Login/Startup Issues

[Jojimbo]

I booted up my Desktop (running Win 7 Pro 64-bit) today and everything was going fine until it got to the login screen (I use admin account with no pw so it auto logs in)

When it gets to where the login screen would be the screen starts flashing between black and the bg for the login screen with the mouse constantly going between the full eggtimer and the small eggtimer+cursor, but is moveable. I can't see any text on the screen other than the Win 7 Pro (which I assume is part of the bg).

I was unable to login under safemode; same thing happens with the mouse except screen is simply black (after it loads windows drivers).

I have run startup recovery disk, no memory or startup issues were found and for some reason I don't have any restore points (guessing I disabled them for space as I'm using a 30GB SSD).

The last thing I installed was freespace 2 + the open source thing for it. I have a laptop that can be used for burning DVDs if there are any repair programs that could help. If I have to reinstall I would like to be able to move stuff off my drives first (this would involve using linux dvd i think?, I have 2 HDDs in RAID 0, will it be able to see that?)

[Caiyuo]

Not really sure what the cause is or how that program could've affected anything, but you could try using startup/recovery repair > advanced options > command line and running "sfc /scannow" to check and replace any altered system files. I have to do this occassionally when I mess with system files for windows themes and something goes wrong and it remedies any problems most of the time.

If you're having trouble finding it, I believe you just run startup recovery, cancel the initial scan and look for a link to advanced options or something similar to find the command line option.

As far as reinstalling, you'd just need to boot to a live distro of linux, usually a feature of their install discs to "try it out", mount the drives you need to access and work from there. There's a million tutorials on "using linux to backup" that are just a search away that you'll probably even be able to access while running the live disc as internet connectivity can be expected too.

[Jojimbo]

Can't seem to run sfc /scannow from system recovery options ;; tried accessing it via disc and F8 but both say that there is a pending repair and that sfc can't run. DLing ubuntu iso now so I can reinstall, at least I'll be able do a peoper SSD install now.

[Jojimbo]

Livecd can't see RAID volumes >.< before I reinstall I just want to check something:

If I reinstall windows onto my SSD, will it be able to see my RAID 0 HDDs? Or do I have to do something first/after installed windows.

[Caiyuo]

I really don't know about that and I'm not sure if you'll get any other bites on that specific question so it might be worth quoting into random tech question

[finitek]

I had a buddy with this problem. Basically you will need to boot from the windows disc to repair the installation. If you do not possess a legit windows disc that complicates the matter.

[Jojimbo]

I tried booting from my install disk instead of the recovery disk and the repair options are the same. (Using £30 Student version)

Startup Repair (doesn't fix issue)
System Restore (no restore points to use)
System Image Recovery (I don't have any images to use)
Windows Memory Diagnostic (Didn't pickup any problems)
Command Prompt (sfc /scannow doesn't work because of 'a pending repair...')

[Caiyuo]

Were you able to get this sorted?

[Jojimbo]

Yeah, I reinstalled Windows in the end (decided to go for an Win7 Ultimate I had DLed before it crashed lol). Seeing the RAID is fine if its done via BIOS as I had it, if it's a software raid then apparently you're screwed if you have to reinstall.

Had a bunch of weird problems (like the show hidden items/volume control popping up in top left corner, and firefox crashing when I right clicked anywhere on it) that got sorted when I installed SP1.

[Caiyuo]

awesome, was just curious