Solved Green Screen Of Death?

Can Ubuntu Recovery CD Help Me?

Hello,
I'm relatively new to windows 8.1 as I've used Vista for the last 6 years and I'm now in trouble.
I hope it's alright that I post this here.

I don't know what "screen of death" (Blue or Black) I'm getting ...as it's green.
I customized my laptop months ago to the color green for the signing-in start-up.

What happened was I had a program that I deleted that left a dll on my PC.
I read that I must start my PC in Safe Mode to get rid of it.
I didn't know how to do this with W8.1 so I Googled and discovered I must find the "boot" folder in I THINK the System Mmanagement section .
Wherever it was...I found it and clicked on boot in "safe mode" along with another sub-box underneath that sounded like I needed it to do the work of removing (not sure what i clicked at all)

Anyways after restarting i'm getting a Green screen of Death where I can only move the cursor among a green screen.
While restarting by pressing ESC I tried a system recovery setting my PC back a day....I still have the green screen.

So I went into the BIOS and changed the Boot order so the drive would be first.
I then put in my Ubuntu ISO disc and now have my laptop running Ubuntu.
I thankfully transferred my files to an external drive and now have a question...

Is there any way to fix what I did with this Ubuntu running or is my only choice now is to send my PC back to day one losing all my programs?

Sorry for being so stupid (I miss Vista)

Hello,
As you say you are getting "green screen of death" which is very strange and I haven't know this before, and you cannot post a screenshot of your "GSOD", so it is recommend to Refresh your PC.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2293-refresh-windows-8-a.html

OK, I'm now getting worried.

I just did a HP System Extensive Test and everything is fine.
However, I tried to do a System Restore and even a System Recovery and got the following message.

"Unable to reset your PC...a required Drive is missing" :shock:
Could I have removed something while transferring my files to an external drive with Ubuntu?

What do I do now?
How do I set my PC back to day one?

Hello Koukol,

You does not have a recovery partition, so you need to insert media to refresh your PC.

Cheer!

windows8use said:

Hello Koukol,

You does not have a recovery partition, so you need to insert media to refresh your PC.

Cheer!

Click to expand...

Do you mean a back-up disc?

I didn't make one as I didn't foresee this type of problem coming.
(I thought System Recovery was always an option.)
Do you or anyone know where I can find my product key for Windows 8?
I read it was suppose to be listed at the bottom of my PC but it's not there.
It's also not in the battery compartment.

If your PC came with windows 8, it's embedded in your BIOS, so if you reinstall it will automatically read by the system.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO - Download or Create
And after install Macrium Reflect Free for making system images(don't forget to create a WinPE recovery disk) It's probably the second most important software after your Anti Virus for your system.

Koukol said:

windows8use said:

Hello Koukol,

You does not have a recovery partition, so you need to insert media to refresh your PC.

Cheer!

Click to expand...

Do you mean a back-up disc?

I didn't make one as I didn't foresee this type of problem coming.
(I thought System Recovery was always an option.)
Do you or anyone know where I can find my product key for Windows 8?
I read it was suppose to be listed at the bottom of my PC but it's not there.
It's also not in the battery compartment.

Click to expand...

Try this vbs script to get your key.

View attachment ShowKey v1.3.vbs

Yes, if your PC came with windows 8, you no need to enter your product key after you reinstall windows.
If you cannot do a recovery drive on your PC, try do it on your friend PC.

Thanks guys.

I discovered HP would still help me with a 1 800 number even though my warranty is through.
I didn't realize there was another option to recover my PC to it's original state.

Before I close this thread as being answered I have one last question.
When I make the 5 DVD back-up recovery discs will they also save my programs and not just my files?
I'm so tired of re-downloading programs.

See my post#6 about getting Macrium Reflect and this tutorial at Seven Forums Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Help Forums. With a system image you can alway revert to the last known good total setup. I make atleast one a month 1-2 weeks after Patch Tuesday.

Cliff S said:

See my post#6 about getting Macrium Reflect and this tutorial at Seven Forums Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Help Forums. With a system image you can alway revert to the last known good total setup. I make atleast one a month 1-2 weeks after Patch Tuesday.

Click to expand...

Cliff,
If I make the 5 DVD back up discs will it save my downloaded programs like VLC and ExactAudioCopy?

If not, why not just recover my files with the Ubuntu Recory Disc I made and reboot back to my PCs original state (day one) like I just did?

