Computer won't start. Black screen!

unplanned bacon

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My computer boots to a black screen. I'm sick of Windows 8 now! I was talking with MS Answerdesk in a remote session and they tried to reboot in safe mode with networking and now my computer doesn't work. What the hell!! I am seriously not happy! What do I do

Using the install disc:
Start up repair doesn't work
Refresh doesn't work

EDIT: After two hours, I'm finally back in. The Safe Mode code was corrupt or something and wouldn't let my PC boot until a system restore was carried out
 
Solution


I've figured out what it was. Incompatibibility with the WiFi card on some level is slowing down the Safe mode with networking boot up. I tested with no additional drives connected (no HDDs and no optical, only solid state) and got instaboot, turned on networking and rebooted, got the brain fart boot again where it took a minute or two on the blank screen.

I am not the...

How did you arrive at the Black Screen in the 1st place? Was your rig behaving normally before it happened? Did you make any hardware changes?
Logical steps could be
1. Check your installation media in case it's corrupt, try another installation...
2. Check RAM and your HDD/SSD for faults with a bootable diagnostic disk/drive
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
http://www.seagate.com/support/internal-hard-drives/consumer-electronics/ld25-series/seatools-dos-master/
Alternatively install to a different drive or run on one stick of RAM at a time....

 

unplanned bacon

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It was behaving fine, but in an effort to find out how to get my boot times faster, I contacted MS answerdesk who performed a reboot into safe mode with networking then all hell broke loose. Windows just would not start no matter what I tried, the disc was failing to do anything was well. Eventually a system restore fixed it which set it back to the point before Rapid mode was enabled on the SSD. I'm back in now though. So it was trying to get into Safe Mode that messed everything up. I repeat, it was working, with no issues before that point. I only contacted MS to get faster booting

EDIT: I've run MemTest previously and it passed it
Another install? That's a whole day with the programs I've got to get back on there. I only just completely finished setup this weekend

The Hard Drive's and SSDs have been passed by more than one program (LifeGuard Diagnostic by WD and CrystalDisk Dynamic). RAM was passed by both MemTest and Windows. So, again, like I've said before the issues my rig experiences all seem to have Windows at the core so either my copy of Windows 8 is inherently broken or incompatible with my hardware for some reason or (and I hope this isn't the case) my board is faulty (it's the only component that hasn't undergone direct testing)

Windows 8 has been installed on all three drives at some point, it's had problems on all three. How is this, can't be three faulty drives, that just doesn't happen. Notice, all my issues since January have been around starting Windows or turning off Windows. If my RAM was bad, I'd probably know by now (there was that random blue screen on waking from sleep, hasn't occurred since). If it was my CPU, I'd have much bigger problems. If it was my graphics card, my graphics wouldn't work, my optical drive wouldn't cause these issues (although I'm not ruling out something being up with it) which only leaves Windows itself and the board
 

Best check your OS for errors , then!
First try System File Checker
Winkey plus 'X'
Choose Command Prompt (Admin)
Type sfc /scannow then Enter

It finds and fixes errors in Windows, but doesn't always report them. If corrupt files are found that can’t be fixed, try

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth (Observe spaces before /)

Re-run SFC

To view CBS Log

findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >sfcdetails.txt

Search C drive for sfcdetails.txt or navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and scroll down

.


 

unplanned bacon

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I wouldn't put it past 8 to have corrupted itself again. It's done so multiple times through normal use. I've had times where it can't even tell where my screen is (the board and the BIOS? Working fine, lined up with the screen perfect) so it's off by a few inches. In my experience 8 has been less stable than Vista, but when it works it works really well.

As an aside, any idea why Fast Start almost always causes an E41 in the event log even though the computer has gone through normal shutdown. The techie said that's third party code so didn't offer a solution to that

Sfc/scannow turned up nothing
 
Personally I don't bother with Fast Startup, it only decreases my boot time (Pwr button to Start Screen) by a paltry 5 seconds, it takes me longer to go to the Charms menu to select power off! I set up a shortcut to by pass Fast Startup anyway, pin it to my Taskbar in the bottom left of my desktop. By the time the average user has found Shutdown in the Charms Menu my machine is off.... Plus the Hiberfile takes up 2.5 Gb of precious SSD space, let alone the additional read/write cycles.
If you're interested in shortcut, create new and type shutdown.exe /s /f /t 0 'Next' and 'Finish' To add an icon Rt click the new shortcut and choose 'Properties' then 'Change Icon', 'Choose from list', you'll see a nice red stop sign....
Then Rt click your new shortcut and pin to taskbar, but take care to move the mouse pointer up off the icon if you move it left to the corner, or you'll shut down your machine...
I tried shutting down a few times 'normally' but got no Events, so recommend you run the Dism cmd even though SFC found no errors. It compares your windows Image with an online one and corrects any differences.
Have a read through the SSD review Guide, it's really very good, explains why for each step...
 

