Computer crashed during update, now all I get past log on is a black screen and cursor

[TayTazer]

Okay, so I recently got a Windows 8 computer in October because my Windows 7 computer got eaten alive by a virus. But last night, I tried to update to Windows 8.1 because of a number of reasons. At 96%, it said "Preparing to Restart" and refused to move. I remembered all those warnings we see so much saying "Do Not Turn Of The Power" so I figured I should let it try and sort itself out and Alt Tab to my desktop and close down my other processes for the shut down. But as I was shutting all my programs down, things got especially slow, to the point that I would click the close button and then sit there for about a minute until it actually closed. It eventually got so bad that clicking anything at all resulted in a pop up window that said Windows had stopped responding and to end program or cancel. And no matter which option I picked, nothing changed and clicking would still bring up the pop up. Eventually I forced shut down by holding the power button (which I was advised against by my dad, but unfortunately didn't seem to have a choice) and booted it back up again, which took about twenty minutes. I signed in like usual, which took about as long. But instead of my desktop, all there is is a black screen, and my cursor. I can open Task Manager using Ctrl Alt Delete, but all it can tell me is that processes are running even though programs aren't, but even Task Manager will lock up and stop responding.

What I've seen on task manager that worries me is that System is taking up .1 mb/s in the Disk, but that .1 mb/s is 99% of the disk. There's also a process I've never seen before called COM Surrogate, which I'm concerned about, even though it could be something harmless.

My system specifications are that it's a Gateway NE71B06u

 

[jinksy]

I would personally perform a system restore;

Now click on the option labeled Create a restore point and you will be brought to the System Protection tab of the System Properties control panel.

To restore your computer, click on the System Restore button and you will be presented with the main screen for System Restore. Now click on the Next button and you will be shown a list of available restore points that you can restore.

Select the restore point you wish to restore by left-clicking on the entry once. This will then make the Scan for affected programs button available. If you click on that button you will be shown a list of programs that will be removed when you perform a restore.

If you are okay with the programs that will be deleted, please click on the Close button and then click on the Next button at the restore point selection screen. You will now be at a screen asking if you are sure you wish to perform the restore.

 

[TayTazer]

I would personally perform a system restore;

Now click on the option labeled Create a restore point and you will be brought to the System Protection tab of the System Properties control panel.

To restore your computer, click on the System Restore button and you will be presented with the main screen for System Restore. Now click on the Next button and you will be shown a list of available restore points that you can restore.

Select the restore point you wish to restore by left-clicking on the entry once. This will then make the Scan for affected programs button available. If you click on that button you will be shown a list of programs that will be removed when you perform a restore.

If you are okay with the programs that will be deleted, please click on the Close button and then click on the Next button at the restore point selection screen. You will now be at a screen asking if you are sure you wish to perform the restore.

That would be a good idea if I could access anything other than a glitchy Task Manager

 

[jinksy]

Open task manager, click file new, type rstrui.exe .... simples

 

[TayTazer]

Open task manager, click file new, type rstrui.exe .... simples

Thank you. I tried what you said to do a restore, and the only restore I could set my computer to was an emergency restore point my computer created right before the update. But after working on restoring for about an hour and a half, it booted back up with the same issues and told me that there was an error restoring and I'm trying to restore it again.

 

[TayTazer]

Thank you everyone for your advice to perform a system restore. However, the computer only had one restore which it wouldn't let me restore to, so I found another solution. Eventually I contacted Gateway, and they gave me assistance for how to restore to factory settings, because that was the only way to fix what had happened.