WHen I turn on my computer, I see the bios screen, the windows logo screen, and then the screen goes black excetp for the curser. I can see and move that but I never see the welcome screen or the desktop. The drive continues to run for a while like it was loading but nothing happens on the screen. If I boot in safe mode, it works ok. If I boot in safe mode and then choose "restart using last known good configuration" it works and everything loads, until the next time I reboot, then it's back to black. I ran a virus scan which didn't find anything, although McAfee's real time scan keeps turning off. It seems to stay on after it's updated. Idon"t know where to begin to diagnos this. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm using Windows XP.

If you have a twin screen setup remove one and restart in normal mode.

If this doesn't cure it or you don't have two screens go in in safe mode and uninistall the graphics card driver. When you reboot you should see your XP screen in VGA mode and Windows should then find the new hardware.

You have a virus, I am 90% sure. Even though your virus scan did not find it. At this point, based on previous experience with your described symptoms, your registry has several infected keys, and core components of your OS have been damaged and/or removed (hence the black screen and failure to boot). I have dealt with these symptoms before on a number of computers and service calls, and in 9 of 10 they were caused by a virus, especially when the real-time scanner is miraculously turning itself off.  I would stop using that machine altogether, as the progression of symptoms will continue and at some point Safe Mode will no longer work.  McAfee and Norton are not very reliable virus scanners, they both used to be good, a long time ago, they built up great reputations, and both have traded owners numerous times since then and now are only cashing in on the reputations and names from the past (I am sure people will want to argue with me, don't waste your breath flaming me or disputing this, I speak from 100% experience, almost every seriously infected computer I worked on in the last 3 years were running one or both of these programs and neither found any virus).

What you need to try to do is find yourself a few recovery tools to try to clean these virus (it is most likely more than one - it has been in the past I have encountered these symptoms).  One place to start is AVG recovery CD (it used to be a free download) which has a CD or USB version (I recomend USB).  This is only about 50% effective in cases with these symptoms (it finds some of the virus, but can not fully recover or fix the problem).

You will also want to go to some security and antivirus forums and get some detailed help on software to use, and steps to proceed in for the best chances of recovery (I am not a very good teacher).  A few tools that I know will be recomended are: Malware Bytes, ComboFix, CCcleaner, Spybot Search & Destroy, HackThis, SuperAntiSpyware. Other tools that may be useful but may or may not be recomended: Clamwin, Dr.Web, and Rootkit Revealer.

Until the issue is fixed I would recomend ceasing use of that computer. Immediately change all passwords to ALL online accounts and email - especially auction sites, store accounts, and anything linked to your banks (Paypal, Ebay, etc).

If your AV keeps being disabled then it's almost certainly a virus. You could do a clean but you may not get rid of all the nasty stuff. I would recommend backing up all your data to USB stick or another partition then do a format and fresh install.

Unfortunately that is not going to be safe. When backing up data to a USB it is almost certain the virus will infect files on the USB, and you have to hope that one of the viruses that made it on is not a USB bootsector trojan.  It is best to try to run a scan to at least remove as much of the infection as possible before backing up anything - otherwise you run the risk of backing up infected files.

In most cases, you should be able to get a free limited version of some good software which can detect your problem source.

Attached Link: http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd/?lng=en

If you are not running Windows 7 64 bit, run a search for "Free AVG" i's a very good free virus scanner. Try Commodo, also free, if you have Win7 64 bit. Also, my PC often hangs in Win 7 if I have too many USB devices plugged into it. I have to unplug some for it to boot.

MagnusGreel, drifterlee, Those are both things I already suggested doing, no need to parot me.

Any antivirus or bootdisk used to try to clean the system should be made on a clean system, otheriwse there is a good chance you will simply infect the downloaded files, depending on the virus and how nasty it is.

Honestly, like I said, go to some AntiVirus and AntiMalware websites, post your symptoms and dilemma, and follow their step by step instructions to try to solve it (bleepingcomputer.com, hijackthisforums.com, malwarebytes forums).  So far people are just retyping abridged versions of a few of my instructions - if you try to do it the quick easy way you will most likely make it worse in the long run. Malwarebytes.org software and forums is a great place to start - they really know what they are doing and are great at talking people through removal of malware and virus.

erm excuse me? kageryu? leave your ego at the door and don't tell me what to do ok? you are not the only user on this site.

