Windows boots to black screen with cursor

[Dizman7]

So yeah I have this 220GB Maxtor drive with Vista 64-bit installed on it. This happened a few months back but I was in the process of upgrading to Win 7 64bit on a Raptor drive I have. I installed Win7 fine on the other drive and after a few back and forths the Vista drive now only boots to a black screen with a cursor you can move but nothing else. Keyboard controls don't work, nothing. Worse yet trying to access the Vista drive from the Win7 drive just gives a "INACCESSIBLE" error/pop-up.

I'm not sure what happened, I've researched quite a bit and it seems to be 50/50 either a virus or a glitch with Vista and certain graphics drivers. I've tried a ton things, one was ran brand new Norton boot from disc and it found a Trojan and deleted it fine it says, but no difference.

The problem is I have a lot of stuff I need/want off that Vista drive, my biggest is my iTune library but also 1000's of pics. I don't care if I can't boot it, I just want the files off of it.

What I find really weird/odd, or at least I don't understand it, is when I run Norton or other anti-spyware/virus software, those programs can see all the folders and files on the hard drive but I can't access them! I'll see it scan thru folder and i'll be yelling at my PC "YES, those are the files I want! GIVE ME!".

REALLY ticking me off and been working on this on and off for months now.

So is there anything I can do to get that stuff back or am I completely hosed?

Any help is appreciated. I updated my system specs, as I haven't been on here for a while, oh and both drives are SATA.

Thanks

 

[aharvey]

Try booting to a live linux cd like Ubuntu and see if it can grab your files from the harddrive.

 

[remixedcat]

have you tried repairing the install? Running UBCD or a live distro would allow you to get the files off.

 

[Dizman7]

No I have not tried Ubuntu, where would I get that? I'm not that familar with Linux

I did try to repair and it did nothing, it didn't fine anything wrong, though my VISTA disc did "repair" my Win7 drive and f'd up the boot sequence for a while, it had the Vista loading bar instead of the Win7 windows icon for a while.

I'm not relaly familar with distro, where would I find that, or does it do?

Thx for the help

 

[aharvey]

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

Use the option that says try it from a cd or usb stick. You will need to burn the file as an .iso.

There are instructions on the page that says 'show me how' if you're not familiar with burning a disc image.

Just be sure to use the option of 'trying' ubuntu and not installing ubuntu. When you try it, itll just load the OS up to your RAM. If you install it, it'll overwrite your HD.

 

[cheesy999]

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

just click a distro (from within the program) and a USB stick and it'll download it and put it on there with no work required

 

[aharvey]

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Nice find cheesy, that looks sweet.

Edit: @ Dizman, Ubuntu might be your best bet, as it is one of the distro's that is most similar to Windows.

 

[sonnytiger]

you could try starting up explorer.exe manually in vista by starting the task manager then clicking file > new task and type in explorer.exe.

Might help.

 

[cheesy999]

Nice find cheesy, that looks sweet.

been using it for years, think i found it on lifehacker ages ago

Linux mint is the absulute closest to Windows as you'll find all the buttons in their normal places

 

[aharvey]

Also, some of the information found here might prove useful if Linux doesn't make it easy for you.

 

[Dizman7]

you could try starting up explorer.exe manually in vista by starting the task manager then clicking file > new task and type in explorer.exe.

Might help.

No it doesn't let you do anything on the black screen other than move the mouse, ctrl+alt+delete doesn't do anything and there is no task bar.

So with these from CD/USB options, so it'll just act like a 3rd drive with an OS, and just (hopefully) let me copy stuff from the Vista drive to the Win7 drive then? So I assume with both I have to restart and choose boot from CD or USB?

Thanks guys, I'm at work now but will try one of those when I get home

 

[aharvey]

once you boot from the usb or cd, itll act like your in a third OS, separate from your hard drives. You should then be able to see your hard drives from within linux, and attempt to move from vista hd to 7 hd.

 

[robn]

So with these from CD/USB options, so it'll just act like a 3rd drive with an OS, and just (hopefully) let me copy stuff from the Vista drive to the Win7 drive then? So I assume with both I have to restart and choose boot from CD or USB?

Yeah exactly that.

Plug in an external hard disk if you have one, then copy copy copy.

