Flashing Screen on Login

from Stardock Forums

I tried to upgrade from Start8 to Start10 as I was downloading the recent Win10 (Fall Creators?) update on a Lenovo Thinkpad e431.  Now the screen constantly flashes, back and forth between two different Win logos in the lower left hand corner.   I guess I should have uninstalled Start8 first? 

I tried reinstalling Win10, but it wants me to log on first, and then reinstall, but the machine is unusable with the screen flashing. 

I tried Task Manager, but it reports "No apps running."

Any suggestions?

  

7,849 views 8 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting zimou13, reply 2

I upgraded to windows 10 several months ago and have been running trouble free for some time.  I was running low on memory (warning popped up) and closed most of my browser tabs, but didn't recover much memory, so I did a restart.  While shutting down, I saw some programs still running that I didn't recognize so I tried right clicking on them as the computer was rebooting.  The right click didn't appear to do anything, but when the computer rebooted, the login screen flashed very quickly and would not allow me to login.  I was finally able to get the computer to safe mode and did a system restore and restarted the computer.  Now the login screen flashes quickly and I can not login or start in safe mode.
End of zimou13's quote

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Wow what a nightmare for newbies.  I could not figure out how to access the recommended bat file (above) because the battling Start8 and Start10 "Start" buttons flashing back and forth blocked my access to Windows.  So, I parked my Lenovo E431 on a shelf until I could figure out a factory reboot. 

So today I revisited this thread, fired the Lenovo back up, and received a Start10 update notification.  Installing that allowed me to click on the Start icon, which turned out to be Start8, not Start10.  I clicked on Configure Start8 but the closest option to "Uninstall" was to deactivate. 

After deactivation and the resulting nag screen (with no option to Uninstall),  Start8 allowed me to the Control Panel and uninstall both Start8 and Start10, but when it rebooted Start10 was still active.  Despite declining to uninstall, it seems to be behaving itself for now.

My understanding of tech is low, but shouldn't installing Start10 automatically uninstall Start8? 

And it would be nice if your Configure menu had an option to Uninstall.  I was sure it would be there, but I could not find it. 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Rick129, reply 4

Wow what a nightmare for newbies.  I could not figure out how to access the recommended bat file (above) because the battling Start8 and Start10 "Start" buttons flashing back and forth blocked my access to Windows.  So, I parked my Lenovo E431 on a shelf until I could figure out a factory reboot. 

So today I revisited this thread, fired the Lenovo back up, and received a Start10 update notification.  Installing that allowed me to click on the Start icon, which turned out to be Start8, not Start10.  I clicked on Configure Start8 but the closest option to "Uninstall" was to deactivate. 

After deactivation and the resulting nag screen (with no option to Uninstall),  Start8 allowed me to the Control Panel and uninstall both Start8 and Start10, but when it rebooted Start10 was still active.  Despite declining to uninstall, it seems to be behaving itself for now.

My understanding of tech is low, but shouldn't installing Start10 automatically uninstall Start8? 

And it would be nice if your Configure menu had an option to Uninstall.  I was sure it would be there, but I could not find it. 
End of Rick129's quote

Have you try the Purge and reinstall steps suggested on reply #1?

Thank you,

 

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting basj, reply 5


Quoting Rick129,
reply 4

I could not ... access the recommended bat file (above) because the battling Start8 and Start10 "Start" buttons flashing back and forth blocked my access to Windows.  
 
Have you try the Purge and reinstall steps suggested on reply #1?
End of basj's quote

Um, yeah, the reply #1 "Purge" program is the bat file I couldn't access.

I had hoped the take away of this thread would be that Stardock updates Start10 to automatically uninstall Start8.

If not, then it would be nice if your Configure menu had an option to Uninstall. 

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you still having issues. Yes from what I understand Start10 should remove Start8 by default. But sometimes, something happened that the uninstall process not working properly, most probably true in your case. That is why we suggested that you use the purge and reinstall steps.

Please use another pc to download the bat file onto a usbdrive and try to run it under windows safe mode.

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.