I'm not the one with the ego, and I didn't tell you what to do. I pointed out those were things I already mentioned and there was no need to parrot me. Now I will tell you what to do STOP BEING CHILDISH AND TAKE YOUR OWN ADVISE.

I had very similar symptoms to this not long ago, my pc would show the bios screen and the drive would run but a black screen was all I would get, and using the restart with last known good configuration would work sometimes but not all times.

After some researching on the net I replaced my RAM sticks (even though MEMTest showed no problems with my RAM) and the problem disappeared. That may not be the problem with your setup, but it may be worth trying some different RAM sticks if you could.

Sorry but AVG is garbage. Go with free Avast.

Sounds like a graphics driver issue.

Quote - I'm not the one with the ego, and I didn't tell you what to do. I pointed out those were things I already mentioned and there was no need to parrot me. Now I will tell you what to do STOP BEING CHILDISH AND TAKE YOUR OWN ADVISE.

take it elsewhere. you are not the only user here. you don't get to give orders like "do not parrot me" and you'll note you named me directly. I'll do what I want when I want within the rules of this site, if that means I want to help someone I will, deal it it.

You take it elswhere, and yes I named you directly along with another user who also said something I already did. In numerous posts in these forums you name people directly and throw around insults and act like you run this place, you don't. You are being childish. You have this attitude like you are just trolling the forums looking for someone to post something to take offense to and start a flame war over. I guess for some it's easier to wait until someone else makes a useful post and then just parrot part of it to look smart though. All this personal little chip on your shoulder is going to do is detract from the advice given on topis, and if you actually have something new and useful to contribute that hasn't been said then by all means.

If you want to just argue then PM me. I was trying to offer helpful advice because I am very familiar with some of the virus that cause these symptoms, and I have a lot of experience fixing them. Knowing this, and knowing what others who have suffered from similar virus have gone through I felt it important to offer up useful advice, and I don't appreciate just being parroted by know it alls looking for a pat on the back. That's why I don't often offer any help in forums even when I know something, too many trolls.

kaegryu?

whatever. you win. we all check with you in future ..erm no. you know what? I'm just gonna ignore your rantings in future and not respond. I come here to help ppl and not fight with ppl like you.

parrot you? get real, I tried to help someone but you took exception to that.. I'm not the one that started the fight here. but hey. that does not matter to you. it's aaaalll about YOU.

goodbye.

Heaven's, no need to argue about it.  was just mentioning free virus scanners I liked.

Just thought I'd throw that out there ;)

You got some good advice from everyone here: try going down thru the list until something works. After all, that's all you really can do until you find your problem.

Laurie

MagnusGreel (oops I said it again...maybe it's like beetlejuice if I do it a third time he'll go away),

You did start the fight by overreacting when I pointed out I had already suggested what you posted.

You did parrot me and it's plain to see.

You coulda fooled me about wanting to help rather than fight - last time you took it personally that I had a different opinion on a piece of software - and although you posted your links - when I posted links that supported my opinion you flew off the handle just like you did this time. Despite what you may think I did not bear you any personal malice despite that incident, though after this one I can see how childish and unreasonable you are.

As for the Orriginal Topic, as I said in my first post, before this all started:

1. Stop using the problem computer until you can try to correct or resolve this. If it is a virus (which it 90% likely is from what you said - more than one) it will continue to get worse.  At some point safe mode will no longer work.  With the virus that cause these symptoms, by the time it reaches this point the infection is usually pretty severe, and you are looking at registry damage, damage to core windows components, and damage to the MBR of your hard drive.  Every computer I worked on in the last 3 years that exibited these symptoms and was infected had numerous virus on them, include backdoor trojans, downloader, and keyloggers.

2. Imediately change all of your online passwords from a safe computer. Especially any bank, paypal, or auction site passwords. Better safe than sorry.

3. Pick up a Recovery CD, The AVG recovery CD can be installed to a USB stick and updated when run which is why I recomend it - make sure your computer can boot from USB. It is best to try to run scanners and cleaners from a clean bootable device (USB or CD). The virus that commonly cause this, even when detected in windows from the infected machine, have backup scripts that cause catastrophic failure and file damage when the core components are removed on the reboot to finish cleaning about 50% of the time.

