Member Avatar for millertime

looked around a lot online and never really found my specific problem.

I contracted one of the many fake antivirus trojans on my computer. I restarted so that i could boot in safe mode, use rkill and then run my antivirus to clean.

when restarting, my toshiba screen comes up, fans all whir including hd and cd, but the next screen is just blank witha blinking curser.

I can get to the startup menu by hitting F12, but not the safe mode menu or anything else.

i do not have a backup disc, i do have a free windows seven upgrade cd that came with the pc when i bought it, so i think i may be able to reinstall that via the boot menu and selecting cd, but i dont want to lose my hd if it isnt the problem in the first place.

possibilities? thanks

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Dani AI

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Symptom summary and likely cause: the Toshiba splash followed by a blinking cursor most commonly indicates the boot loader cannot find a valid Windows partition (corrupt MBR/BCD, damaged boot files or partition table). Given the fake‑AV infection reported by , file/boot corruption is the primary suspect, as noted. Data protection is the first priority — avoid any repair or reinstall that might overwrite user data until files are secured.

Non‑destructive triage and data rescue (preferred first step): confirm the drive is seen in firmware (BIOS/boot menu — F12 on this machine already shows the boot menu). If the drive is visible, boot a Linux live USB or an antivirus rescue CD (choose “Try/Rescue” not “Install”) and mount the laptop drive to copy important folders to an external disk. The alternative mentioned — removing the 2.5" SATA drive and using a USB enclosure or SATA->USB adapter — is equally valid and often easier for bulk copying. Do not initialize or format the drive when prompted by another system.

Repair steps after data is secured: use the correct Windows recovery environment for the installed OS. For Vista/7 the Repair Command Prompt can fix MBR/BCD; for XP the Recovery Console provides similar tools. Typical commands (run from the repair prompt) include:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
chkdsk C: /f /r

(If the OS is XP, use the Recovery Console commands fixmbr, fixboot and run chkdsk with XP flags.) Run an offline antivirus scan (rescue media) before copying executables to other machines.

Hardware checks and when to consider professional recovery: if the drive is not detected in BIOS, SMART shows errors, or mounting from a live environment fails with many read errors, the disk may be failing — clone it first (ddrescue or commercial cloning tools) and/or consult data recovery services. For cases like ’s BSOD while loading Safe Mode, corrupted system files, bad drivers, or failing RAM/HDD are likely; run memtest86+ for RAM and the HDD maker’s extended diagnostic. Only proceed to full OS reinstall after a verified backup and a clean, offline malware scan, as suggested.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for vin24

How many operating system are installed in your laptop?

Member Avatar for millertime

Just one. windows xp, when i bought the computer it came withe a free upgrade to seven which came out like six months after i bought it, go the cd in the mail like 9 months after i bought it and just never installed because i had no issues with 4gb of ram etc with xp.

Member Avatar for mjdodd

lots of possbilities but first suspect is the boot manager file is corrupt on the HD.
Next down the software line is corrupt windows file, or corrupt drivers
Could also be a hardware fault (video or mother board or HD )
could also be one I had a long time ago and that is font change so you get white on white (or black on black) can you right click on screen and get anything?
can you get hold of a boot disk (linux type is good) a

Member Avatar for mjdodd

oops and see if you can boot from a linux live cd?
M

Member Avatar for millertime

if windows is the problem, i can install windows 7. if i take the hd out and put it in an enclosure, what are the odds i can stuff off of it as long as the hd isnt dead, just corrupt windows?

Member Avatar for mjdodd

I regularly use an enclosure (with its own electric supply and its own HD electgronics) and it connects as a usb and then, even if there are problems of the windows software, there should be no problem reading and copying data etc from the HD to the computer (this assumes two HDs one in enclosure one in computer)) If you reinstall windows before taking the data off the HD then that installation will overwrite your date (unless is is on another partition).
M

Member Avatar for allenbrian1

just back-up your file and re-install your Operating System :) much easier than do lots of registry works and start-up set-ups.

Member Avatar for eposner

I have a Toshiba Satellite and it is not booting. I hit F8 and go into Safe Mode, then it goes Loading Windows files and stops, soon after, the dreaded blue screen pops up. Argh, any suggestions. eric@aztechfinders.com

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