Windows XP Black Screen in Regular and Safe Mode.
I could really use some insight into this problem....
I am running Windows XP SP2 on an Intel Pentium 3.4 GHz and an Asus P5AD2 motherboard with dual WD Raptor drives in a RAID 1 config and 1 GB RAM. A few weeks ago I added a Matrox PCIe video card. I have not made any recent hardware changes.
Yesterday, I ran Raxco PerfectDisk disk defrag and TuneUp RegistryCleaner. I run them weekly, and they appeared to run successfully as usual.
Today, my computer won't boot properly. The bootup process successfully makes it past the BIOS POST, past the black Windows splash screen (with the blue progress bar), and past the blue Windows "Welcome" screen.
After the Welcome screen, my screen goes completely Black. However, the mouse cursor arrow remains visible. The only thing I can do is a Ctrl-Alt-Del to pull up the Task menu.
The same Black Screen problem also occurs when I boot into Safe Mode.
Fortunately, I am able to successfully boot into "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". From there, I can launch explorer.exe and run my anti-virus, which finds no viruses.
I loaded the Repair Console and ran MBRFIX. MBRFIX said that there appeared to be a problem with the MBR and I allowed it to re-write it. I rebooted; ran MBRFIX again, and it reported the same problem...hmm...
Within Safe Mode/Command Prompt, I can see all of my programs and data files...which is of some comfort.
I tried to bootup from the Windows XP CD. After loading the initial files, including the files for my Intel RAID controller, I get a Blue Screen of Death...this prevents me from re-installing Windows XP SP2.
Any thoughts on how I should proceed to diagnose and fix this Black Screen problem?
I could really use some insight into this problem....
I am running Windows XP SP2 on an Intel Pentium 3.4 GHz and an Asus P5AD2 motherboard with dual WD Raptor drives in a RAID 1 config and 1 GB RAM. A few weeks ago I added a Matrox PCIe video card. I have not made any recent hardware changes.
Yesterday, I ran Raxco PerfectDisk disk defrag and TuneUp RegistryCleaner. I run them weekly, and they appeared to run successfully as usual.
Today, my computer won't boot properly. The bootup process successfully makes it past the BIOS POST, past the black Windows splash screen (with the blue progress bar), and past the blue Windows "Welcome" screen.
After the Welcome screen, my screen goes completely Black. However, the mouse cursor arrow remains visible. The only thing I can do is a Ctrl-Alt-Del to pull up the Task menu.
The same Black Screen problem also occurs when I boot into Safe Mode.
Fortunately, I am able to successfully boot into "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". From there, I can launch explorer.exe and run my anti-virus, which finds no viruses.
I loaded the Repair Console and ran MBRFIX. MBRFIX said that there appeared to be a problem with the MBR and I allowed it to re-write it. I rebooted; ran MBRFIX again, and it reported the same problem...hmm...
Within Safe Mode/Command Prompt, I can see all of my programs and data files...which is of some comfort.
I tried to bootup from the Windows XP CD. After loading the initial files, including the files for my Intel RAID controller, I get a Blue Screen of Death...this prevents me from re-installing Windows XP SP2.
Any thoughts on how I should proceed to diagnose and fix this Black Screen problem?