4. Stop in at security forums with this issue - they can talk you through the removal steps in detail. They will want a Hijackthis log file, so I recomend picking up that program. Other programs you may want to download from a clean system are: Malware Bytes, ComboFix, CCcleaner, Spybot Search & Destroy, HackThis, SuperAntiSpyware, **Clamwin, Dr.Web, Avast!, Kaspersky, Commodo **and Rootkit Revealer. All of those have free version last time I checked.  Downloading programs on the infected machine can lead to them becoming infected and not detecting the virus.

5. Get some good firewall software. Zonealarm, Peerguardian2 are good places to start, i am sure other users will recomend others as well.

There is a chance it may not be a virus, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

What a cute kitten pic!!!!! I just stoled it, LOL!

Ok, I'll try some of these suggestions and will let you know what i find out.

kaegryu and MagnusGreel cool it.quit highjacking other people threads to have a pissing contest. It's rude!

Hope you get it worked out. Computers are great when they work. They ain't worth a damn when they don't ;)

Laurie

Should've mentioned NOT to use the USB stick until you're fully up to date with your AV and can scan it. Also disable autorun before inserting the stick.

Laurie, it's always the cute ones you have to watch out for :)

Quote - kaegryu and MagnusGreel cool it.quit highjacking other people threads to have a pissing contest. It's rude!

That was never my intent, nor did I start it or hijack the thread! I posted initially to offer specific and useful advice. I posted several useful, and critical bits of information to try to help with your specific symptoms, as I have run into them many times and am quite familiar with it. Both in my first post in this thread I outline some of the best actions to take, and again in the last post I made prior to this.  I even listed most of the software that would come in handy, or that specialists in the security forums would suggest you use.

DOn't get me wrong, I do appriate the suggestions, but when you start bitching at others for having the same suggestion, it makes it hard to find the help. Don't "Great mind think alike"?

It actually sounds more like a hardware problem than a virus - try reseating/replacing the RAM (if you have any known good RAM around) and reseat the video card and blow all the dust out of the inside of the thing.  Make sure the processor fan is spinning too.

Had a PC do something similar at work a week or so back and it turned out that the video card had got slightly out of alignment somehow - reseated it and it was fine

Quote - It actually sounds more like a hardware problem than a virus - try reseating/replacing the RAM (if you have any known good RAM around) and reseat the video card and blow all the dust out of the inside of the thing.  Make sure the processor fan is spinning too.

Had a PC do something similar at work a week or so back and it turned out that the video card had got slightly out of alignment somehow - reseated it and it was fine

If it was hardware related then rolling back wouldn't fix the problem. 

good point - that's what comes of postig at 2 am :unsure:

Quote - good point - that's what comes of postig at 2 am :unsure:

I do pretty good at 2am. Its in the morning before coffee that gets me in trouble. :-)

Lets leave out the arguing and stick to helpful advice.  Any information is helpful.

Quote - DOn't get me wrong, I do appriate the suggestions, but when you start bitching at others for having the same suggestion, it makes it hard to find the help. Don't "Great mind think alike"?

My post wasn't that sparked such problems actually wasn't bitching about others posting the same thing. I pointed out that it wasn't really nescessary to parrot parts of my suggestion (which it wasn't) and then tried to point out that simplifyin it to a quick and easy fix would more than likely lead to more problems down the road (which I had tried to cover in the initial post).  I was trying to save you the potential headaches and problems I have seen from the Virus family that often causes these symptoms. I have had numerous infected computers exhibiting these symptoms over the last two years brought to me for repairs, and tried to impart in my first few posts some of the pitfalls you might face if not cautious and thourough in finding and removing it.  Usually by the time these symptoms exhibit, the damage is already fairly catastrophic and there are already numerous keyloggers and backdoor trojans spread throughtout the core windows files (hence why it freezes at a black screen).  I had many repeat customers because after cleaning the computers the owners had then restored from infected backup disks that were made while the machine was infected (hense why I warned against backing up before going through thourough steps to insure there wasn't a virus).  More than a few were already made severely worse due to improper attempts to remove them, not just by the owners, but by "technicians" working in the nerd herds of notable chain stores - attempts made by booting to the infected windows and then running the anti-virus (hence why I noted several times it wouldbe best to boot from a clean USB recovery device made on a clean computer).  Much of this was explained in my first point which was then simplified.

