[simgodess]

I received a computer from a friend. It had been stored in the attic for two years. It is from microland technology which has gone bust. After receiving several error messages to log on to random websites. I was asked by my computer to log on to registry.com or patchupdate.com. I ignored the advice and my screen went blank. Who knew? Can anyone help me?

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Try booting in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with networking support if you have broadband. There is no reason for the monitor to go blank unless you have cable or driver issues affecting it or the display card. Ignore the "patch" issue for now.

To boot in Safe Mode tap the f8 key early in the boot process and choose from the options.

You can also try clean booting -- providing you can boot to the desktop in Safe Mode.

Run msconfig and select the "Services" tab. Check "Hide Microsoft Services" and then disable the rest. Also uncheck "load startup group" on the general page.

See this link for detailed information:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310353

Now restart and test the issue at hand

If no problems, run msconfig and recheck half the disabled items on the Services tab. Test again. If the problem recurs, UNcheck half the items you just checked to narrow down the culprit.

If the problem didn't occur, check the other half, so all the Services are enabled -- proceed to do this on the startup tab as well.

Get the idea? You want to isolate the problem to a specific startup if possible.

Note: if you already have items unchecked under msconfig > startups and are in "selective" startup mode - you should note what these are before beginning. They will need to be de-selected again.