 

[cheesy999]

So with these from CD/USB options, so it'll just act like a 3rd drive with an OS, and just (hopefully) let me copy stuff from the Vista drive to the Win7 drive then? So I assume with both I have to restart and choose boot from CD or USB?

exactly, just restart and select it in the same bit you would select a DVD drive or second hard drive if you wanted to boot of one of those

 

[Dizman7]

Put Ubuntu on a usb drive and worked like a freak'n charm! Used the link Cheessy gave and couldn't have been more effortless! Took 15mins to download the OS, other than that it was fine.

You have NO idea how happy I am about this! Now I just need to free up space on my good drive to copy all this stuff and hope that Apple store guy was right about all I had to do was copy the itunes folder over to restore/setup my library on a new pc.

I've been messing with this for at least 6 months, granted on and off, don't have much time on the weekdays.

But thanks everyone for the help, TRUELY appreciate it.

 

[cheesy999]

You have NO idea how happy I am about this! Now I just need to free up space on my good drive to copy all this stuff and hope that Apple store guy was right about all I had to do was copy the itunes folder over to restore/setup my library on a new pc.

install itunes and launch it first on your new install, then exit itunes and overwrite the files it put there already, works better that way

 

[erixx]

this is an easy one... had it a week ago when moving hdd's:

check the boot priorities (press F12 or...) or enter BIOS (press DEL)

 

[Dacur]

One thing u also could do is get a secondary drive, move pics/music/video files onto that, install Itunes on that drive too, so a bootdrive crash wouldnt affect these files at all.

Seen this thing happen alot where ppl store everything on the boot drive and lost it + it will slow ur pc down.

My advice, allways have a 2nd drive for important stuff.

 

[cadaveca]

hope that Apple store guy was right about all I had to do was copy the itunes folder over to restore/setup my library on a new pc.

Basically, yes, this works. You'll have to activate your iTunes account on the new PC, but once that's done, any DRM-protected media, such as movies or msuic, will work.

You can activate up to 5 machines at any one time for playback of purchased media, but if you did not de-activate the iTunes Store account on the borked OS install, this wil ltake up on of those 5.

However, you can easily send in a support ticket, and have all machines removed, giving you a fresh slate, and you simply need to "reauthenticate" any other exisiting boxes you have.

 

[cheesy999]

However, you can easily send in a support ticket, and have all machines removed, giving you a fresh slate, and you simply need to "reauthenticate" any other exisiting boxes you have.

i've been told when you reach 5 machines a button opens on your account settings that lets you deautherize all machines?

 

[cadaveca]

i've been told when you reach 5 machines a button opens on your account settings that lets you deautherize all machines?

This option is only available once every 12 months, unless you contact support. You can de-authorize all machines at any time, but again, only once per year without support's help. It doesn't matter if there is just 1, or the full 5, if you use the "de-authorize all" option.

 

[Dizman7]

Is there any particular order I need to do this iTunes restore in?

I've installed iTunes on the good drive last night, but haven't opened the program yet nor copied anything. Was just getting ready.

So do I just opened, close it, then copy my stuff and then activate my account. OR do I open it, activate my account on it (or authorize PC, whatever it is called), THEN transfer stuff?

I want to make sure I do this right.

 

[cadaveca]

Install itunes, and move media into the itunes folder after install, then start the app. I'd keep a separate copy of your media until you've confirmed it's working, but I've done tihs literally countless times, without any issue.

The only thing that sucks is that playlists will be gone, and any relabelling of titles, or such will be gone as well.

 

[Dizman7]

Install itunes, and move media into the itunes folder after install, then start the app. I'd keep a separate copy of your media until you've confirmed it's working, but I've done tihs literally countless times, without any issue.

The only thing that sucks is that playlists will be gone, and any relabelling of titles, or such will be gone as well.

So will it know my account from one of the files I copy then, do I need to do any sort of activation myself?

Oh and two the one guy about the two drives. Yeah that is what I normally do, but I wanted to swtich drives (primary and storage) so install Win7 on the "old" storage drive and then that's when the "old" primary F'd up and I couldn't copy stuff over so I coudl format the "old" primary back into a storage drive again. Normally I wouldn't switch back and forth drives like that though, I forget why I did in the first place. Probably just going to plug a USB drive into my Airport Basestation and use it as network storage, I'd get a Timecapsule if I could afford it right now.

 

[aharvey]

When you try and play a file you previously purchased from the itunes store, it will ask you for you itunes credentials the first time, then your account will be activated on that machine.