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179586
April 19th, 2015 17:00
Windows boots but won't load (Black screen with cursor)
[Sorry for the long post, but I feel the need to fully explain my situation]
I have the following problem:
I turn on my PC, and Windows shows it's normal loading screen, after which it goes into a completely black screen, with just the mouse in the middle. By the cursor size I can tell that it's in a low resolution, probably 800x600 (compared to my usual 1920x1080). I am able to move the mouse around, but with no particular use without something to click on. No other keyboard input seems to work, except for Shift key 5 times, which brings up the Sticky Keys dialog box (with just "Yes" or "No" options, no other link); and Windows key+U which brings up the Ease of Access center. Ctr+Alt+Del does NOT work.
So far this is what I have tried (in chronological order):
- Boot into Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Booting in low resolution video, Last known good configuration: all yield the same result as booting normally.
- Repair your computer:
- Startup Repair: Found Registry Errors (I realized and fixed this later on)
- System Restore: Did not find any previous restore points (I know for sure that there are, I made a habit of making restore points regularly).
- Windows Memory Diagnostics: Did not find errors.
- Command prompt:
- Ran chkdsk /f /r command, did not report errors.
- Ran sfc /scannow : I don't remember the exact report, but it asked for a restart to finish repairing problems. I restarted, and ran the command again for the same result.
- Forced the scan with: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows , it found and repaired some errors, still could not load windows.
- Ran Dell Startup Diagnostics, found no errors.
- Ran Startup Repair again, found the registry errors again. I found the solution to this in a Microsoft Help forum ( answers.microsoft.com/.../f77d5355-b8be-41d6-af24-cae994e1768f ), and fixed the issue. I rebooted, but the problem persists.
- Startup Repair now finds no errors. I tried System Restore again, it found 2 restore points dated AFTER my problem started. I decided to restore anyways, but neither of them worked.
- I ran Windows Defender Offline:
- Quick Scan: and found 2 threats and removed them.
- Full System Scan: found 4 more threats, removed 2 of them, the other two couldn't be removed because they were within an ISO file.
- I tried Steps 1, 2 and 3 again with no luck.
With each step I am aware that I'm closer to having to reinstall Windows, so I decided to see if I could still access my HHDD to save my personal files. I made a Linux live CD (with Ubuntu), but I am having trouble mounting the drives, because they are in a RAID0 configuration. "sudo dmraid -s" gives the following error: "ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dbdffjficc_ARRAY0" [1/2] on /dev/sdb".
Important Details:
I changed my graphics card about 4 months ago (an Nvidia GTX 750ti for an ATI Radeon HD 6450), and I was told that I may be running short with the Power Supply. The new card asks for a minimum of 450W and I think my PSU is 460W. This may or may not have something to do with this issue, I have no idea.
The RAID0 configuration of my 2 500GB Hard Drives brought me a lot of problems from day 1. One of the HDD would randomly fail (I am able to hear a different clicking sound when this happens), and the computer would crash. Upon startup, it would ask for a boot device. The Dell startup utility would then only recognize 1 of the drives, but would finish without errors. After a restart or two, all would be fine and windows would boot normally (aside from the usual error recovery screen) without any sign of corrupted data or anything. Like I said, this has been happening form the day my PC arrived, but restarting a couple of times always fixed it. As of now, both HHDD seem to be working fine, the Dell utility recognizes both of them, and does not find errors in any of them, and I can access any directory from the command prompt.
Is there anything else I should try before reinstalling Windows?
Before the install, I would really like to be able to recover my files (I have important documents from college), is there any way to do this?
Sorry again for the extremely long post (and for any language errors, English is not my native language), and thanks in advance.
Philip_Yip
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April 23rd, 2015 13:00
Since you still haven't got your data from the drive(s). I would advise performing a Windows installation without formatting the drive... I don't like this solution but at this stage you have probably tried everything else.
Use a Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD when installing ensure you select...
Select Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)
If you do not select any of the drive options and simply highlight the largest partition and select next:
Windows will dump all the old installation files in the Windows.old folder
Mary G
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April 20th, 2015 14:00
Long post without the most important info--the model computer and operating system. Run the diagnostics again but this time select Custom Scan of the entire hard drive. The basic test only does a Quick Scan which might miss a failing hard drive. BTW--don't apologize for language since your English is excellent.
m1st
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April 20th, 2015 21:00
Mary, thanks for your reply; and you're right, I left out the most important info:
I'm running Windows 7 on an XPS 8300 (late 2010).
I ran the Dell Diagnostics again on the hard drives in Thorough Test Mode (if that's what you mean) and they completed successfully on both drives.
Philip_Yip
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April 21st, 2015 05:00
Good system I have one also.
It sounds like a corrupt OS but it could also be a virus/malware infection.
