Screen goes Black after WinXP finishes loading

[Rhodes1]

Just got this problem yesterday, im assuming its a virus as ive had virus problems over the last few weeks.

My plan was to wipe out my HD this week and start fresh but im having this problem now where the computer starts up fine and as WinXP is on the loading screen (WinXP logo with blue loading bar underneath) it just goes dark and you cant do anything after that.

Just wondering if anyone knows what I can do, If anything im mainly looking for a way to just go in my "My Documents" directory so i can save some files i cant lose. If i can just do that ill wipe my computer out and reinstall.

Anyone have a good idea how to solve my prob? Thanks for any help.

 

[Pesmerga]

I'm not entirely sure, but can't you copy the files from DOS when you go into the "Repair XP" option when booting from an XP CD?

 

[No Limit]

Sounds like a possible video card problem, I had the same thing happen to me on an older system. To confirm is the computer hooked up to the network? Do you know what hostname (computer name) you set it up with? If yes and if you have another computer on the network go to that other computer and go to your command prompt. Type ping <hostname> . If it pings the issue is your video card.

If that's the case boot in to safe mode, go to your device manager, and disable your video card drivers. Reboot and see if the video shows up after that.

 

[Rhodes1]

I dont have any other computers hooked up in the network, only reason i dont think its a video problem is because of my recent virus problems. Also i cant even go into safe mode, it does the same exact thing.

Also to the 1st poster, how would i be able to copy the files through DOS? I can try that but not 100% sure how to though.

 

[No Limit]

If you can't get in to safe mode then you will need to reformat.

DOS is one way of getting the files but it can be complicated if you aren't familiar with a command prompt. If you have any way to get access to another computer that has windows running on it you can take out your hard drive and plug it in to that other computer as a secondary drive. Then you can pull off any files you need through the windows explorer.

Your My Documents folder will be stored under C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\ . There is a chance you will receive a permission error. If that happens you will need to take ownership of the my documents folder. See the following kb for more information on how to do that:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

If you don't have another computer you can plug your hard drive in to you can use the windows recovery console as Pesmerga said. Start up your windows installation just like you would to reformat but instead of selecting installation select "repair existing windows installation" or something like that, you have to press R. This will take you to a recovery console which is pretty much a msdos prompt.

 

[Iliketobenaked]

Do you have a spare VGA card around?