Login to windows, mouse cursor works, but screen is otherwise black

[nwrigley]

I'm working on repairing a Vista laptop. She said the problem occurred when it was installing an update (not SP2, but not sure what the update was). When you turn it on you get the Safe Mode screen and if you load Windows normally, you get a mouse cursor that can be moved, but the screen is otherwise black/empty. Same thing happens in safe mode, except you still have the safe mode text around the outside of the screen (though nothing else).

Any thoughts? I'm thinking the system files are corrupted and going to try running the repair off the Vista disk. A clean install is an option, but we would rather avoid this.

 

[VinDSL]

Whenever I run across a "black/empty" screen, I immediately start thinking 'video driver/config'.

This 'black screen syndrome' happens to me quite often when installing/tweaking the video setup in Linux, to the point that...

Once I have the video dialed-in (Linux/BSD), that's it - I never touch it again. I don't update any hardware drivers on a properly running Nux machine, especially video hardware!

Windows is more tolerant of fiddling around with drivers, mostly because they don't get compiled into the kernel like Linux, however...

The video driver(s) is the first thing I would check!

My 'best guess' is you're dealing with a borked video card driver update, or such...

 

[nwrigley]

Well, I've tried running chkdisk, using "last known good configuration," and several system restore points. Still no dice. Looks like it's time for a clean install unless someone has any other ideas.

 

[nova2]

not sure but i've seen black screens after sp2 on winxp

fixed 100% by pressing various key combos while screen is black

escape
alt+f4
control+escape
control+shift+escape

i am completely serious.

 

[degibson]

Try seeing if explorer is starting or not. If not, start it. Or does the task manager not come up?

 

[nwrigley]

I can not get the task manager or explorer to come up. I've tried various keyboard combinations and the only thing that gives any response is hitting shift x5 to bring up the sticky keys windows. From here, I can click to go to the "ease of access center" which tries to launch an explorer window. This window does pop up (as in I see something other than just black, I get the swirling icon, and it says "Windows Explorer (Not Responding)" at the top of the window. Then it just hangs there for several minutes and disappears. This is the most activity I have gotten out of it.