I have a compaq 5410US of my friend's. Currently it gets passed the windows load screen, and right before it gets to the log-in screen, it just stays black does nothing else. They would prefer that I not just wipe it clean and start with a new install due to loss of pictures (they will get a stern lecture on backing up after this). But I'm wondering if it could be some sort of hardware issue, eventhough I am getting no POST beeps during boot up. It doesn't get into Windows so I have nothing I can run to pin-point the problem. Was wondering if you guys had any ideas on where I should go from here. i'm no longer working in a help desk shop, so I can't just swap out parts for free until I figure something out, if it is a hardware problem. Though the half-way boot makes me think it might just be a sotware problem. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Victor ><>
Did you try Safe Mode? That should work if this is a software issue.
If the computer is running, shut down Windows, and then turn off the power.
Wait 30 seconds, and then turn the computer on.
Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again.
Ensure that the Safe Mode option is selected.
Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.
I should have mentioned in my original description that I did in fact try this. I tried to do regular safe mode (without networking or whatever) and it booted up to where it had the "safe mode" in all four corners of the screen, but the rest was still black, and it just stops doing anything. Yet another reason why I am so confused with this one, and wondering if its some sort of wierd hardware problem. Do you think a fresh install of windows is the best way to go from here? Or is there some sort of utility I should start with first?
Thanks,
Victor
Your best bet at this point is to save their data before doing anything else. There are two ways to do this.
Remove the hard drive from the computer and mount it as a slave drive in another computer, then copy their data to a flash drive, hard drive area or burn to CD/DVD.
Use a Live Linux CD like Puppy Linux. See this post by Happyrck for how to boot Puppy Linux if you need to save your data before doing a clean install of XP.
I will go about doing these things as you suggest. But before I go about doing all of this. Do you think my best bet is to go ahead and do a reinstall of windows? Or do you have any other ideas?
Once the data is safe, try starting the Recovery Console from the XP Install CD. Once you get to the command prompt, enter:
chkdsk /r
Let chkdsk run to completion, undisturbed. This can take an hour or more depending on the size of the hard drive. See if that resolves the problem.
The reason I think you should save the data first is that it's possible chkdsk may find some file corruption which it will fix but in doing so can damage or destroy some files. Usually doesn't, but it can happen so I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.
