I did a system restore on my computer; it completed the process and then shut down. When I powered up the computer, I get to the login windows screen and after I type in my password, the background comes up but nothing else-no icons, no start button, nothing. I tried to reboot in safe mode, but i can't select anything with the cursor keys, then it times out and starts windows normally which starts the whole messed up process again. help!

What OS are you using? Is the computer responding to the mouse/keyboard?

For Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, if your mouse is responding, click Start, then click on the drop-down menu (the arrow next to the button) on the bottom of the right-hand column. Choose Restart or Shut Down. If you choose Shut Down, wait a few seconds after the fans turn off before pressing the power button to turn the machine back on. From the keyboard, press the Windows key and then the right arrow, down arrow (until you highlight the button) and then right arrow. Then use the up/down arrow keys to select Restart.

If you have the new Windows 8, you need to launch the Charms menu by hovering the mouse at the top right edge of the screen. (For a Touch pad, swipe in from the right side of the pad.) Alternatively, press the Windows key and C at the same time. Then click Settings in the column on the right. Find the Power icon on the bottom of the list and click on it. Choose Restart.

It is possible to build a shortcut tile for restarting Win8. You need a new shortcut with the command "shutdown.exe -r -t 00" without the quotes. Enter the Desktop (if you aren't in that part of the Win8 experience). Right click on the screen where there are no programs or icons. Choose New Shortcut. Put the above line in the box for the location of the item. Click Next and give the shortcut a name. Click Finish. Right click on the icon that gets installed and choose Properties and then Change Icon (if you want a different icon). Click OK to get a list of possible icons. Click Apply to set the icon picture.

Then Pin the shortcut to the Start Menu with another right click.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

Just copy and paste. Good luck
http://www.ehow.com/how_6524421_factory-restore-dell-inspiron-531s.html

Hi ben1995reid,
Welcome to FixYa! How are you doing?
It is a software problem.
When did the problem start? Did it happen just recently?

Please try to do the following to resolve the problem:

1. Please try to boot your computer to safe mode. You can boot to safe mode by doing the following:

• Turn off the computer. Turn on the computer then immediately start tapping the F8 key repeatedly.

Note:
You must press F8 before the Windows logo appears on the screen. If you press F8 after the Windows logo appears, the Advanced Boot Options menu does not appear on the screen. If you do not see the Advanced Boot Options menu, restart the computer, and then repeat this step until you see the menu on the screen.

• Use the (Down Arrow) arrow key on the keyboard, scroll down to Safe Mode then pressEnter.
• Login to your User Name.

2. Use System Restore to restore the computer's settings to an earlier date:

• Navigate to the Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools.
  
• Click on the System Restore program icon.
  
• Click Next > on the Restore system files and settings window.
  
• Choose the restore point that you want to use.
  

Note: Check the Show more restore points checkbox to see more than the most recent restore points.

• Click Next >.
  
• Click Finish on the Confirm your restore point window to begin the System Restore.
  

Note: Windows will shut down to complete the System Restore.


Hope that helps. Thank you for using FixYa!

Follow the steps below,

Step 1: Shut down your PC completely.
Step 2: Turn on the Power button.
Step 3: As soon as you turn it on start hitting the F8 key on your keyboard until you get to a black screen called "Windows Advanced option". (If you don't get to that that screen but you end up reaching the blue screen than that means you have delayed in hitting the F8 key. start again from step 1.)
Step 4: As soon as you reach "Windows Advanced option" use your down arrow keys to choose an option called "Safe Mode".
Step 5: Select that and HIT ENTER.
Step 6: If you able to login then try accessing System Restore.
Step 7: Click on Start and then click on All Programs.
Step 8: Choose Accessories and then System Tools and System Restore.
Step 9: Run the wizard by choosing "Restore My computer to an Earlier stage"
Step 10: Choose a date displayed in Bold in the calender.
Step 11: Your computer would reboot and wait until the restoration completes.

Hope this helps.

