Windows Stuck on Black Screen with Cursor....

papaniz · 13 Feb 2011

Hi there,

I'm having troubles with my netbook that has never happened before. Lately it's been acting up. The netbook sometimes seems to go to a black screen with my cursor showing but cannot get out of the black screen at all. This happened a couple times now, and I'm forced to shutdown the netbook with the power button and restart it. This usually happens when I leave it idle while opened. Could this be a virus? I've had a couple viruses but I took them out. I did a full scan with Kaspersky Internet Security 2011. And an updated version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. The netbook was clean. I'll try to do a rescan and see what pops up. But is there any other tips as to how I should trouble shoot this issue? Thanks for the help! :)

Tepid · 13 Feb 2011

If you had viruses, and cleaned them out, but are still having problems with the system........

You are better off backing up your data to external drive
Format disk and reinstall everything from scratch

That will be much easier in the long run

papaniz · 14 Feb 2011

Hey there,

thanks for helping out. Should I format the "C:/" disk only? Or everything and reinstall the OS? Also if I backup all the data from the "C:/" disk to an external hard drive and put the data back (Including the previously installed programs) into the "C:/" disk. Will they be able to run without re-installation? Thanks for the help. I'm good with computers but have never done this before.

NoN · 14 Feb 2011

You might not have to reinstall now. Try this before as it could be a known issue:

Computers that are running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 stop responding at a black screen if a screen saver is enabled

here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2265716/en-us

and here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2431700/

papaniz · 14 Feb 2011

Thanks NoN! Will do.

haxcid · 15 Feb 2011

Video drivers hanging will cause that black screen with cursor only, as well. It causes exploder to fail to load the aero interface correctly. Usually if you can boot into safe mode, it is a driver issue that can be fixed by installing the driver again.

Try booting into safe mode, uninstall video drivers, boot normal and install new drivers for video. Whole process takes about 20 min.

papaniz · 15 Feb 2011

Okay thanks I'll try that, but how do I uninstall the drivers? Where do I go to find them? I have Nvidia ION all other Nvidia drivers are updated to the latest version but which one should I uninstall or reinstall?

haxcid · 16 Feb 2011

you can download this NVIDIA VGA Driver HP Mini 311-1000 CTO PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

and just install over the top and see if it fixes the issue.

papaniz · 16 Feb 2011

Thanks! I'll try it out and see what happens.

EDIT: So far so good! I left the netbook idle for about fifteen minutes and it went to the black screen and when I moved the mouse it woke up. That was pretty much the problem, leaving it idle for about fifteen to twenty minutes then the black screen won't go away. Anyways I'll keep on trying and see what happens, but this is the best progress so far. Thanks for the help!