Solved Black Screen With Cursor

[Apaseall]

@gregrocker
I whole heartedly agree with you comments on time and benefits of a clean install.
However I am a bit stubborn
I believe there should be a way of making the laptop work correctly, since I can access the drive.
It boots but incompletely probably.
I have patience at the moment.
I will work on it at my leisure and post my work.

 

[Apaseall]

erm how do i get files from the troubled laptop ?

 

[gregrocker]

If you'd read the Clean Reinstall tutorial you'd know.

 

[Apaseall]

@gregrocker I have skimmed the clean install tutorial you kindly linked.
It does make the assumption that you can boot into your windows os.
It is during that login that you can copy files.

It does not boot into a working os from the usb stick.
You use the usb stick to install a clean version of windows.
The clean install outlined will overright both your existing os and any files on that partition.

Either I have missed something during me quick read or you have when you mention that it will tell me how to copy files from the repair option of a us stick os installer boot.

 

[gregrocker]

Step 3:

• For unbootable Windows copy data out externally using free Paragon rescue disk or Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console.

 

[Apaseall]

aha I see. Thank you.

 

[Apaseall]

I am continuing with trying to solve this issue.

My present problem would be getting files off the c: drive.
Having read the above work around to copy files i am still having a problem.
Namely anything i save to the usb boot stick disappears.

Only having an internal hdd and usb boot stick seems to not be the way forward.

I have also had a go at using the paragon repair kit 11.
whilst this seems like a good program all it did was leave me back at the 0xc000000f bcd problem.
it does find the os easily. but like i say none of the options seem to do anything.

it is my present thinking that when the laptop boots to black screen with pointer there are some files either not present or corrupted. this may be due to mcafee going a bit potty with the tuesday 9th windows updates.

i will try and see if there is a huge pile of files mcafee has sent to quarantine or deleted.
not sure where the quarantine folder is located yet, but i think the deleted files may be in the recycle bin

i have noticed an issue with sfc.
if i boot via usb stick the first command prompt is for x:
i think the sfc and or other repairs are writing to x: instead of c:
i say this because pending.xml is not present on c: but is present of x:

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows failes if executed from x:
changing to c: does allow sfc to try and do something.
running it from x: brings up an error about pending changes, which i believe relates to the x: pending.xml file.

so yes i am still working on this one.
i think an in place upgrade install would probably solve my issue however as i understand it i need to log into the os to be able to perform an upgrade install. this obviously is not possible with my current situation.

i am surprised that no solution other than clean install has surfaced since the windows update chaos caused on the 9th. from my research it appears that a considerable number of people are having a similar issue to me.

 

[Apaseall]

\boot\bcd 0xc000000f can be resolved by c: bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

 

[gregrocker]

Are you using Paragon Rescue CD, booting from the CD? If so it should copy files to flash stick or USB drive.

I would also burn a System Repair Disk or the Win7 DVD to disk to try the repairs again as there may be a problem with your stick.

Then boot into the installer, delete all partitions except the small Dell OEM (Diagnostics) partition, create new as shown in Steps 7/8 of Clean Install Windows 7.

Your problem may be related to using the worst possible anti-virus, one which can ruin the OS and the source of all kinds of problems we see here. Use only the tools and methods recommended in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

 

[Apaseall]

Slight problem with booting from dvd. my dvd/cd/blu-ray machine is a little portable one. i got it to replace the internal one on the laptop when i swopped it out so i could put in a 2nd hdd. anyways the dvd thing uses both usb ports. doh!

 

[gregrocker]

Why not copy your files to the second HDD? Then you can boot from the DVD which might work better for you.

 

[Apaseall]

YYYYYYYYY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

I can now boot into my original os !!!!!

HOW ???

I thought I would give system restore another go.
I am quite excited so forgive what I write please.

As you will have read above i was booting os to a black screen with mouse pointer.
I tried a few standard things, read above.
All i managed to do was go round in circles.

I did try system restore from the win 7 install/repair usb stick.
No joy. Some error message maybe but I forget atm.

anyway whilst i was learning that there was no way of performing an in place upgrade install/repair i did happen across the idea of performing system restore from the command line.

as you will have read above i can get to the win 7 install/repair command line easily.

i tried rstrui.exe but got no where.

i tried %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe but got a message complaining about x:

i tried c:\windows\syste32\restore\rstrui.exe but also got no where.

cd c:\windows\system32\restore\ revealed that rstrui.exe did not exist

so that put to an end the idea of using rstrui.exe. but reading further i saw stuff about hive files. dangerous stuff but i read on.

cd c:\windows\system32\config dir shows the 5 hives - default, sam, security,software, and system.
i saw that each hive also had a previous version but the dates were a little while ago.
i cd to the sub folder rather than dir RegBack but anyway i was delighted to see 04/03/2013 which in english is only 6 days before the dreaded 9th.

i carefully did this;
ren default default.bak
ren sam sam.bak
ren security security.bak
ren software software.bak
ren system system.bak
copy RegBack\*.*

rebooting i went ahead and selected normal. slight anxiety when the black screen with mouse pointer appeared but after a moment or two I got my glorious backdrop and was asked for my password.

i am now looking at my laptop with all its quirks n stuff just like i had left it.

i have 5 windows/popup
1 update adobe flash player
2 java update available
3 mcafee - your computer is at risk
4 a truecrypt message
5 click to run - a rather lengthy message.

of these messages the only one that is a surprise to me is the click to run one.
the others are things that seem quite normal.

so there you have it.
i solved it, by googling and more than a bit of patience.

many thanks to jbaileyn for this post;
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/12152-system-restore-failed-2.html

 

[Apaseall]

@gregrocker as you might recall it was suggested that i remove the 2nd hdd. again i have only 2 usb ports and the portable usb cd thing uses both of them.

the click to run item was about an update for office 2010 stuff.

i guess i should now work out a way of getting this stupid thing to make sure it has the files it needs and that they are in good condition.

 

[gregrocker]

Now I'd immediately replace the MucAfee crapware using the specialized tool required to remove any infection as bad as it.

Go over the install with Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 to see if you can find clues to what happened.

Did you actually try to run SysRestore from System Recovery Options on booted installer or repair disk?http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[Apaseall]

Since I have gotten this far without reinstalling I think you will forgive me for running the os for a while before I do what I have resisted doing all along.