Fried Vista with CCleaner - now incomplete bootup.

Olentzero

Member
Hi all - if you've run across my thread over in General Discussion, this is the one where I talk about lobotomizing Frankenstein, my inherited old work rig. If not, well... keep reading anyway. I'm hoping you'll be able to help.

Frankenstein (so called because when I got it home I threw in two other hard drives from an even older computer I've had in a box for ages) was running a 32bit version of Vista on an Asus P5B Plus Vista Edition motherboard. Everything was hunky dory until I decided to run CCleaner on it, because the main HD was constantly filling up to the limit and I couldn't see what was causing it. I restarted when asked to by CCleaner, which sent Frankenstein into a rapid spiral of BSODs and restarts until I shut it down completely; when I started it up again, it booted up but did not play the startup jingle or display the Windows logo - only went to a black screen with the cursor. The master HD chugged for a bit every so often, but nothing else happened.

I downloaded NeoSmart's Easy Recovery program for Vista and burned it to a DVD, but even when I instructed Frankenstein to boot from the DVD drive it refused to do so, sending me to the cursor on a black screen. Starting in Safe Mode - all three options (SM, SM plus network, SM plus command line) - got me to the same place.

I'm pretty sure I did something stupid to the registry with CCleaner, but my question is - how can I get my rig to boot from the DVD drive? Is it possible, or do I need to take this in to a professional? Or should I try locating a Vista install disk instead?

Thanks in advance for all your time and your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Unknown
    CPU
    Intel Core 2
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5B Plus Vista Edition
    Memory
    WD 75 GB master, 2 slaves (1 WD, 1 Samsung)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Unknown
    Sound Card
    Unknown
Ccleaner isn't likely to have caused any problems unless you did the registry cleaner; you where probably already having issues. What exactly happens when you try safe mode? Does it stop at a certain driver? If so which one?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
I may have done the registry cleaner without realizing it; I don't remember exactly what I ran. I wasn't experiencing any major problems before that (except for uninstalling Windows Live Installer, which was easily fixed).

When I try to boot from safe mode, I get the same result as with booting normally - I end up with a cursor alone in the middle of a black screen. I haven't paid attention to the list of what I presume are drivers scrolling rapidly by when booting in Safe Mode but I can give it a look and - I hope - come back with some useful information.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Unknown
    CPU
    Intel Core 2
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5B Plus Vista Edition
    Memory
    WD 75 GB master, 2 slaves (1 WD, 1 Samsung)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Unknown
    Sound Card
    Unknown

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
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