With 5 DVD backup disks, do you mean something like the recovery partition that ASUS computers have that can be made to recovery disks? They are the same as the Reinstall option and reinstall all the bundled software that came with your computer when you first brought it home and turned it on. Everything else will be lost, but being that your computer doesn't boot to windows I don't under stand how you can make these disks,

In post 6 I recommended that you download the windows 8.1 ISO and do a clean install. Just download it use something like 7Zip and extract to a USB(default format FAT32) then you can UEFI boot to it. You need the exact same Windows version & archetecture though. If you had everythig sync'd to OneDrive in a matter of minutes after installation you should have your last sync'd desktop and settings. Then you need to get your drivers from manufactures site/could also do it using Ubuntu live session too & store on an disk), at least the video drivers.
But if you are able to make the 5 DVD's give it a shot(although an USB would speed up installation later).

Cliff S said:

With 5 DVD backup disks, do you mean something like the recovery partition that ASUS computers have that can be made to recovery disks? They are the same as the Reinstall option and reinstall all the bundled software that came with your computer when you first brought it home and turned it on. Everything else will be lost, but being that your computer doesn't boot to windows I don't under stand how you can make these disks,

In post 6 I recommended that you download the windows 8.1 ISO and do a clean install. Just download it use something like 7Zip and extract to a USB(default format FAT32) then you can UEFI boot to it. You need the exact same Windows version & archetecture though. If you had everythig sync'd to OneDrive in a matter of minutes after installation you should have your last sync'd desktop and settings. Then you need to get your drivers from manufactures site/could also do it using Ubuntu live session too & store on an disk), at least the video drivers.
But if you are able to make the 5 DVD's give it a shot(although an USB would speed up installation later).

Click to expand...

Sorry Cliff...I should be more clearer.

My PC is back up and running thanks to a step by step instruction from an HP helper through a 1 800 number yesterday.

She told me to now make some backup discs that will take up to 5 DVDs.

I'm now asking why if all it does is put my PC back to its original state with all my programs gone?
Doesn't the System Restore I just did do the same thing?
(I recovered my files last week running a Ubuntu disc.)

If all is well with your computer, make an image backup using Macrium Reflect Free to an external USB hard drive. Then you won't need the 5 disc DVD recovery set though it might still be good to create them as another level of recovery.

System Restore only covers system files, not user files or installed software.
A Recovery Partition or set of Recovery Discs also covers only system files, not user files or installed software.
A backup image covers everything. If you restore it, you put the PC back to the exact state it was in when the backup image was made.

No matter what you do, you need to backup your personal data, the stuff you really don't want to lose.

Image backup is the way to go.

That's what I wanted to hear.
Thanks Z!

Ztruker said:

If all is well with your computer, make an image backup using Macrium Reflect Free to an external USB hard drive. Then you won't need the 5 disc DVD recovery set though it might still be good to create them as another level of recovery.

System Restore only covers system files, not user files or installed software.
A Recovery Partition or set of Recovery Discs also covers only system files, not user files or installed software.
A backup image covers everything. If you restore it, you put the PC back to the exact state it was in when the backup image was made.

No matter what you do, you need to backup your personal data, the stuff you really don't want to lose.

Image backup is the way to go.

Click to expand...

Are you sure the FREE edition will restore my PC back to the moment I create the recovery drive?

"File and folder backup"~This was unchecked for the free edition.

Yes I'm sure. You do an image backup., not file and folder backup.

See this tutorial by whs: Imaging with free Macrium

Written for Windows 7 but applies tp Windows 8 as well.

Cheers!:d

Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

David Bailey said:

Koukol said:

windows8use said:

Hello Koukol,

You does not have a recovery partition, so you need to insert media to refresh your PC.

Cheer!

Click to expand...

Do you mean a back-up disc?

I didn't make one as I didn't foresee this type of problem coming.
(I thought System Recovery was always an option.)
Do you or anyone know where I can find my product key for Windows 8?
I read it was suppose to be listed at the bottom of my PC but it's not there.
It's also not in the battery compartment.

Click to expand...

Try this vbs script to get your key.

View attachment 60787

View attachment 60788

Click to expand...

OK...I just tried this and I got under OEM~"windows 8 not supported"
???
Edit~I noticed HP needs to do a lot of updating.
Maybe this is why I got the result above.


Another thing...I just tried to do an Image Backup with a 8 GB thumb drive and it only could hold about 10% so I guess I need something just under 100 GB.
Can I put the Image Backup on DVD-RWs so when I make changes (like switching to W10) I can use them again?