I have just murdered my Laptop. (SOLVED).

[RetroJay]

Hi all good peeps.

Firstly. I feel bad for posting this above Snake's post.
Snake. My condolences for your loss. :'(

I am in search of help.
Tonight I downloaded a program called 'Driver Genius Professional'. I needed a serial key. So I then found a key gen for it and downloaded that too.
I then ran scans on both programs and all was well. However when I double clicked to open the key gen I recieved a 'Big Blue Screen Of Death' and my
laptop re-booted.

Now all I am presented with is a black screen on startup. :o
Does anyone know what has happened here and is there a way to undo what I have, obviously, caused.
I could use my restart disk but I realy didn't want to loose stuff on the HDD until I have no other option.

Please can anyone help.
Many thanks.
Jay.

[Guybrush Nosehair]

Hi all good peeps.

Firstly. I feel bad for posting this above Snake's post.
Snake. My condolences for your loss. :'(

I am in search of help.
Tonight I downloaded a program called 'Driver Genius Professional'. I needed a serial key. So I then found a key gen for it and downloaded that too.
I then ran scans on both programs and all was well. However when I double clicked to open the key gen I recieved a 'Big Blue Screen Of Death' and my
laptop re-booted.

Now all I am presented with is a black screen on startup. :o
Does anyone know what has happened here and is there a way to undo what I have, obviously, caused.
I could use my restart disk but I realy didn't want to loose stuff on the HDD until I have no other option.

Please can anyone help.
Many thanks.
Jay.

I'm no computer genius, but try booting into Safe Mode with networking. If you are able to do so, download the free Malwarebytes. This program has saved me (as well as several other people I've recommended it to) numerous times. Assuming you Malwarebytes detects and deletes whatever virus(es) are on your system, do a system restore to a previous date. If you are unable to boot into Safe Mode, I'm sure there are other methods of restoring your system without a reformat. However, I wouldn't know how.

Hope this helps...

[mode7]

Does black screen mean you dont get anything - not even the bios startup screen? if so do you get some beeping at least?

Well if its really broken you could disassemble the laptop and get out the hdd, buy an adapter to connect it to a desktop pc to save the data.

[RetroJay]

Hi Grim.

Thank you for your reply.

I will try this.
I can specify a boot mode but it will have to wait until tomorrow now as I am about to go to my crypt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Mode7.

All I get is the manufacturers screen and then a black screen with a flashing cursor.
On the manufacturers screen it does allow me to either go to bios or choose a boot device though.

This is what I get for trying to be a tight ass, I guess. :

Many thanks.
Jay.

[Joseph DiPerla]

First off, you shouldn't steal products with a KeyGen. But, now that I have said that.

Try putting in a Windows Disk, run recovery mode and fix the master boot record (MBR) Just be careful when you do that.

[Khris]

Yes, that's your best chance to get your stuff back without opening the laptop.

I assume you're using Windows XP? The procedure should be similar for newer versions though.
Boot from a standard Windows installation CD/DVD, then you should be able to get to the so-called recovery console from a menu.
Assuming the HD isn't shot, you should be presented with a selection showing the found windows installations.
You have to select your installation (usually option 1), then you must enter the admin password.
I think if Windows was pre-installed, you specified that the first time you booted Windows.

You'll now end up at a command prompt, just type "fixmbr" and hit enter. It should only take a few seconds.
Then reboot from the HD.

If the partition table is shot, i.e. your installation cannot be found, try the Ultimate Boot CD.
The Partition/HD section contains a program called Partition Saving. It'll fix the partition table and you should get all your data back that way. I used this once after accidentally deleting my D: partition and it worked flawlessly.

Good luck!

[Moresco]

I assume you're using Windows XP? The procedure should be similar for newer versions though.

It's a little different on Win 7.  It's "bootsect /nt60 C:\".

If that were to fail you could use "bootrec /fixmbr" I believe.  Failing that on Win7 there are other options such as to fix Startup problems.  It's been ages since I used XP, I have no advice there but the interwebs has lots.

[RetroJay]

Hi all.

My Laptop.
It's ALIVE... Ha... Ha... Ha... (cough... cough... cough) I should stop smoking.

I had to take it to my mate, who does wonderous things with comps.
After a few hours of putting discs in and out and getting in to parts of my comp, that I didn't even know existed.
He found, numerous, root kits that had been installed, all from this one program. :o

I don't know how the hell he did it but my Laptop is now working as it should.
Also my HDD is completely intact and I have lost no data.

Thank you all for your help.
Jay.