Black screen with a cursor, login screen wont appear

Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510
I got a bad virus on my computer about a week ago. I decided to use my windows 7 installation disc to reformat my disk drives and reinstall windows 7. The installation goes smoothly and I am able to login to windows. But after I install drivers and updates, then restart the computer, I get the "starting windows" screen with the swirling logo. I can hear the chimes that sound when I get to the login screen, but the screen is black. I can make the cursor appear by moving the mouse, but I cant do anything else. I never created a system restore disc, so I dont have that to help me.

I have done some tinkering and will tell you what did not work so far.
First, like I said, I used the windows 7 install disc to reformat my disk drives. Then, I reinstalled windows. I installed the updates for my graphics card and motherboard. When I restarted, I got the black screen. I restarted the computer and used F8 to do a system repair. This detects no problems. I tried to use the "startup repair" on the windows installation disc. This does not recognize a problem. I have tried it several times. Same result.
Next, I tried to use the repair options on the windows install disc. I went to command prompt and typed in: bootrec.exe /fixmbr, bootrec.exe /fixboot, and bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd. (An interesing note: When I used the RebuildBcd command, it said that it detected 0 windows installations.) After the first time I did that, I tried the startup repair and got my first and only error message: "Startup repair cannot repair this computer automaticaly". I checked the details and it said "Problem event name: StartupRepairOffline". If you need the rest of the details, I can provide them. But I tried the repair again, and there was apparently no problem. Yet, still got the black screen.
I then reformatted again, deleted both drives, and made new ones. I tried to install windows again, and I can get to my desktop. (One thing I noticed is that before I install updates, the computer is saying that my monitor is a "Generic PnP monitor on standard VGA graphics adapter". I dont know much about computers so this may be normal before installing the graphics card updates.)
This time, I was connected to the internet and tried to install the system updates first. After all 120+ updates installed, I restarted and got the black screen again.
I decided to use the install disc again to reformat, delete, and recreate the hard drives. This time I tried to install windows on the second hard drive (Disk 1) Again, the install went smoothly. I started installing the graphics card and motherboard drivers, but this time it told me that my disk drive D:/ needed to be formatted before use. I reformatted it (this took MUCH longer than the format option on the install disc), installed the drivers, and restarted. I still cant get into the login screen.
Finally, I used the install disc to reformat, delete, and recreate the disk drives. This time I installed windows on the first hard drive (drive 0) again and got to the desktop. Now I tried to install the motherboard drivers first, then restart. I did this and was able to restart and get back to the desktop. Next, I installed the graphics card dirvers, and then restarted. Black screen again. Can anybody help me fix this?
Here are my computer specs:
Windows 7 64bit OEM
EVGA P55 FTW motherboard
EVGA GTX570 graphics card
Intel i5-760 processor
Intel patriot 8gb ram

Please help!
 
Solution


He is correct. You can also try pressing the "Windows Symbol" + "P" keys to see if you can switch to a display that works. I had this black screen with only sounds problem when my computer was hooked up to multiple displays that had different resolutions and outputs.
Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510
Unfortunately, I dont have a spare GPU. Yeah, i tried to reinstall windows again, and i can install the motherboard drivers, but as soon as I install the GPU drivers the issue starts again. To clarify the drive creation, I have two seperate hard drives. When choosing which drive to install windows under, I click the "advanced" option, the have the options to format or delete a hard drive. When I delete a hard drive, it becomes an "unspecified" hard drive or something like that. I then have the option to click on "New" on the unspecified hard drive. Then it will create a system reserved partition. I really appreciate the response. Thanks!
 
sounds like its graphic drivers or resolution/refresh rate being set to a wrong setting by default. Now is it the motherboard or graphics drivers doing it. Are you rebooting before installing another driver. If it's the gpu, try different drivers, previous version, beta version, etc. What kind of monitor and gpu is it?
 
Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510


Its a Dell monitor I dont remember the model name, but it has ????x1050 resolution.
The GPU is a EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1280mb. The motherboard drivers install fine. I can reboot after they are installed with no problem. I'm only having a problem when I install the GPU drivers or the 120+ windows updates, then restart. If it is a refresh rate problem, would the cursor still show? I dont know much about this kind of stuff.
 
Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510
I tried to install the GPU drivers from the original disc while in safe mode. They install fine, but I still get the black screen when I reboot. I'm going to try to get different drivers and I will update this thread with my results. Thanks for responding everybody.
 
Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510


Oh, by the way, I installed all of the motherboard drivers, then restarted. As far as the GPU drivers, there is only one driver and DirectX11. I installed both before restarting. Should I have tried to do them seperate? Also, how would I go about adjusting the refresh rate setting?
 

bas94041

Distinguished
May 9, 2010
27
0
18,540
I recently had a similar problem after win7 updates. Blank screen over an HDMI connection. Hooked up display to VGA port and display was fine. For some reason display was switching to output over VGA. Likely some default config in display setup. Had to manually setup multiple display to detect HDMI. Try hooking up over VGA port.
 

aylafan

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2006
540
1
19,165


He is correct. You can also try pressing the "Windows Symbol" + "P" keys to see if you can switch to a display that works. I had this black screen with only sounds problem when my computer was hooked up to multiple displays that had different resolutions and outputs.
 
Solution
Oct 4, 2012
9
0
10,510
OMG!!! I guess you were right. I have been messing with this thing for days. I didnt realize that I had a projector connected with an HDMI cable. I thought because the projector was off, it wouldnt affect anything. I was about to pay the Geek Squad a bunch of cash to tell me there is nothing wrong with my computer. Thank you all so much! I can't tell you how relieved I am. I paid more money for my computer than my car! Bless you all!
 

Aini1314

Honorable
May 4, 2013
1
0
10,510
I have the same problem, my HP Window 7 won't boot, when I turn it on all I got is a blank screen with a circling cursor, no message of any kind appear. I tried to search for a solution without any success, tried rebooting then F2, F8 or F12 won't help. Then I unplugged it from ac adapter, removed battery pack, wait for 30 seconds, reinstalled battery pack, power back on, bingo! and a message appear on screen said that my computer was not shut down properly, then offer me the options to boot in safe mode or normal. but I chose normal.....working fine now.
 

dhruv12

Reputable
Jun 30, 2015
1
0
4,510
can someone help me. I have so much junk in my windows 8 so I am trying to do factory reset. After following all steps computer restarts and then HP logo comes up and it says preparing on bottom after that I just get black screen and nothing happens happen. I should be getting percent screen on progress how much its completed.
Can someone help me please. I checked video driver and as well as tried to connect with separate screen and its still same.
I have also ran diagnostic test from HP and everything passed.