Re: Win XP SP3 no boot - black screen only...

Hi TL,

First of all, you got bit. You don't need to uninstall Microsoft
Internet Explorer 7, in order to repair Outlook Express in Windows XP
operating systems.

You could have used Add or Remove Programs - Windows Components.
Unchecked Outlook Express. Click Next and finish and reboot the computer.

After back on the Desktop, reverse the process.

But for now, try using BootIt NG program to work with partitions.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm Download the
latest version and install the program on a Floppy Disk. Then boot the
computer up, using the floppy disk. Do not install, but go into Maintenance
Mode. Work with Partitions. It will be able to detect errors.


--
thecreator



"TL (at work)" <tlmitchell99(nospam)@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:hO-dnYZlfscyAuvVnZ2dnUVZ_oninZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Greetings all,

Got a problem that may be lengthy to describe. Short story, when I turn on
my XP Professional machine I get a black screen with blinking cursor
following POST, nothing else.

Long story:

I was troubleshooting an Outlook Express problem where OE6 wouldn't load,
just hang at the splash screen. All the MS articles indicated in order to
reinstall OE6 I'd need to reinstall Internet Explorer 6 since OE6 is an
integral component. First I'd need to uninstall IE7.... sheesh.

Anyway, after uninstalling IE7 and having no success reinstalling IE6 I
decided to do an Upgrade reinstall of XP Professional. My install CD is
SP1, which is where some problems lie as the installed version has been
upgraded to SP3 with all patches and updates. When I booted using the SP1
install CD the setup files loaded giving me the usual choices, enter
Setup, start the Recovery Console or exit. I chose to enter Setup.

Setup displayed 3 partitions all labeled "unknown" representing my 3
physical hard disks, all showing the SP1-limited size default 131 MB
drives. Two of these HDs are 320 MB and the 3rd is 300MB..... that's when
I remembered the 131 MB limitation of SP1 and exited Setup in order to
find another method to fix my OE6 problems. I took no other action nor
made any other Setup selections prior to exiting.

Upon reboot I encountered the black screen and no boot. Using a Windows XP
Home SP2 CD from another machine I was able to boot to the Recovery
Console and navigate via the Command Line to the 2nd & 3rd physical disks.
Using the DISKPART utility on the setup disk the primary HD shows the
correct size but no partitions. The primary disk has one primary partition
of the default SP1-limited 131MB size as well as an extended partition
containing 3 logical drives. The other 2 physical drives show correctly
and I was able to navigate to directories and see the file list on both.
With the exception of the 131 MB primary partition created during initial
installation, all partitions were created using the XP Disk Management
utility after upgrading to SP2 immediately after initial installation. All
use NTFS.

Prior to attempting the reinstall I scanned for viruses and malware using
several utilities, none were present. I also ran the XP System File
Checker with the /scannow switch hoping that might take care of my OE6
problem. No such luck.

It appears I have a problem with either the MBR or partition tables, or
both, on the 1st hard drive. I've scanned through numerous Knowledge Base
articles referring to repairing MBRs using the FIXMBR command using
Recovery Console... dunno if that's something I should do. I'm an
experienced user, however I have no experience messing with boot records
or partition tables.

Appreciate any thoughts or pointer,

TL



.

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