unplanned bacon

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It throws up E41 even if it's the first ever shutdown following a clean install. As I said turning off fast start gets rid of the error. Told the technician this morning next time I'm just going to buy a Macbook (just they're so weak on spec, however I hear they perform very well). After a while I have no patience For stuff that doesn't work. I bet if I got Windows 7 today, shoved it on there 99% of my issues would vanish. How does it corrupt itself through normal use? Remember it's been clean installed on a WD Green, a WD Black and the Evo SSD. Had problems on all three (first time on Green was probably my fault I admit, but two+ clean installs later and having issues less than 48 hours later, something's not right). I don't know if the Samsung Rapid software caused it because it undid that change so it could boot
 

unplanned bacon

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Wow. Just wow. Windows could not check for new update -_-
Seriously?? Every feature within 8 is ceasing to function one by one. Now this might actually be genuine as MS are supposed to be rolling out an update to 8.1 users today so there may be high server load, but still. Don't get me wrong when 8 feels like working my rig is awesome, but the OS goes completely schiz and goes from solid to something that won't even start in the space of two seconds

Don't know where to go from here really. 8 has proved in the 90 days I've had to be the most unstable OS I've ever used, full of bugs, glitches, OS breaking corruption (see my 3 hard drives comment, which would make me believe the cause is software based not hardware based). The guy who first said 'let's make Windows 8' should have been fired in the most humiliating way possible.

Might get rid off this cancer from my system ASAP and shove 7 on there. Shame really, was starting to like it, but patience has worn very thin...
 
When you say you 'clean installed', did you install to Unallocated Space? This is necessary to enable Setup to create the System Reserved (350Mb) Partition on the correct (SSD) drive. If you try to install to a drive that has a partition the System Reserved Partition could end up anywhere when you have other drives connect. Can't quite see how that would generate the sort of errors you're experiencing, but the System Reserved Partition does contain your Boot info. Just a thought...
 

unplanned bacon

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It was a brand new drive with absolutely nothing on it. Popped the disc in. Formatted the secondary and installed to the SSD where it created its 350 mb recovery partition. Then after I'd booted in I plugged in the tertiary which had 350 mb unallocated space, a left over from the very first install. That was where the OS was supposed to put its recovery partition the very first time I loaded it back in January, but it never used it for whatever reason and now I can't do anything with that space (Windows created the partition and never once used it).

Doesn't matter now though, because I've sort of had enough. Don't feel like using my build as long as Windows 8 is on it. Actually been using my much slower Windows 7 laptop (that's had its issues in the past but as solid as ever, at least Windows installer and explorer don't crash mid install like on 8). Can't pin down a hardware cause because every single piece is hardware that's been tested has passed and the only common software here is Windows 8. Was looking at Windows 7 prices and some are stupidly high

EDIT: I hope it doesn't come to that though. Windows 8 does some stuff right, but it's put me through a lot

Some stuff is done really well, that that makes you think, that's a great idea, it's just mad me suffer reliability wise and poor reliability (bugs, glitches, ghosts in the machine) really gets on my nerves. Think of it as a love loathe thing, so whilst I do like 8, I hate it at the same time
 
Can't convince myself that Windows 8 is at fault, here. It must be Hardware or BIOS/UEFI, and something that is not common to both Win 7 and Win 8, like the Fast Startup which only 8 employs. Have you checked for BIOS updates? And would it be worth resetting CMOS, then re-flashing the BIOS with the same version in case yours is corrupt? (If it will let you...)
 

unplanned bacon

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I've figured out what it was. Incompatibibility with the WiFi card on some level is slowing down the Safe mode with networking boot up. I tested with no additional drives connected (no HDDs and no optical, only solid state) and got instaboot, turned on networking and rebooted, got the brain fart boot again where it took a minute or two on the blank screen.

I am not the only one who's experienced this issue. A quick search of Windows 8 safe mode black screen will get pages of results with others with the same problem. So there's a possibility something somewhere in the code of Windows 8 causes incompatibility (it is running an outdated driver, only because I prefer this driver to the new one). This problem does not occur in normal boot though.

BIOS is all up to date

Don't get me wrong mate, I like 8, it's just these annoyances really get on my nerves (so it turns into a love hate thing) especially when there was no immediate cause for the longest time

EDIT: Wouldn't a corrupted BIOS cause bigger problems? Not entirely sure if I'm brave enough to flash my BIOS or where I'd find the up to date version

On this case I'll put my hands up and say problem exists between chair and keyboard, because if I'd left it a bit longer it would have started (as I proved today)
 
Solution

Hopefully a change of Wireless Adapter will solve your problem. Can't see how an error in BIOS would cause problems with Wifi, and BIOS updates should never be taken lightly, if they go wrong you can brick your Mobo... Having said that, I've done it dozens of times with 100% success. I'll award your last post as the solution in case it helps someone with the same problem and it's caused by a Wifi card. You might add details of your card...

 

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I am glad you found a solution...and that you actually were able to FIND SAFE MODE in WINDOWS 8...I never did...! But going back to basics, if your Windows 8 machine only gives black screen, no beeps 1 access to HDD and NOTHING...try unplugging everything, including the monitor, keyboard, mouse...everything. Plug in the power cord only and power up, if you see a HDD access, DVD stir and a single beep you are golden, plug in monitor next, and if you see video display light, and more accesses to the HDD your up baby!, Plug in the rest, mouse, keyboard, peripherals and such and be happy it came to life. Now would be a good time to make that boot and recovery disk you put off making, backup software copies and other "routine" stuff that we always never seem to have the time to get right before something bad happens for real...!:bounce:
 

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