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Boots up to a blank desktop

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G0AOZ

G0AOZ

Technical User
Nov 6, 2002
2,342
GB
XP Home SP2 system fell to pieces on a hard disk which had developed lots of bad sectors. Couldn't image or copy the disk, but managed to lift off most of the files onto a new disk using Easy Recovery Pro.

When I ran new disk it reported lots of corrupted or missing system files, which I manually replaced from the XP Home (SP2) Windows CD.

It has now got to the point where it boots up and just sits at a blue desktop, no taskbar, no icons, and <Ctrl><Alt><Del> unfortunately produces nothing. Booting in Safe Mode produces a black screen with "Safe Mode" in each corner and the Windows system build number across the top. Again, I cannot invoke Task manager.

Ran virus check, but nothing found. Have also tried doing a repair using the Windows XP CD, but makes no difference.

This particular Windows installation has a huge number of programmes installed, and although I can lift off the user's data, we are very reluctant to abandon this installation.

Anyone got any ideas please?

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Fred Langa's Tutorial is interesting, but unfortunately doesn't seem to help this scenario.

Followed through the repair ok and system automatically rebooted after screen TEN. It never gets to screen ELEVEN. I assume it is prior to this screen appearing that I am getting the blank blue "desktop", after which nothing further happens.

Not tried running ChkDsk /r on either the new disk or the old one. My experience of ChkDsk is that it's not as good at retrieving information off a damaged disk as say Easy Recovery or GetDataBack. However, would appreciate comments on this.

The only reason we're persisting with this is the sheer number of installed applications, and the fact that the installation disks are probably long gone!

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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Followed through the repair ok and system automatically rebooted after screen TEN. It never gets to screen ELEVEN. I assume it is prior to this screen appearing that I am getting the blank blue "desktop", after which nothing further happens.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a DRIVER issue... either the Display or the PCI-IDE/SCSI/SATA drivers which are causing you trouble...

can you boot into SafeMode? or into the Repair Console, from there I would delete all the Files (or the most recent by date) in the following Folder:

%windows%\system32\drivers

reboot, if all where deleted then do a REPAIR INSTALL again (replacing the drivers that where deleted)...


PS: this happened to me, a Virtual CD driver (SPTD.SYS) comes from/with DeamonTools caused exactly the same as to what you where describing... effectively had to rebuild my system thereafter...

good hunting...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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Thanks for replies guys. Will try suggestions once I'm back in front of the offending machine again...

No, Safe Mode brings up a black screen with "Safe Mode" in each corner, and that's it. Cannot invoke Task Manager, no icons, no taskbar, no nothing! But I can attach the hard disk to another working XP system to "get at it"...

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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If you cannot invoke Task Manager, things are bleak indeed.


____________________________
Users Helping Users
 
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When I ran new disk it reported lots of corrupted or missing system files, which I manually replaced from the XP Home (SP2) Windows CD".

See - "You Receive a File Copy Error During Setup"

310064 - HOW TO: Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When You Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me



Try setting the Bios to Safe Defaults. Make sure any Bios virus scanning is turned off.

If you do end up doing a format and clean install hopefully most of your installed applications can be downloaded, or if Licenses and lost installation CD's are a problem, the program support site can help you.


ChkDsk is more suitable for repairing file and table corruption than recovering lost data.
 
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Tried all suggestions now, and got no further forward unfortunately. It seems to sporadically come with "hal.dll missing or corrupted", or a BSOD "STOP 0x0000007B" xxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, etc etc., but not every time.

Hardware is fine - moved another XP Home system onto it and it performs faultlessly. So I guess the user has to bite the bullet, and take a fresh install. At least his data looks ok...

Thanks again for your thoughts and suggestions.

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Windows lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Typical causes: Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware, or a virus.

* After You Remove or Reinstall Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum Edition {KB 811408} Win XP

* Stop 0x7B or “0x4,0,0,0” Error {KB 122926} Win NT, Win XP (on restart)

* During setup (Sysprep issue) {KB 303786} Win XP

* When You Press F6 to Load Drivers During Unattended Win XP Setup {KB 307099} Win XP

* When you restart your Win XP-based computer {KB 316401} Win XP (after replacing motherboard)

* When you start your computer from a WinPE CD-ROM or from a Server 2003 CD-ROM using a USB CD-ROM device {KB 839210} Win XP, Win Server 2003 (patch available)

* Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Win XP & Server 2003 setup {KB 314859} Win XP, Win Server 2003



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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Thanks BaBigBen. Looked through all those, but no joy.

I noticed the BOOTLOG.TXT file states that several drivers were not loaded, amongst them being sisgrp.sys and i8042prt.sys. These files appear several times in the log file, which I assumes means the system has had several goes at trying to load 'em...

Other drivers appear to be loaded subsequently - I'm assuming the BOOTLOG.TXT file shows the order in which drivers are loaded, or not loaded, as the case may be.

Is there any way to "force" these drivers to be loaded, or are they unlikely to be part of this "blank screen" problem? These drivers will have been freshly installed when the XP Repair feature was run...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

"If it doesn't work, hit it with a bigger hammer!!" (With apologies to BadBigBen!)
 
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Sisgrp.sys is a SiS Compatible Super VGA Driver

i8042prt.sys is the driver for Standard 101/102-Key keyboard or the Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard, maybe you have a different keyboard or mouse?

 
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User originally had a wireless keyboard and mouse, which worked fine. I have tried my usual bog standard items, but no change.

I have now made a fresh build on a brand new hard drive, and put on as many previous applications as I can. Managed to extract most of his important data using a combination of Easy Recovery Pro and GetDataBack. Still have the original hard disk in case he finds some important document is missing.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
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