Vista: black screen with movable cursor

[microbert]

Hi,

I have a client which have a problem with windows vista.

He is getting a black screen with movable cursor or KSOD (Black Screen Of Death).

What happens:
- The system powers on.
- POST and BIOS is loaded
- Start windows normally - windows loading screen
- Black screen - with mouse

What I can do:
- I CAN enter BIOS.
- I CAN press F8 to give me advanced boot options,
but all options have the same result, apart from "Repair your computer".
- I CAN load the "Repair your computer" option.
- I CAN move the mouse around the screen.
- I CAN press shift 5 times to get a dialogue to appear, but no control panel.
- Safe mode or safe mode with command prompt is not working - give the same problem.

I CANNOT seem to do anything else.

I have tried:
- Startup Repair - Could not detect a problem.
- System Restore - No restore points.
- Windows Memory Diagnostics - No errors.

I am trying to solve this problem without making a new installation of windows, since my client is not that literate and it will take me a lot of time to setup every thing as it was since I cannot see how it was.

I'm sure that this is a windows bug after an update.

Did anyone met this problem? or Is there someone that Can recommend what steps I should try to resolve this?

Thanks.

 

[JD1248]

I've never been able to fix it. Have had this at least 3x. Every time has resulted in a backup/reload. Let us know if you have better luck.

JD

 

[DCGPX]

Same here - Sorry but once I see it now I just say backup/reload.

I've spend an age on these and now just think no more. Time is money, I've not learnt how to fix it even MS give up! Its a Vista nightmare, I accept it and move on.

 

[geekhelp4u]

can you ctrl alt del and open task manager > Then start explorer.exe ?

 

[DCGPX]

Actually G4U might have a point in your case, do a search on how to have the Sticky dialogue point to a file and use it to try get taskmgr or explorer up.

In all my cases I couldnt get to this point mine were all nothing but black screen.

You might have a chance with this one.

 

[iisjman07]

I think I've seen this a couple of time, once it did get going after I ran a 'chkdsk /r' on the partition, but I think was a fluke. Another time it turned out the hard drive was bad, so that was a good excuse for a reinstall of windows. I don't believe there is a 100% foolpoof method to fix the ksod

 

[Tekguy]

I had the KSOD on a Vista laptop before. I got lucky & was able to fix it by deleting the log files in C:\Windows\System32\Winevt\logs
It seems like there are several causes of the KSOD so deleting the log files may not fix it, but it's worth a try.

 

[PCX]

I am ashamed to admit this, but I have had this issue several times and I spent so many hours trying to troubleshoot it and each time, I got no where. NP.

And as always, have you tested the hard drive?

 

[microbert]

Hi,

thanks for yor replies and when I read yours, I noticed that I am not alone on this one.

Ihave tried to open the task manager but it wont open. I tried by pressing ctrl+alt+del and by ctrl+shift+esc but no luck on the task manager.

About the sticky keys I only managed to open the sticky keys windows when you press shift for 5 times, but than thats it.

Deleting the logs was one of the first things that I tried but no luck either.C:\Windows\System32\Winevt\logs

I have checked the hdd, and it was good no problems not even 1kb of bad sector.

I am starting to think that the only solution is to make a new installation and a big nightmare for me.

thanks guys and if i find a solution i let you know.

 

[Scales]

I may be mistaken but if I remember right I fixed this by loading the registry hives to make a few adjustments and then used the command line to manually restore registry from a previous time. Followed some instructions online.

I know that sounds vague but it may give a little help if using the google machine. I had meant to add this fix to my intranet wiki but ended up being too busy with the new shop and now I have let it slip my mind.

 

[Crgky127]

Hi,

thanks for yor replies and when I read yours, I noticed that I am not alone on this one.

Ihave tried to open the task manager but it wont open. I tried by pressing ctrl+alt+del and by ctrl+shift+esc but no luck on the task manager.

About the sticky keys I only managed to open the sticky keys windows when you press shift for 5 times, but than thats it.

Deleting the logs was one of the first things that I tried but no luck either.C:\Windows\System32\Winevt\logs

I have checked the hdd, and it was good no problems not even 1kb of bad sector.

I am starting to think that the only solution is to make a new installation and a big nightmare for me.

thanks guys and if i find a solution i let you know.

http://4sysops.com/archives/forgot-the-administrator-password-the-sticky-keys-trick/

Except once you get the command prompt, instead of dealing with the password, you can run stuff like explorer, sfc, windows update (or remove updates), etc. I'd say system restore, but you have no restore points.

 

[nesrinamb]

I say N&P i have had these before and the first time i saw it it was me who was having the trouble on my computer after 2 days I just reinstalled everything

 

[compnet]

Hmm chkdsk /r, sfc /scannow, or manual system restore in ubuntu (copy Sam security software system, from %windir\system32\config\regback to config(rename old files .bak)) usually fixes those for me, provided the hdd is good.

 

[phaZed]

Along with all of the other suggestions.. I see quite a few corrupt user profile issues and mucked-up Anti-Virus Software causing KSOD.

 

[MobileTechie]

As you can see from the replies it's not a specific fault with a specific fix, it's a symptom which can be caused by several things. Vista boot process goes black for a while. Anything stopping the boot process at this point might cause this. However it does tend to be quite a tricky one to solve, partly because it's hard to get extra information required to narrow down the problem.

In addition to the things mentioned, I'd try a system restore.

 

[Adept PC Repair]

Have you checked the explorer shell registry entry? Sometimes this has caused it for me as a result of a virus.

Try this:

http://www.adeptpcrepair.co.uk/fixshell.exe

Worth a try, I can confirm the file is clean.

 

[gunslinger]

The problem with the Vista machine is that its running Vista. Vista is simply doing what it was designed to do. Do your customer a big favor and back up their data and install 7.

 

[Thedog]

Ive solved this once by deleting old event logs, look at http://social.technet.microsoft.com...i/thread/193b7008-ce4b-4d03-acc3-b8d7ffe610d5

 

[KM@ Dave]

I've had this problem before, seems the customer edited their theme files like uxtheme.dll etc.