The specified service does not exist as an installed service [Solved]

Do you have an external monitor that you can plug the laptop into to? It's possible that one of the repairs messed up a video driver. If you have a desktop that has a regular monitor, then we can plug that into the laptop and if it's really booting normally, then the chances are that you'll see everything on the monitor and we'll be able to do a restore point back to before the last changes which will put us back where we want to be. If not let me know and we can go from there. (We still have some options don't panic.)

Here are a couple of other things I'd like you to try if what I wrote above doesn't work:

I'd like you to try taking the battery out of the laptop and boot the machine on corded power only. If this works then you can put the battery back in. I know this sounds odd, but battery issues can cause very weird problems on machines.

If the above doesn't work, I'd also like you to try doing the advance menu boot which is to press F8 when you reboot. If you are able to get to a menu via this method, then choose Repair your Computer. On the next menu select Startup Repair. Let it do it's thing. Even if it says it found no problems or couldn't repair the machine, then try a regular reboot and let me know the results. There is the possibility you may still get a black screen, in which case just let me know.

patndoris I have an external monitor. I attach it to my work laptop. Attaching it to the infected laptop didn't work, the screen stayed black with only the mouse pointer visible. I removed the laptop battery but that that had no effect. I cannot locate the menu "Repair Your Computer" so that is another dead end. I am not giving up - we will come up with a solution I may be able to locate the repair disk that I created the first time I used the laptop. Somehow I would have to run it with black screen only. If need be we have to get the screen working by hook or by crook!

patndoris - I did find my Vista Recovery disk dated 6-6-2010. I put the CD in the laptop, but since the screen is black I couldn't advance. WE have to get past the black screen. Maybe I need to try a different monitor. vistabug

First off, I did touch base with the Tweaking.com folks and the scan shouldn't have run for as long as it did. They indicated that could be a hardware related issue since it had to run a chkdsk (which is a Windows diagnostic to look for hardware issues). But that doesn't mean all is lost for the moment. It just means that there is a [i[possibility you need to start preparing that you may be headed for a hardware failure. That doesn't mean we are going to give up. I've been in the situation you are before, and sometimes persistence pays off in getting the machine back up and running (at least long enough to pull data off for safe transfer.)

When you use the recovery CD, you need to make sure it is in the CD slot before you reboot the machine. Did you do this or did you just insert it while the machine was running? If you didn't reboot the machine with it already installed, let's give that a try and see what happens. I've had personal success with that before.

When you say you cannot locate the "Repair your computer" menu, are you able to see ANY other menus? If so can you please tell me what they are?

patndoris - I do not have an alternate monitor in the house. Perhaps I can avail myself of a monitor at the local library. I tried the Recovery Disk. I made sure it was in the CD slot before the reboot of the machine. This didn't help, yhe disk seemed to spin for 2 minute then just stopped - seems to me some sort of dialog box is on the screen waiting for me to click. But with a black screen it is impossible. When you say you cannot locate the "Repair your computer" menu, are you able to see ANY other menus? If so can you please tell me what they are? "Repair Your Computer" menu item I assumed should be on the same screen with these options. safe mode safe mode with networking safe mode with command prompt vistabug

If you can see the menus to start in Safe Mode with Command Prompt I'd like you to try that. If you are able to get the black dialog box, please type in:
C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe

That should launch system restore and let's see if you are able to use the restore point you were able to create before the last fix.


If not, and you are able to reach the command prompt, I'd like you to run another check disk as this could be hardware related and that is really beyond our control. But it's worth a try to give another run through with the "fix" command on there to see what happens. It can't get any worse right? At the command prompt type:
chkdsk /f

This will tell Windows to scan the disk for errors and to fix them if possible.


If you know the location of the file where you saved the registry backup, and the name, we can also try launching that from the command prompt as well. But let's see how this goes. Please let me know the results. I should be around all weekend (after work today) so I can respond much faster to your posts. We can still check the BIOS to ensure the CD is the first load point for that CD, but if you are able to see the menus for safe mode, I'm not really sure that's the option we need to pursue just yet.

patndoris Totally frustrated. Still black screen - only thing visible is the mouse and it seems to be working. My flat screen does not seem to work. The screen remains black. I have the Vista ultimate Operating system re-installation DVD. I also have the DVD for drivers and utilities. I also have the Recovery disk. The only thing holding me back is getting one more chance to retrieve files from the laptop. I can't type in C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe because of black screen Any more ideas vistabug

Let me confer with some of my colleagues before we do anything else. Sit tight for a bit and I'll be back to you as soon as I can.

Assuming this is a Windows corruption issue (and not a failed hard drive) then it should be possible to recover your personal files and data so that you can do a repair or fresh install of Vista if you wish..

You can recover your files by following the instructions found here (Thanks to Gary R. for this tutorial!). This should allow you to access all of your personal files on the hard drive and copy them to a USB or external hard drive.

After doing this, you can perform a repair of Vista by using your original install disks (which in theory "should not" overwrite your personal data (but I'd copy it off following the tutorial to be safe before doing this because obviously the machine is not behaving as expected at this point).

