Hi Gang...

I'm trying to build a DAW for mobile work. In the process of cleaning up the machine (adware junk) and the myriad of things being tried to do the cleanup, windows won't start...

Win7 Pro

When I start the machine it gets to the point of where the login should appear but instead I briefly see a string of odd characters then nothing...

I tried safe mode but the same thing happens.

I did just disable a few services in the computer setup (administrator tools) and I'm thinking it might be involved?

The machine came pre installed so there is no disk, but I do have the install disk for the version installed on my main DAW...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!
Keni

If you are getting a string of odd characters and then nothing I'm speculating you are infected. I would at least expect a BSOD. If you can't boot in safe mode or do a rollback when pressing F8, or you don't have an offline backup you don't have much choice .

http://www.bleepingcomput...-recovery-environment/

You might be able to get into repair mode via F8 at boot. The setup files might be located on a seperate partition. Otherwise you need to copy windows setup files from cd to a USB stick or something, assuming you have the right setup files. And you will need to make the USB strick bootable.

Once it is up and running your priority should be a full virus scan with up to date scanner. For malware I recommend malwarebytes.

After that buy something like Acronis Trueimage!

Cheers...

Most laptops don't come with a disk anymore but keeps the install files on a separate partition on the hard drive. Google the model of laptop you're using along with recovery and it should tell you how to do a complete format/reinstall of the OS. It's usually as simple as hitting a button at startup.
 
Once you do that, you should be golden. Chances are you removed something you shouldn't have by the sounds of it.

Thanks Dok and TerraSin...

Yeah, I'm guessing I fouled something got malware do by ads by name and ads by cloud(something)... Can't seem to get them off...

I was researching this evening and found an ISO file I can download and using a until create either a bootable DVDs or thumb drive with which I can re-install using the upgrade option?

Tomorrow at the shop I will try to do this.

The machine is not a laptop... It's a Dell i5 quad with 8G... I'm sure there's a partition as I know dell does this so I will search first and see if I can re-install without being able to get into windows...

Thanks!
Keni

Learn to make restore points *before* you do anymore.cleaning!! : )

Dell has a recovery partition on the hard drive, accessed by F8 at power on.  This has (or used to have) a couple of options to try and fix it.  One option is to restore to the original factory disk image.  No CD's are required for this.
 
 

If you do what Fireberd said, you can just do a complete format which will wipe everything from the drive and give you a clean install so you won't need to worry about malware being on the computer when it gets loaded.

Grem
Learn to make restore points *before* you do anymore.cleaning!! : )

I did!

But I can't get into windows to run it!

fireberd
Dell has a recovery partition on the hard drive, accessed by F8 at power on.  This has (or used to have) a couple of options to try and fix it.  One option is to restore to the original factory disk image.  No CD's are required for this.
 
 

Thanks firebird...

But to add insult to injury, I had to find a way to force the boot options to appear as f8 isn't working either. ...and the window I'm presented doesn't offer the repair options... Only 3 choices of safe, normal, and safe with network/command prompt... All hang the same way... I get the windows login wallpaper, but no login dialog appears and the machine simply sits there with an occasional blink...

Keni

Most likely your cleanup deleted an important file, or you disabled a critical service. You might be able boot from an install disc for the same version of Windows. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/start-your-computer-from-a-windows-7-installation-disc-or-usb-flash-drive
You can access the repair options and try startup repair, or if you have a good restore point you can access that.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-are-system-recovery-options#what-are-system-recovery-options=windows-7