Black Screen of Death W/ Movable Cursor

[gathermewool]

When my home PC was plugged back in two nights ago the plug wasn't fully seated - in fact, it was barely making contact when the computer was started. After loading normally to Windows 7, a slight bump caused the PC to lose power and turn off.

The plug was seated and the PC turned back on. It is unknown which selection was made from the "Windows wasn't properly shut down screen," but it was most likely, "start windows normally." The windows icon appeared and then the screen went blank with only the cursor visible.

The cursor can be moved on the black screen, but even after sitting over night and trying a few dozen hard resets, no change is noted.

A USB flash drive was inserted at the time.

I performed all Windows and Dell diagnostics (F8, F2 and F12 to gain access to the recovery partition, BIOS, and other settings,) with all tests coming back SAT. Last known good configuration didn't work after half a dozen tries, the startup repair didn't work, and Windows Restore wouldn't run from the recovery partition - as soon as the PC was restarted it would load to the black screen. This was allowed to run over night to see if the system restore was running in the back ground, but the screen was still black the next morning when checked. Angry

Outside of the above onboard diagnostics, I've been searching and following the easier instructions online, with no luck or change. It appears that something in the OS was corrupted and the only solution now would be to reformat and reload Windows.

If any one has any experience with a fix for this, please let me know. Unfortunately, this drive has not been backed up in a very, very long time. To get the data back I'm going to install a second HDD with XP loaded and try to boot that and see if the problem HDD will be visible. I've got some other methods I'm going to attempt, too, if that doesn't work, but any recommendations would be great for this, as well.

 

[razel]

After the BIOS screen has flashed, tap F8 to interrupt Win7 loading and try to boot into 'Safe Mode.' From there IMMEDIATELY copy off your the most important files onto USB drive then proceed with a chkdsk which will want a reboot, then follow with a 'disk cleanup' again in safe mode.

My method after that would be to figure out what's preventing Win7 from loading. Chances are it's corrupt file from the improper shutdown, which is what chkdsk will try to correct. The 'disk cleanup' is just a safe general way to get rid of even more files that you don't really need that could be corrupt. After which you can run sfc /scannow (System File Checker).

If it still fails type 'msconfig' and uncheck any programs from auto-starting. Perhaps those files on startup are corrupt. You can also enabling logging the startup in msconfig to correctly identify what's wrong, but at that point it becomes academic instead of useful.

If all else fails, if you can get into safe mode, I would find the Win7 CD and run migwiz (Easy Windows Transfer). That will copy off your files and most of your settings.... then you can do an inplace reinstall. Your files will be intact, but may not be in the same place. If that fails, oh well, reinstall it is and recover with migwiz. Best of luck.

 

[Cardenio327]

If all else fails use a Linux live usb to boot into Linux, this should give you unfettered access to your files to copy them or back them up.

 

[Trotter]

Try your display monitor settings. I had the black screen of death on my pc. I also had my 55" plasma hooked up to my desktop. I put the plasma in DVI/pc screen and my computer display was on there. From there I was able to get onto display settings and got my monitor working again. Hope this helps.

Excuse my punctuation and spelling.

Long time lurker, finally posted.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: razel
After the BIOS screen has flashed, tap F8 to interrupt Win7 loading and try to boot into 'Safe Mode.' From there IMMEDIATELY copy off your the most important files onto USB drive then proceed with a chkdsk which will want a reboot, then follow with a 'disk cleanup' again in safe mode.

My method after that would be to figure out what's preventing Win7 from loading. Chances are it's corrupt file from the improper shutdown, which is what chkdsk will try to correct. The 'disk cleanup' is just a safe general way to get rid of even more files that you don't really need that could be corrupt. After which you can run sfc /scannow (System File Checker).

If it still fails type 'msconfig' and uncheck any programs from auto-starting. Perhaps those files on startup are corrupt. You can also enabling logging the startup in msconfig to correctly identify what's wrong, but at that point it becomes academic instead of useful.

If all else fails, if you can get into safe mode, I would find the Win7 CD and run migwiz (Easy Windows Transfer). That will copy off your files and most of your settings.... then you can do an inplace reinstall. Your files will be intact, but may not be in the same place. If that fails, oh well, reinstall it is and recover with migwiz. Best of luck.


To clarify: I cannot safe boot using any method. Every trouble-shooting method results in the same black screen.

I tried all checks, which came back SAT.

