Windows 7: Windows Black screen with cursor and ctrl+alt+del after log in

The problem is pretty much explained in the title, but I'll explain it a little more.

I had the problem a few weeks ago, but it seemed to fix when I did a system restore. Now it has come back, and a system restore does nothing. I've tried a lot of stuff suggested on forums, but it seems no-ones problems that are similar to mine arent exactly the same.

I log in, to see a black screen. I can move my cursor fine, just there's no desktop or taskbar. I can ctrl+alt+del to access the Task Manager, but I cant start any new tasks, just view whats going on.

When I restart my computer, I press F2, then F8 to get to the boot manager. I click Repair your computer (or the like), and it gives me the options after loading. I can detect problems, restore, memory diagnostic etc fine. When I try to restore my computer, I get the message that it has restored successfully, and it restarts. Its a cycle of restoring, restarting and restoring. I have a complete back up of my C drive and program files on my D drive, but cannot log on properly to restore them from the back up.

I have been suggested to make a new account as administrator. I can not do that as I cant log on. Anything you have to use the control panel to do cannot be done as I can not log in.

I have been told that I should re-install windows, but it is an expense I cant afford until the end of the month. I am prepared to do it, but would rather not, if you get what I mean.

All my program files, documents etc that I could install on D drive (a 500GB HDD), are on there, so the only thing that's on C drive is the OS, and the anti virus.

Sometimes some fixes work, and some don't. If I do happen to suddenly fix it, the next time I log in I get the black screen again.

Any fixes, or even suggestions would be great as I'm sure you can understand, problems like this are very infuriating!



EDIT: I went back to a System Image, and it seemed to have worked. Last time I tried this, when I later restarted my computer I had the black screen problem again.

I have fixed this problem. My back up told me it had not backed up some of my user files, such as the desktop because they were corrupt. I then wandered if creating a new user would fix it, and it has.

EDIT2: I now think I have a virus. It worked fine last night, but when I turned it on this morning, I had the black screen. I cant see why that would happen on its own when it was working. I'm going to find my Norton 360 2012 disc I got with my laptop and blast my computer.

Glad you resolved it yourself. Nice work!

You may mark the thread solved if you desire.


For others who wonder how it was done: Fix a corrupted user profile