Question : Problem: Black screen on boot, no beeps..

Hi all,

Am trying to clean up a terrible infected PC.. it has that troublesome RPC Blaster Explot (http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/rpc.php) but the machine is in absolute sh*te.

By this, I mean the owners installled 2 versions of the OS (folder 'Windows') and (folder 'Windows1') and have required data in both versions of the OS.

One version of the OS boots, though that RPC error comes up (which I can prevent shutting down by running 'shutdown -a') but installing anything USB devices or anything results in it basically locking up, so backing up to a USB disk is outta the question. Safe mode is also more or less a no go.

The other version of the OS boots into XP, but that's as far as it goes. No desktop icons (etc) - I try to launch 'explorer.exe' and nothing happens.

So tried to boot up earlier on and got a 'Read disk error. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to restart' but fixed that after simply restarting a few times. But now, I'm getting a black screen.. no beeps.. no indication or anything. Can view the bios and that's about it. Tried removing the CMOS battery for a while but it's the same. Any suggestions?

Oh.. and tried re-seating the RAM. Nothing!

Obviously the disk is on it's way out but the black screen is odd. Anyone any thoughts?

Answer : Problem: Black screen on boot, no beeps..

Have you looked at trying to fix maybe a corrupted Master Boot Record?
Before doing this I personally would take the drive out, put it in my HDD Enclosure and plug it into another computer via USB and get that infection off the drive. You can go to NewEgg to pick one up for about $26.00. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193047
This unit will hold both IDE and SATA drives.

Of course if you don't need the data why not stick in your XP CD and just wipe that drive out with a format and fresh copy.

To fix the MBR you can follow these steps:
Put in your XP CD and boot from it. When the prompt "Press any key to boot from CD". You'll go into your Recovery Console.

Press R to go to Recovery Console when prompted.

On the next screen just select the number in which you want to work on, that is if you have more than one OS.

Next you'll need to know the Admin password. If you don't know it many people never put one in so just hit enter if it's not known.

After this you should be at the command prompt and you can run FIXMBR. It should not take but a moment and when done just remove your CD and  type in "Exit" which will reboot the system and hopefully the drive will be seen.