Solved OS Failure?

[niotic]

I was following a post on here, trying to get rid of the user picture on the logon screen. I edit a part of the authui file exactly as directed, but when i restarted my computer i got some odd message about an operating system failure or something similar. Now when I start my computer I get a black screen, nothing else. Its like the screen doesnt even turn on. The computer starts up, I can hear the fan going, the disk drive doin its thing. But I get no logo, no prompt for BIOS or safe mode. I was thinking I had to do a Factory OEM repair/reinstall of my OS. So I tried making a bootable USB drive on another pc, but the microsoft program to do so will keeps malfunctioning. It says it installs the ISO for reinstall but cannot make the USB bootable, I dont believe this would even work considering I cannot even enter BIOS and change the settings to boot from a USB. I ran into this problem in the past but have forgotten how I fixed it exactly. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[gregrocker]

Make sure you have fully downloaded the ISO from Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start
then write it to flash stick with UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive which always works when the others don't.

Then boot the installer or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair. It should offer to automate System Restore but if not run it manually from the Options list.

If this fails then everything else that can be done is in the Troubleshooting steps leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. If this is the original HP factory preinstall then you should do that anyway since you have the worst possible install of Win7 larded with atrocious bloatware and duplicate utilities which interfere with and have better versions built into Win7.

 

[niotic]

Got everything downloaded and ready. But it seems that when I attempted to make this flash drive bootable previously it screwed it up some how. I hit the format button in UltraISO then it says "Windows was unable to complete the format." So when I attempt to do so through My Computer the drive thinks its a CD drive now and asks me to enter a disk? Then I tried through the My Computer Management portal, I formatted it through there but nothing has changed. I still get the error in UltraISO and it My Computer still asks for a disk. What happened to my flash drive?

 

[niotic]

Disregard my last post, it seems that the flash drive was marked as drive E: . I changed the letter of the drive to Q and everything went back to normal. I'm guessing some other drive had that same letter and the computer was just getting confused.

 

[niotic]

I'm unsure of what you mean by "boot the installer." I went through the whole tutorial and wrote the iso onto the flash drive using UltraISO, when I plug it into my pc nothing happens still. Is this because the computer does not know to boot TO the flash drive? Does this mean I should continue with your second option?

 

[gregrocker]

To boot the installer reboot and vigorously tap the HP ESC or F9 one-time BIOS boot menu key. Then look for the flash stick on the boot menu, choose it to boot using the up and down arrow, then Enter.

Once it loads on the second screen choose Repair My Computer to run Startup Repair or if necessary System Restore from the Options list. It may offer a repair up front, which you can accept and reboot. But if necessary boot back in to run several Startup Repairs and then if necessary System Restore from the options List.

 

[niotic]

Neither of those seemed to do anything. What now?

 

[gregrocker]

What exactly happens when you tap the F9 or ESC key to access the BIOS Boot Menu? Is the stick listed? What happens when you select it?

If that's not working then try setting the flash stick to boot first in BIOS as shown in this video:
How to Boot A Computer from CD or DVD - YouTube

Can you burn an installer DVD from Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start and then try booting it to do the repairs

Try System Recovery Options from F8 Advanced Boot Options

 

[niotic]

What do you mean when I don't yet have the ability to boot from a disk? I'm not quite sure you understand. I was following a thread on this forum on how to remove the user frame from the logon screen. I followed the simple directions and it didn't work. When I turn my computer on, nothing happens with the screen. It doesnt flash, it doesn't light up, a pixel isn't touched. Its almost as if the screen is off. When I plug in the usb, nothing changes. When I hit esc of F9 as directed, nothing happens. I see nothing on the screen what so ever. I'm not quite sure why this is so hard for everyone on this website to comprehend, no one understood the last time this happened to me. And I also don't know why I'm receiving snarky comments from you gregrocker, I'm following your exact directions and telling you exactly whats happening. If you don't feel like helping me then please don't, I'll go somewhere else.

 

[gregrocker]

It's just that I wasn't getting enough feedback from you to know any of this. I can't read minds.

You describe getting error messages trying to create bootable flash installer, so why would we think there is no signal at all on the same PC? Were you doing this on another PC - you didn't say?

Try an external monitor to see if you get a signal. That will exonerate the GPU and mobo.

If no signal, carefully pull the RAM sticks out of the slot beneath. Google how it is done for your model if not sure. Do you get mobo warning beeps? This would mean your mobo is OK.

 

[niotic]

Yes, sorry I wasn't clear. I am messaging and following these directions on a separate computer that runs XP if that changes anything, I'm doing all this in relation to the HP laptop from my System Specs on here. Tried plugging in a monitor, but got no signal. I then tried the taking out the RAM, this produced those warning beeps you stated. Now this eliminates the GPU and mobo from being the problem, correct?

 

[gregrocker]

It eliminates the mobo for the most part, and to some extent the screen since having no signal to an external monitor points to a GPU failure.

Confirm you've gotten nothing whatsoever on screen. If you can get into the BIOS then resetting it to defaults might help.



I'll ask a hardware expert to consult. If you're under warranty I'd call HP support to help on this as they must make it good.

 

[niotic]

Hmm alright, I'll try asking HP for help first. If not I'll try and search for a video for that cable. I will get back to you.

 

[gregrocker]

Again, I asked you directly to confirm there's no signal to screen at all, even BIOS Splash screen?

If you are indeed under warranty I would not mess with the hardware as they are obligated to replace it for the first year or term you bought extra. Do not tell them you made any changes, just that it won't start.

The fact an external monitor won't show anything also points to the GPU rather than the monitor screen, so you may well need RMA from HP.

 

[niotic]

I've called HP, and I was under warranty (actually my warranty expires in 20 days, so lucky) and the guy there helped me fix it. He had me hold down the power button for 10 seconds with power and utilities unplugged. I then started it back up, while I received and error message and wasn't able to log in I was able to hit F9 and use the Repair Computer option to reset to a restore point. I really appreciate the time you put into helping me gregrocker, thanks a bunch!!

 

[gregrocker]

Glad to hear it.

Do you think there was something about the way you were pressing F9 before that kept it from booting the disk before? What boot choice did you make from that menu to do the repair? Normally if you don't boot a disk from F9 then you'd access the onboard System Recovery Options via F8 key.

Have you considered replacing the bloated HP preinstall with a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to get much better Win7 performance without the heavy load of HP bloatware and duplicate utlities that interfere with and have better versions built into Win7. I will be glad to help you get it perfect.

If not then I'd Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

If you have some customizations you'd like to make, just ask back in a new thread and someone from that specialty will help you. Be sure to set a System Restore point so you can access it via F9 again if necessary.

 

[niotic]

Yea most likely, I'm guessing that when I was pressing F9 that menu was coming up but the screen was just interfering. Thats what I feel the root of the problem was. But now that I look at the System Recovery Options that is what I accessed. So I guess it was F8 that Hp had me press. From there he had me try System Repair but it turned out to find no errors ironically. So we proceeded to System Restore, thankfully I did a Windows Update the same day the screen went black so I didn't lose anything!

 

[gregrocker]

So were you able to see what was on the screen during the BIOS post (with the HP logo) so you knew when to tap the Fkey? That's why I kept asking you that question.

Or did something about holding the Power Button (which releases residual power if you unplug the PC and battery) make the text visible when it wasn't before?