. Have uninstalled System Mechanic. Still scared the problem might happen again when I restart my computer!

 

[writhziden]

Good news! Glad you uninstalled System Mechanic.

I recommend against 3rd party defrag tools. Windows has some nice command line flags for the defrag command that will accomplish the same tasks as 3rd party programs. The -b and -w flags will defrag boot files and the boot registry items as well as compact the data to the center of the disk for faster access.

defrag c: -b
defrag -c -v -w
​

The first command optimizes boot performance for the Windows drive by defragmenting boot files and boot registry items.

The second command includes all drives on the system through the -c command and optimizes the drives by compacting the data to the center of the disk. Verbose output through the -v option is optional to provide the user with more information about the defrag tasks. The commands have to be run in an http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html


Using the above is far less risky than a 3rd party tool since the above was designed by Microsoft to work with Windows. Your registry is safer that way.

 

[usasma]

Update all of your drivers from the manufacturer's website (this includes software programs that use drivers also) - then ensure that you have all Windows Updates - then set another Restore Point (just in case).