Please follow the procedure to scan your system using Windows Defender Offline and let us know the results:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-security-essentials/scanning-your-system-with-windows-defender-offline/
Edit sorry you have already done this at 6.
Your black screen will be the logon screen if [Shift] clicked 5 times brings up sticky keys and [Ctrl], [Alt], [Delete] doesn't work.
Just try typing in your password and pressing enter when you get to this screen. This should log you in. Do you hear the Windows login sound? Press [Ctrl], [Shift] and [Esc] afterwards. Does task manager or anything else show?
One other thing you haven't tried yet is to remove the graphics card and use onboard video? Just to see if you can login.
m1st
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April 23rd, 2015 13:00
natakuc4 yes, the black screen is indeed the login screen. I tried typing in my password and pressing enter, but nothing happens, no Windows login sound, Ctr+Shift+Esc doesn't work, and Shift Key x5 still brings up the same dialog box, with no link (I say this because this is a suggested fix in this thread: www.tomshardware.com/.../black-screen-cursor.html)
I also tried removing my graphics card and using my on-board video, but I still get the same black screen.
m1st
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April 23rd, 2015 15:00
Philip, thanks for the tip, I didn't know that was possible. I still have a couple of doubts about reinstalling windows, because I have never done it before:
Will I be able to access my files with that installation method? Because it recommends backing up files in the first step.
If the answer is yes, then I should be able to backup the files and then perform a clean install of Windows, as I'm guessing that that's a better solution to the problem. My question now is how many times can I install Windows off the DVD? Is it a one-time thing or can I do it as many times as I need to? Because I doubt I can enter the product key many times before it expires (if it es even required).
I have essentially the same question for Microsoft Office, I will still be able to activate it with the product key, right?
Philip_Yip
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April 23rd, 2015 15:00
Strictly this is not "A Clean Install of Windows". By choosing not to securely wipe the drive, format the drive or delete partitions then Windows will install and dump all previous files in a folder called Windows.old. Data can be retrieved from the Windows.old folder as demonstrated here:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/a-clean-install-of-windows-8-1/the-windows-old-folder/
It is of course recommended to backup your data externally and perform a clean installation however if you can't even do this with Fedora Linux:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/data-recovery-using-fedora/
Then this seems to be your last choice.... Perform the "dirty install" then backup all your files to an external hard drive. You can then clean install if you wish.
Product key wise. For Windows 7 which comes preinstalled with a Dell system, OEM SLP activation is used. The Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD inputs a generic product key which activates if and only if a valid Dell BIOS is detected. This activates offline and you can reinstall as many times as desired using this activation mechanisms. Technically 1 Dell Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD of a certain edition e.g. Home Premium can be used for every Dell sold with that Edition.
For Office if you have your product key see here to download the installer:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-office/microsoft-product-identity-mpi-card/
m1st
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April 23rd, 2015 16:00
Philip, thanks for all the info and tutorials. I will be requesting the installation media from Dell (I currently don't have it as it came as an option -with extra cost- when buying my Dell, and I foolishly opted not to) and I'll try this "dirty" install.
I will, however, try recovering first with Fedora (like I said in the original post, I've tried with Ubuntu but had no luck), but I don't expect it to work very differently from Ubuntu.
Also, I just realized this: I could also try copying my files to an external HD directly from the command prompt, right? Given that it recognizes the external media...
Philip_Yip
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April 23rd, 2015 17:00
Its worth a try. Also you could try to use the command prompt from Windows installation media and robocopy:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc733145.aspx
m1st
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May 4th, 2015 13:00
Sorry for reviving this again, I've been busy these couple of weeks, and just recently got my installation media.
Before the installing Windows I tried robocopy just in case, and it worked nicely.
Now I have installed Windows as suggested, and everything is up and running without problems. My data is still there in the Windows.old folder, and i copied over some other files to the external HD that I left out earlier.
I've also read through some of your tutorials (very informative by the way, nice job!), specially about a clean install of Windows 7, and I'm concerned about cleaning my drives with diskpart. Data loss is not the problem now as I have everything backed up, but I don't know how this will affect my RAID volume. I'm pretty sure this will delete the RAID configuration, but will I still be able to configure it again? How do I do this?
Currently I have RAID 0 with Intel Rapid Storage (I don't know much about this, but from what I've read some call this "fake RAID" ).
Thanks agian for all your effort.
Cheeverc01
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November 14th, 2022 07:00
Only replying cause this happened to me in 2022, and I couldn’t find an easy solution online. It was using another display as your primary display. In my case I had a projector connected to the computer as well as my monitor. I finally turned on the projector and it defaulted to display 1 for some reason. I was able to sign in using the projector screen, and then change my preferences so my monitor was display 1 again.