[Laney]

I have a Toshiba L455 with windows 7 that won't log in. It will turn on, the Toshiba logo will appear and then when it should show a log in screen it goes black except for the mouse. When I try and start up in safe mode I can only see the words safe mode in the four corners of the screen but nothing else. Any ideas what's going on?

 

[bellisaurius]

Video card maybe? Try hooking up to an external monitor, like your TV or something. You could try looking around in BIOS (Carefully) to see if something's amiss. Or, you can try reformatting to see if that does it (and there's nothing important saved on the disk!)

The first one's what I'd start with. You just need a cable to connect the computer and the TV, and there will probably be an F(something) button on top of your function keys to show different screens.

The other two require knowledge and might break something. Just be aware.

 

[Laney]

I just remembered that this all started when I got a new battery. Hmmm.

 

[Laney]

I turned it on without the battery and it said that the computer could not benfixed automatically and to take out any newly installed hardware. It's giving me recovery options. There's start up repair, system restore, system image recovery, windows memory diagnostic, command prompt, and Toshiba recovery wizard.

 

[possiBri]

This might be a fix (found here):

Here are the fix steps:
1. Turn off your computer
2. Disconnect every wire from it (including power)
3. Disconnect the battery from the bottom of the computer. There will be two tabs labeled 1 and 2.
4. Re-plug in the power wire. (the battery should not be in the computer)
5. Turn on the power. The screen will work. Choose start windows normally. (if you get that screen)
6. Go to Control Panel -> (Mobile PC) -> Power Options -> Under Balanced choose change plan settings
7. Choose Change advanced power settings
8. Find Processor power management and change the minimum processor state from 5% to 100% for each On battery and Plugged in.
9. Click Apply then OK
10. Shut down you computer.
11. Disconnect the power cord.
12. Re-install the battery on the bottom of the laptop, plug in the power cord, and restart the computer.


Good luck!

 

[Laney]

So far I can't open control panel :/

 

[possiBri]

So far I can't open control panel :/

Is that because there isn't an option for it? Or you click and nothing happens?

 

[Playful Proxy]

While in Safe Mode with the blank screen, can you try hitting the Ctr-Alt-Delete combination and after selecting Task manager, type in "explorer.exe" in "New Task".

If it is a hardware issue, I am not of much use, but I know my way around software-related issues. Would you happen to know if you downloaded/ran anything suspicious?

 

[Laney]

Is that because there isn't an option for it? Or you click and nothing happens?

There isn't an option, and when I tried using command prompt it wouldn't recognize 'control' at all.

 

[possiBri]

Can you access the "run" prompt? Try putting control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions into the run prompt... that should take you to the power settings... if that isn't recognized, try control powercfg.cpl as a backup.

 

[Laney]

While in Safe Mode with the blank screen, can you try hitting the Ctr-Alt-Delete combination and after selecting Task manager, type in "explorer.exe" in "New Task".

If it is a hardware issue, I am not of much use, but I know my way around software-related issues. Would you happen to know if you downloaded/ran anything suspicious?

I used command prompt to open task manager but task manager wont recognize explorer.exe or control. I might have downloaded a virus and not known.

 

[Playful Proxy]

Can you access the run prompt? Try putting control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions into the run prompt... that should take you to the power settings... if that isn't recognized, try control powercfg.cpl as a backup.

I believe the hotkey for the run prompt is the Windows key + r at the same time.

I used command prompt to open task manager but task manager wont recognize explorer.exe or control. I might have downloaded a virus and not known.

Yeah, if Windows is not recognizing explorer.exe, that is a problem. That process is responsible for showing you your icons, the start menu, and all the goodies you are so used to seeing to run things. From the sounds of it, you most likely are infected.

I know that you can download an ISO file from Avira as a boodcd and run the scanner outside of windows (you can boot from a CD by pushing F10 or Esc depending on what your BIOS says for the boot menu). Just follow the instructions and it will scan and remove what it finds. Unfortunately, I doubt the scanner will bring back your explorer.exe even after the virus is removed. I would scan, remove what you can, and either attempt to use a patching program (which I am not famalier with) to fix windows, or you can boot into another OS such as Ubuntu (can also be run from a CD) to copy all your files to another drive, reinstall Windows 7, and put your files back on.