Vista Update Stage 3 Stall……

You see Installing Updates Stage 3 of 3... 0% in Vista after you start or restart your computer and it never goes past 0%. Rebooting the computer doesn't change it. It still boots to Installing Windows updates 3 of 3 and never goes past that 0% mark. Sometimes Windows will even reboot in some cases. I have found that this often happens after Windows updates. I have no idea why, but this seems to be a fairly common occurrence. The last one I repaired was caused by a Service pack 1 installation.

Here's what I have done to fix the 3 of 3 error.

You will be doing a System Restore from the Vista f8 startup

Since the computer your working on is probably stuck on this screen the first step will be a hard shut down.

Hold the power button down until the computer shuts down.

Restart the computer.

Tap the f8 key about once or twice per second to get the Safe mode screen to come up.

In Windows Vista there is a new choice when the safe mode selection comes up. "Repair Your Computer"

Highlight the "Repair Your Computer" choice.

Windows will act like it is going t boot up.

You will see a System Recovery Options window.

It will ask you to choose your language.

Click Next

Select your user and put in your password. (leave blank if you don't have a password)

You should now have choices and the one you want is "System Restore"

Follow through the prompts with the Vista System Restore program.

Remember you should pick a restore point that is 1 or 2 points back.

Once you have completed the system restore process you will be asked to restart your computer. Go ahead and restart the computer. It should start correctly at this point. If you don't have a restore point available you may not be able to repair this error. I have not tried to repair one of these without a restore point yet.

You need to run the windows in safe mode.
Shut the computer down wait for 30 secs turn it back on
Tap on the F8 key few times then you will see windows advance option then select
safe mode using the arrow keys then proceeed to the windows in safe mode. Once you are in windows run a system restore to a back date when it was working fine.
To go into system restore tool click on start select accessories and the system tools and then system restore.
Select restore my computer to an earlier time and click the date in the calender box once highlighted hit next and wait till the process completes once completed it will restart the system automatically and will give you a message your computer was restored successfully in case it says not restored then you can select another Bold date i mean a previous date to retry again.

1 Turn on the computer.
During the boot process, a blue bar with www.dell.com appears at the top of the screen.
2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press <Ctrl><F11>.
If you do not press <Ctrl><F11> in time, let the computer finish starting, and then restart the
computer again.
NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the following step.
3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore.
4 On the next screen, click Confirm.
The restore process takes approximately 6–10 minutes to complete.
5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer.
NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the computer completely reboot.
6 When prompted, click Yes.
The computer restarts. Because the computer is restored to its original operating state, the screens that
appear, such as the End User License Agreement, are the same ones that appeared the first time the
computer was turned on.
7 Click Next.
The System Restore screen appears and the computer restarts.
8 After the computer restarts, click OK.

If your system is PC Restore Equipped, it will show show a black page with a blue bar across the top after the Dell Splash Screen. the bar will have www.dell.com in White letters. If you see this page for about a second during the boot process, the system is PC Restore Equipped. At the page with the blue bar, press CTRL+F11 and that will initiate the restore process. Providing the image is not damaged, then restore process takes about 20 to 30 minutes and will return the system to out of box configuration. If there are any errors or if the PC Restore page is not available, then you'll have to do a clean install of Windows using the Dell Windows XP CD that came with the system, then load drivers and applications.

try safe mode first. keep pressing f8 before the windows loading screen shows up.
you can try a system restore from there.
Otherwise you can do a repair install of windows from the windows cd, some programs may need to be reinstalled however.

First of all you must turn on your computer. Then follow the steps are given below,

1.When system is booting you can see some screens appear ( bios screens). After the first display finished please hit F8 key on your keyboard.

2.You will appear "Windows Advanced Option Menu" like this
3.Select Safe Mode & press enter. Some dos screens may appear. Windows Safe Mode is now starting.

4.When the user selection screen appears please select administrator account & login.

5.When desktop loads completely you can see start button.

6.Press start button --> All programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Restore.

7.When the system restore wizard appears you can restore you computer to an earlier time.

8.Select a proper restore point before you install that AVG 8.5. Then select and restore you want.

9.An automatic process will start. When that process completes system will reboot automatically.

10.When System is rebooting don't hit F8 again, Please allow normal booting. Please login your user account & check your problem is fixed or not. If fixed you can install another antivirus program.

best regards,
Krishan.

(Please Vote for me)