Or alternatively, you can do a fresh install (which WILL overwrite all your data) and you'll then have to install all the service packs and updates that go along with a fresh install as well as reinstalling all your programs and then your personal data back onto the machine. The advantage of this is that it does mean any malware or corruptions would be addressed, but obviously it is the most time consuming alternative. (I personally would do the repair as the first step and a full reinstall only if necessary - but I would definitely get my personal files backed up for safety first if at all possible before doing either one.)

If however, this is failing hardware, these options may not work, or may at best be a temporary solution.

Let me know how the personal files and the repair goes. If you need any help with the instructions please let me know. After attempting the repair, and if it works please let me know the results. If it completes, we'll want to check to see if the red X issue is persisting and if the networking and sharing center will open.

I'll wait to hear back from you.

Patndoris. - I realized I had adequate backups from the laptop. I decided to re-image the laptop using the Vista OS CD provided when I purchased from Dell. The re-image went well and the screen came to life. However amazingly the red X was still present. The message said no WiFi hardware was installed on the laptop. After banging on the problem for a while I investigated the other DVD provided by Dell - Utilities and Drivers. There were 3 drivers listed with the acronym "WiFi". I picked the one with the most occurrences of WiFi in the description. (Very scientific!) After installing the driver and a reboot all is well, No more red X , WiFi fully functioning. Microsoft downloaded all the patches I was needing so I am all patched up and the OS is current. I am very grateful for your wise counsel and patience. I learned a lot. Let me know what you think is appropriate payment for your services and I will send it along. vistabug

Vistabug, I'm SO glad things are back up and running! It was fortunate you had your original installation discs with the drivers on them. Remember those registry entries I mentioned were messed up? When we ran Combofix I was able to instruct our tool to "leave those alone" but I suspect (although I can't be sure) the tweaking.com tool may have deleted one of those "orphaned" files that had the graphics driver in it and that's what messed up the monitor. Either way, I'm glad all is well now and the red X is gone. You did an outstanding job of making the choices necessary to get the machine back up and running!

As to being the scientific choice on the driver - sometimes choosing the right one is trial and error and I'm glad you found the right one the first time! But can you also confirm you are able to open the Network and Sharing center now so we can make sure there is no other driver that still needs to be installed? That''s also important if you ever need to edit your connections. The red X is only half the battle.

I'd also like to run one more scan to look for any malware that may have been hiding from us. We spent most of our time fixing the problems created from the malware, and not looking for malware remnants that might be remaining.


This scan make take awhile depending on how many items are on the computer. You may want to run it at a time you won't be needing the machine. It should be run from IE and I'd recommend not doing anything else while it's running.


Go here to run an online scannner from ESET.

• Note: For browsers other than Internet Explorer, you will need to download and install esetsmartinstaller_enu.exe. Click on it and save the file to a convenient location. Double click on it to install and a new window will open.
• Turn off the real time scanner of any existing antivirus program while performing the online scan
• Tick the box next to YES, I accept the Terms of Use.
• Click Start
• When asked, allow the activex control to install
• Click Start
• Make sure that the option Remove found threats is unticked and the Scan Archives option is ticked.
• Click on Advanced Settings, ensure the options Scan for potentially unwanted applications, Scan for potentially unsafe applications, and Enable Anti-Stealth Technology are ticked.
• Click Scan
• Wait for the scan to finish
• Use notepad to open the logfile located at C:\Program Files\Eset\Eset Online Scanner\log.txt
• Copy and paste that log as a reply to this topic and also let me know how things are now.

If it doesn't find anything there will be no log to post.


After this, we can clean up our tools and I'll give you some tips for the future. (Java and Adobe (both reader and flash) have had critical updates lately and I'd suggest updating those as soon as you are able for security reasons.)

Let me know what you think is appropriate payment for your services and I will send it along.

Our services here in the forum are always free. We do this as a way to help others. (I enjoy doing this kind of work!) There are costs associated with running the website and if you would like to make a donation to What the Tech to help keep the website up and running, and to keep these services available for the future we are certainly very grateful for anything you might like to contribute. You are more than welcome to make whatever donation you are comfortable in making - but there is never a fee for our services and you are under no obligation to make a donation unless you wish to do so.

patndoris - I will run the scan you recommended this evening. BTW how are you with the Virus/Trojan "cl.dll" Vistabug

LOL, do you have another infected machine? If so, we can start another topic and I'd be happy to pick it up. It doesn't really matter what the infection is, I'm more than happy to take it on! If you specifically want to work with me, please request that in your post and then send me a PM that you posted please and I'll be quite glad to work with you on whatever you need We have several responders and someone else might grab you before I see the post otherwise. Or you can just go ahead and post and one of several malware fighters (all quite qualified and very capable, I assure you) will be more than happy to work with you, if you want a change of scenery from me rambling. Either way is fine. But I would be very happy to work with you on another machine if you'd like.

patndoris - we got another foot of heavy wet snow this weekend and lost power for 2 days. Woodstove for heat, candles, propane lanterns. I just started the ESET scan on my vista laptop. running slow. Will report results in the morning. And yes my Windows XP laptop does have the cl.dll according to my McAfee virus scan. Vista bug