Good as new. Do you have access to another computer with an internet connection and CD burner?

 

[possiBri]

I believe the hotkey for the run prompt is the Windows key + r at the same time.

Just checked, and confirmed that it is indeed the hotkey!

 

[Laney]

Can you access the "run" prompt? Try putting control /name Microsoft.PowerOptions into the run prompt... that should take you to the power settings... if that isn't recognized, try control powercfg.cpl as a backup.

It doesn't recognize either. I'm not sure if its regular command prompt though because it's X:\sources\recovery\Tools>

 

[Laney]

I believe the hotkey for the run prompt is the Windows key + r at the same time.



Yeah, if Windows is not recognizing explorer.exe, that is a problem. That process is responsible for showing you your icons, the start menu, and all the goodies you are so used to seeing to run things. From the sounds of it, you most likely are infected.

I know that you can download an ISO file from Avira as a boodcd and run the scanner outside of windows (you can boot from a CD by pushing F10 or Esc depending on what your BIOS says for the boot menu). Just follow the instructions and it will scan and remove what it finds. Unfortunately, I doubt the scanner will bring back your explorer.exe even after the virus is removed. I would scan, remove what you can, and either attempt to use a patching program (which I am not famalier with) to fix windows, or you can boot into another OS such as Ubuntu (can also be run from a CD) to copy all your files to another drive, reinstall Windows 7, and put your files back on.

Good as new. Do you have access to another computer with an internet connection and CD burner?

I do.
10char.

 

[Playful Proxy]

I do.
10char.

-For starters, I suggest you go on that computer download and run this: Click Me
EDIT: Go to 'More versions' and choose the one that has the file extension EXE. That will save you a little time.

-Select AntiVir Rescue System and download. Apparently, they are nice and will burn the ISO for you without another tool.

-Then boot from the CD on the problematic system with either F8, F10, or Esc depending on your BIOS (generally, the BIOS will say which one for Boot Menu while starting). Select CD/DVD drive or anything to that tune. Be sure you have an ethernet connection to the internet and it will update. Just follow the instructions and try to scan the system first, then attempt to fix it.

-If the removal of infected files and fixing the system does not work, just quote me back and I can walk you through reformatting process (which is lame because you have to redownload and install programs you had, but your Documents, Music, movies, pictures, etc, can be backed up).

 

[Sequestrum]

I used command prompt to open task manager but task manager wont recognize explorer.exe or control. I might have downloaded a virus and not known.

It doesn't recognize explorer.exe because that is the windows recovery environment, and not your actual system volume. The recovery environment doesn't use an explorer shell. Try running :
> chkdsk /f /x C:

Let that process complete, and attempt to start your system normally. If that fails, you'll end up back in your recovery environment. Try selecting the option called "System Restore" and select a load point that previously worked for you. If this fails as well, then you likely have some system files which are either missing or corrupted.

You might need your original windows installation disc at this point.

Try running the command prompt and using the command
> sfc /scannow /offwindir=C:\windows

This command will begin verifying your system files against the original ones in either a backup directory or from the windows installation disc, if need be. It will ask for your windows disc if it finds problems. Once this is complete, you should definitely be able to start Windows again, however, you will likely need to run Windows Update again.

Running a virus scan is always a good idea. If you have a genuine copy of windows, I would highly recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials" scanner. It is very non-intrusive and effective. It can be downloaded for free at Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

 

[Laney]

The check disk is running and so far it is at a whopping 2 percent completion and all 2 percent of the scanned files are unreadable.

 

[Sequestrum]

Hmm... it may not be running against the right partition (I hope not). Try running
> diskpart
diskpart> list volume

You should get output like:

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 2         System Rese  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3     C                NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy    Boot

Is the letter 'C' bound to the largest 'Boot' volume?

 

[Laney]

I'm going to buy a new windows CD as I don't have one, how do I save files ( videos and pics mostly)? Or am I screwed?