Help: Can't boot into OS

[Dave21]

Hey,

Ok I am extremely frustrated with vista. I'm not sure if its the OS itselt but I've never had this problem with windows xp.

From my memory, the only new program I installed was "damn nfo viewer". There were also a bunch of office xp updates that were installed before the problem.

When I boot up, the vista load screen appears but I am unable to get into the vista login screen. I've tried safemode, last known configurations, and I even set everything in bios to default. Nothing works. It's always the same screen. It's a blank black screen and all I see is the mouse cursor.

I have also popped in the vista disc to get into the repair screen. I've run a system restore to last week's configs. I also ran the scan for problems on startup and it could not find a problem. It says it boots into the OS fine. Which is not the case. I am stumped.

I really do not want to reformat my drive, it would be my second time in less than a month. It gets frustration especially if I have important files on it, not to mention it is time consuming to update everything again.

Does anyone had a similar problem before? I don't think it's a problem with the HDD? It's a seagate 7200.11 500 gb. It ran great for over a month.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

[THIERRY]

Dave21 sorry about the trouble you got into with vista. Before all this occur did you update to SP1 pack yet. Follow those links I hope it may help :
http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2007/12/vista-black-screen-after-login.html Tell us how it goes but meanwhile I am delving into other solution on the web. I am just curious.

Thierry.

[THIERRY]

Dave21 this is another work-around: a friend of mine said to have this problem for months and He tried anything but unsuccesful. He removed the motherboard battery for two hours and everything came back to normal. I am just taking a wide guess:your Isass.sys don't run at startup/login as it should. lsass.exe is a system process of the Microsoft Windows security mechanisms. It specifically deals with local security and login policies. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated. I don't know if the "damn nfo viewer" or "office xp updates" did indeed interfere or interact with the Isass.exe, I suspect the former.
Good Luck.

Thierry.

[Dave21]

The first solution didn't work because I can't log in to the OS. The second one, I tried and its still the same problem.

I just removed the battery and waited for several hours. Is that all your friend did? Did he do anything other than remove the battery?

I hope some one has had a similar problem and could direct me in the right way :)

I've also done research and could not find a solution. Thanks in advance!

[Dave21]

So some new development:

I ran chkdsk in command prompt from the vista cd. The command was chkdsk c: /r to check for errors and the scan took over 2 hours :eek Someone on another forum described my problem and ran chkdsk and it solved the problem... I thought it would work for me but it didn't.

However, instead of a blank black screen with the mouse cursor, this time it is a blank black screen and the vista logo appears for a few seconds. Also on the bottom right corner of a screen there is a blinking blue rectangle and the mouse cursor is busy.

I have no clue what's going on. I have run into a dead end. I am still searching for a solution. Apparently most people to encounter a similar problem just reformat... I hope you guys can assist me as well :)

Thanks.

[THIERRY]

Dave21 I perfectly understand your genuine frustration and you need to be patient.If no one has come with something promising so far it merely means your situation is not ordinary otherwise one of the administration team or forum colleague could have pinpoint thye cause and lead you straight to a solution. I have been running some resarch on your behalf for a convenient solution and still nothing concrete.
Dave21 might I suggest the use of Ultimate Boot CD(UBCD) ? Have you or one of your friend use it before? As I mention earlier, your Isass.exe file(responsable for login) is not running has it should. The problem is your can't make your way into Vista operating system. Use UBCD latest version it's free and run: Anti-spyware and anti-virus first and Diagnosis tool Registry tool(Regcleaner if applicable) second. Ubcd is the only tool to "communicate" with you OS without seeing it. I gave you credit and see how it goes. Don't use the function that you don't know in UBCD. I suggest to familiarise with it first if you did not use it in the past.
Good Luck.

Thierry.

[THIERRY]

Dave21 I did have the vista-black-screen situation this afternoon with the only mouse-cursor moving. My vista sidebar did not start and I force it to do so. When I reboot:BLACK SCREEN. A couple of attempt to resolve the issue was unsuccessful until at last I launch the last known good configuration in the Bios. I revert it the way it was. But my last option was the UBCD if the preceding attempt did not work. Have you try it yet the UBCD ?

Thierry

[Dave21]

Dave21 I did have the vista-black-screen situation this afternoon with the only mouse-cursor moving. My vista sidebar did not start and I force it to do so. When I reboot:BLACK SCREEN. A couple of attempt to resolve the issue was unsuccessful until at last I launch the last known good configuration in the Bios. I revert it the way it was. But my last option was the UBCD if the preceding attempt did not work. Have you try it yet the UBCD ?

ThierryI will try later today and let you know how it goes. My last option is to format and dual-boot with xp/vista.

edit: I checked the website and I honestly believe there is nothing on the cd that would be useful.

I've done some more reading, and couldn't find a solid answer so i'm going to throw in the towel and format. This time I will partition the drive so in case something happens I can save my files.

[THIERRY]

I will try later today and let you know how it goes. My last option is to format and dual-boot with xp/vista.

Dual boot option is a good avenue in case one of the OS become troublesome(your case) and can't make your way into it. You can use the other OS to retrieve your precious file, and some people even argue you can repair the affected OS via the other one.If budget is not a option, I will suggest to have three physical hard drives like I do.Two with different OS and the last with my File.If I am struck by disastre, all my file are unaffected and competely safe. I have issue in the past with hard drive partition and I don't advise it in case of Dual Boot.
Thanks

Thierry.

[Dave21]

Dual boot option is a good avenue in case one of the OS become troublesome(your case) and can't make your way into it. You can use the other OS to retrieve your precious file, and some people even argue you can repair the affected OS via the other one.If budget is not a option, I will suggest to have three physical hard drives like I do.Two with different OS and the last with my File.If I am struck by disastre, all my file are unaffected and competely safe. I have issue in the past with hard drive partition and I don't advise it in case of Dual Boot.
Thanks

Thierry.

What happened when you partitioned the harddrive with dualboot?

[shadowpr]

I have a dual boot with vista and linux and it has caused no problems. As long as you think about how much space you give each partition, you should be good.

I also keep all personal files on a different hard drive in the nfts format so both os's can see and write to it.

[THIERRY]

Yeah Shadowpr I totally agree with you on the size allocation. My disastre was a personal matter for given only 45 Gb space for each partition as I was novice on computer . I did start experiencing the downsize of this allocation on the long run on the pc.Yes Dave21 if you have a big hard drive with big allocation on each OS,I believe you will be fine. But please keep your personal file on a different physical hard drive so the two OS can see it, like Shadowpr did. I have three. On the drive with OS, there is at least 75% of free space and my both OS run on their best.

Thierry

[nhs0111]

I hope some one has had a similar problem and could direct me in the right way

I've also done research and could not find a solution. Thanks in advance!

[Dave21]

Solution = reformat.