Member Avatar for razwe2003

after kaspersky internet security installation, the PC starts untill the display of the windows (XP) logo. And then, the screen gets dark. The mouse works, but no action can be done. why

  • 3 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 73 Views
  • 13 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by rproffitt

Dani AI

Generated

— the symptom you describe (boots to the XP logo, screen goes dark but the mouse still moves) usually means Windows kernel and input are running but the graphical shell or a driver/service loaded later is failing. Below are practical, ordered steps you can try to diagnose and recover without immediately reinstalling.

  1. Press F8 at boot and try "Enable VGA Mode" and "Safe Mode".
  2. If Safe Mode works: press Ctrl+Alt+Del, open Task Manager and use File -> New Task to run msconfig. On the Services tab check "Hide all Microsoft services" then disable remaining third-party services; on Startup disable nonessential items. Reboot normally. If that fixes it, uninstall the recently added security product from Control Panel (or use the vendor removal tool). Also try System Restore to a point before the install.
  3. If Safe Mode does not work, try "Last Known Good Configuration". If still stuck, use a Linux live USB or WinPE to copy your important data off the disk before further changes.
  4. Advanced: if you can access Safe Mode or a recovery environment, inspect Event Viewer for driver/service errors, and verify the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell equals explorer.exe. Only rename drivers to ".old" if you know which file is causing the problem.

A couple of cautions: back up your data before editing the registry or deleting drivers, and avoid removing unknown system files. For context, and raised recovery and legacy-XP concerns — prioritize preserving the existing setup if this machine supports critical legacy hardware.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Seriously? After Ukraine and numerous cyber attacks you'd trust anything Russian? Shame on you. Time to resort to your backup. If you don't have a backup then double shame on you. You should have a backup image of your system partition for just this event (I recommend Macrium Reflect). At the very least, a Macrium Reflect bootable recovery USB stick would allow you to access/recover all of your data files.

commented: Also want to note that what comes with Windows seems to be good enough for an antivirus. +16
Member Avatar for rproffitt

Windows XP SP3 here only took 20 minutes to reinstall. The target was one of our last Windows XP SP3 machines that we kept around for client support of a legacy app that was not going to be updated for any newer version of Windows. We don't bother with an antivirus because it's used for just one thing which is to edit the client's app, compile and ship out the new version.

The Internet is dead as it can be on this old XP laptop because everything is secure beyond what XP SP3 can offer.

Can you share your reason to run XP SP3 today?

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Rather than keeping around an old machine, why not just run XP SP3 in a virtual machine? That way you are not reliant on a single point of failure (a decrepit machine).

Member Avatar for rproffitt

For Reverend Jim,
Great question. It's for a factory production line and uses those USB to RS232 USB adapters which can be a pain to get working in a VM. Also, I didn't tell all. This was the last time we agreed to do an update so it will be the last update. Then again if management gets their price for an update (it's been doubling each year!) then we may have to do it again. The price is so high that buying some old dual core laptop on ebay is not a concern.

For the OP, I can't guess why anyone else would run Windows XP today outside of curiosity.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.