[JStawicki123]

Hey there,

yesterday when I came back home and turned on my screen it was black with a blinking cursor in the top left corner. I asked my parents but there was no power cut or anything so it must have restarted itself somehow.
I've read some similar threads but non are completely the same as what I have.

When I start the computer I get the following options:

Safe mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Last known good configuration

Start windows normally


I've tried all of them but nothing seems to help. I've also tried to fix it with the windows XP CD by repairing and entering FIXBOOT and FIXMBR but once again, nothing works.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, but yesterday I removed Windows 7 Remix (design) from my computer however everything worked well after it.


Thanks in advance,

Jstawicki123

[MikeMason]

What actually happens when you enter safe mode? Does the screen stay black? Do you see the windows log-on screen and then it restarts? Do you see an error message? Does the screen flash blue and then restart?

Did you patch your uxtheme.dll file to install the Windows 7 theme? My money would be that uninstalling the custom made theme has damaged shell32.dll.

[JStawicki123]

When I enter safe mode it loads a few things at the bottom of the screen, goes black and restarts, bringing me back to the starting options.. No error messages, blue screen or login screen.
I'm not sure to be honest, because I installed Windows 7 remix about 2 years back. Is there any way to change it?

Thanks for the quick response.

[rshaffer61]

Sounds like you damaged the system core file and it needs to be replaced. A repair installation should take care of that.







Repair Installation Instructions

· Insert your Windows XP CD in your CD-ROM and then Restart your computer.

· At the first post screen start tapping the Del key to enter System Bios
· Find the Advance Options or Boot Sequence screen.
· You will need to change the boot sequence so that the CDrom is first and the HD is second.
· Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to accept.
· The system will now reboot
· When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
· When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER
· To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
· At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION.

· On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
· Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected and highlighted in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.
· Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

You can also go HERE
to read a step by step tutorial with screenshots.

[MikeMason]

You should run CHKDSK using your Windows XP disc. Once the Windows XP disc has loaded press R. Enter the number of your main installation which will most likey be "1" (without quotations). Press enter and type in your admin password if you have one. From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk /r . Let it fully run the scan.

Windows may be able to replace/fix the damaged files for you. It wont hurt your computer at all. If my hunch about the files is correct. It may (not 100%) be able to sort the problem out for you.

[JStawicki123]

I tried both suggestions, with the first one: there was no repair option after I pressed Enter. The second suggestion with chkdsk /r also didn't work...
Any other possible suggestions?

[rshaffer61]

OK let me ask is this disk a branded system disk?

[JStawicki123]

yes it is

[rshaffer61]

OK there is the problem. You will need to borrow a XP disk of the same version you have in order to do the steps. Branded system disk don't have the same programs as a Retail or OEM version of the OS.