As for it being a hardware issue this is highly unlikely (not impossible though) because one of the most sinister though inocuous things you mentioned was that McAfees resident shield keeps getting turned off. Whenever any of your security programs, be they Anti-virus components, firewalls, anti-spyware, or blocklist managers seem to stop functioning properly, or fail to start with windows when previously working, it is 99.99% likely a virus.  Admitedly, in the numerous cases I did handle, slightly fewer than 10% turned out to be a bizare coincidence of hardware failure coupled with software conflict - in one case due to a faulty software driver - but this was 3 machines out of around 30 to 40 I worked on with these symptoms.  Of those, slightly more than 10% were irretrievably damaged do to improper attempts to recover or clean them - resulting in worsening infections, and complete corruption of the Master Boot Record and Partition Table on the Hard Drive.

The reason I posted in the first place was because I just got done working on such a situation this past January, and it was my brothers computer. He had let a friend try to recover it who merely ran an online virus scan - and although it did identify some of the virus, it improperly removed critically damaged and infected windows components resulting in the computer ceasing to function even in safe mode after reboot.  Prior to the scan, his symptoms were almost identical to what you described - including being able to boot to safe mode and then reboot using last known good configuration for a time.

I've come in late on this, but there are some steps you could take if you haven't yet gone down the reforamtting/reinstalling/virus-removal path yet.

I had an similar problem to yours a year or so back, though unlike you I couldn't start in safe mode. It turned out that a lost file fragment was causing the problem. You could try the following:

• Boot your computer from your Windows installation CD rather than your hard disk (I'm running XP as well).

• Don't reinstall; instead open the recovery console when given that choice.

• Run "chkdsk.exe c:" (if c: is your boot drive) from the console. I can't remember all the options, but I allowed the program to recover any lost file fragments automatically and report back.

That solved the problem for me. If it is a virus, at least this won't do any harm.

I'm having a similar issue but I'm pretty positive it has to do with the new ram sticks I installed recently. First chance I get I need to hit up crucials support forum for advice.

Basic diagnostics- remove the new sticks and go back to original setup to see if problem remains. Can also try just the new sticks as well. If the sticks aren't matched pairs then you can try mix'n'match. Probably know there are some free RAM diagnostic apps about (names elude me).

In my (limited?) experience faulty RAM sticks cause blue screen of death when booting

Programs for testing Ram are:

Memtest  http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html

Memtest86 http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

Memtest86+ http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Usually problems with Ram will cause Program errors, Bluescreens at bootup, Bluescreens during operations or system reboot (if automatic failure recovery is enabled) and lots of program fatal exception errors and page mode default errors.

If you are getting a black screen at bootup it is most likely a virus.  In some cases it can be a bad graphics card (if you can boot to command line safe mode but not regular safe mode).  If booting to safe mode and then booting to last good configuration works, and if any of your security settings have been mysteriously changed or reset, it is almost always a virus.

Well, I tired putting in some different ram had a good restart. Put my ram back in (the other was borrowed from my son's computer) and it still works. I also changed that little battery that powers the clock when the computer is unplugged. The computer has worked fine ever since. Mcafee stopped acting up once the update was done, even before I messed with the ram, so perhaps the 2 weren't related. But things seem fine now. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

The odd thing is that my system booted up just fine after installing the new sticks.  This began happening a good week or so later I would say.  

That is another bit of information that would convince me it's a virus.  If it is, and the system is infected, the system API and processes are most likely hooked by the virus so Virus protection and scans run from the infected system may not work properly, and will not find anything - that is why I say it is so essential to boot from a clean virus recovery device (USB or CD - I prefer USB as they can be updated once booted).  Some of them may even seem fixed for a time when doing reboots and updates, but will flare up again later.

Been checking the web for a solution- problem is quite common to all windows versions, solution less so. general concensus is the user profile is corrupt (maybe virus induced)or there's a hidden dialogue box

Some can CTRL+ALT+DEL to task manager and Run explorer. (temp fix)

Others have used F8 on startup to go through a diagnostic startup and closedown (sometimes a forced closedown) and fixed it

Others have booted from  Windows CD and gone through a Repair Install

MS issued a fix for early Vista versions.

If all else fails then unfortunately the only fix is backup, format C: and re-install.

Just to update, I fixed my issue.  Turns out it was the RAM sticks I installed.  It probably didn't help my system any that my last video project left me with only a gig of space so after a clean up while in safe mode and messing with ram sticks in a most inaccessible place in this machine, I'm back up and running as well.