SFC /SCANNOW will not run - reports something like, "...already scheduled at next reboot" Again, there is no way to reboot that results in any check being performed, and each check in command prompt is fruitless. The only checks can be performed via the repair partition.



Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
If all else fails use a Linux live usb to boot into Linux, this should give you unfettered access to your files to copy them or back them up.


I'm looking into this now. Do you have a link for a tutorial on the lightest, easiest to use distro? I really want to recover the files without having to spend any money. I'll buy a HDD enclosure if I need to, but I'd rather learn how to fix it without having to, if possible. Linux might be the solution

I tried installing and booting from an old HDD I had lying around with XP, but it crashes as soon as the XP screen pops up, normal and safe mode, then reboots. My PC doesn't have onboard graphics, so everything goes through the video card - is this why it crashes?

Originally Posted By: Trotter
Try your display monitor settings. I had the black screen of death on my pc. I also had my 55" plasma hooked up to my desktop. I put the plasma in DVI/pc screen and my computer display was on there. From there I was able to get onto display settings and got my monitor working again. Hope this helps.

Excuse my punctuation and spelling.

Long time lurker, finally posted.

Do you mean that the larger screen was able to display the Windows GUI, while smaller screens could not?

I'll try hooking up my PC to the big screen to see if it shows anything. This will be the best first post in the history of the internet if what you're saying works!

 

[gathermewool]

Well, I tried hooking my PC up to my 60" using HDMI and it displayed the same black screen with cursor. I tried low-res boot and others and nothing displayed.

The sfc /scannow response was, specifically: "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again."

I don't know what this means, since rebooting doesn't do anything. I can't do a system restore from the recovery partition for the same reason - I can't reboot past the black screen.

//

I'm following this tutorial for now on Linux:

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/how-to-create-bootable-linux-mint-usb.html

 

[gathermewool]

Linux Mint from USB drive worked (on the second attempt, using a second USB drive) and I see all of my files on the HDD! I'm going to transfer them before my luck runs out!

 

[The_Eric]

Score! Glad you were able to get your files back.

 

[Trotter]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Well, I tried hooking my PC up to my 60" using HDMI and it displayed the same black screen with cursor. I tried low-res boot and others and nothing displayed.

The sfc /scannow response was, specifically: "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again."

I don't know what this means, since rebooting doesn't do anything. I can't do a system restore from the recovery partition for the same reason - I can't reboot past the black screen.

Sorry Bro. It worked for me. My pc is HP 4 years old. No HDMI output, Just vga to monitor and DVI to plasma tv. My vga connection was the source of the problem. I google it and got some info off youtube. Did you have the source on t.v set to DVI? Just wondering.


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/355568-31-screen-black-display-dead


//

I'm following this tutorial for now on Linux:

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/how-to-create-bootable-linux-mint-usb.html

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Score! Glad you were able to get your files back.


Yea, after trying a bunch of things over the past couple of days I was starting to worry. I really need to find a backup solution sooner than later.

In the mean time, the old 2GB thumb drive I sacrificed for the Linux drive may just stay as my go-to backup OS.

 

[BikeWhisperer]

Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
If all else fails use a Linux live usb to boot into Linux, this should give you unfettered access to your files to copy them or back them up.


I always keep a live version for many reasons, including this.

 

[linksep]

I have had success with holding "SHIFT" or pressing it rapidly several times to bring up a "sticky" key dialogue. From there I have been able to bring up the run dialogue and start explorer.exe or a command prompt. You could also insert and boot from a windows install disk and run a number of repair tools without actually reformatting and reinstalling.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: BikeWhisperer
Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
If all else fails use a Linux live usb to boot into Linux, this should give you unfettered access to your files to copy them or back them up.


I always keep a live version for many reasons, including this.


I intend to do just that. If I had known how easy it was, I wouldn't have wasted two whole nights searching the interwebs on how to fix it. Heck, after 4-5 years I'm sure it needed a reformat anyway.

Originally Posted By: linksep
I have had success with holding "SHIFT" or pressing it rapidly several times to bring up a "sticky" key dialogue. From there I have been able to bring up the run dialogue and start explorer.exe or a command prompt. You could also insert and boot from a windows install disk and run a number of repair tools without actually reformatting and reinstalling.


I tried all of that without success. F2, F8 and F12, going through all of the options, using the recovery partition and the Dell/Windows install disk.