Win7 Black screen of death with cursor on all boot modes

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  1. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #11

    One thing I noticed by looking at the directories on the disk, is that the "Internet explorer" folder is accessed at every pass of SFC - both in program files and program files (x86).
    How do you see that (except in cbs.log)?

    Please download/burn a linux live CD (for example ubuntu) and boot from it. Can it display graphics? No problems at all?

    So far it's not a virus, not a faulty program, not a faulty disk, not a faulty patch. What a strange problem!
    Did you make a backup already? At least save the important stuff to external device.
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  2. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #12

    Sorry for the late response, I was out for a day

    Yes, it's a VERY strange problem.

    I know the IE directories's content was modified because their timestamp is changed to the last SFC run, and also the contents of CBS.log

    I don't think there's any need to make a Linux disk, I can boot the computer without any problem from a USB key with Win64 SP1 on it, and the graphics work fine.

    But I did another crazy test:

    (I moved back and forth the system disk as a secondary drive on another PC to do what is described below)

    - Cloned the drive to another disk, to be safe
    - Put it back in the original PC, then made a "clean" install of Windows on it (graphics worked fine, including hi-res). Of course, it creates a "windows.old" where it puts all the stuff from the previous install
    - Copied all the registry files and all the user context from the win.old to the current windows
    - Booted: directly to BSOD. Of course, I had forgotten the drivers!
    - Copied system32\drivers and SysWOW64\drivers as well. Guess what? SAME PROBLEM as from the start. Exactly, no changes, black screen with cursor in all modes and all...

    So this means that it's not an issue with corrupted system files, as they are all new from a clean install. And not a driver problem either, or it would work in safe mode. A mystery!!

    I'm preparing to reinstall Windows from scratch, and all the programs too...
    Last edited by erpol; 12 Dec 2013 at 11:08.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #13

    It still can be a driver problem! "safe mode" uses drivers as well. Best thing to do is indeed.... clean install
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Yes, but as I understood it safe mode uses a fixed set of "generic" Windows drivers for the main HW. SO if it works once, it should work always? And if I knew where those drivers are located, I could change only those.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #15

    erpol said:
    Yes, but as I understood it safe mode uses a fixed set of "generic" Windows drivers for the main HW. SO if it works once, it should work always? And if I knew where those drivers are located, I could change only those.
    I think you'll never know. Make backup... clean reinstall.... restore important documents. Try to forget this disaster
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2
    Win 7 64 Ult
       #16

    Just had this and MAN this was frustrating, LOL. Long time "computer nerd" here and I fixed this in about 3 hours of frustration, before it "hit me". The problem is a corrupt Windows environment boot up issue and therefore, it needs to be fixed in the registry. Without getting complicated in the details, I'm going to give you the instructions that I GUARANTEE will fix this... ready? Reboot your system and start hitting F8 and F12 repeatedly. When you get your Windows Safe Boot Screen, choose the top most command to Startup Repair your windows. Click enter on keyboard (usually defaults to US or whatever country you're in) and then for Login, hit enter the same (password if applicable). From inside here, click down to the bottom most option for Command Prompt. A window should open and should have Administrative Rights assigned to it. You will also notice the letter X:\ as the drive you are on. That's because you are in a virtual or rather, boot alternative to your true operating system. So, we need to get to your real copy of Windows. At the command prompt, type: C:\ and hit enter. You should see C:\ as such and you are on your C: drive. Type cd.. and hit enter. You are now on the root directory to see all of your folders from here. Type: dir /o/p and hit enter. This will now show a list of directories from your computer. They should look familiar to you and so, as this list scrolls by (hit the space bar to continue as the /p makes it pause so you can read them all), until you get to the bottom where the Windows directory is. If you see a <DIR> Windows, you are most likely on the correct drive. Now type the following: cd C:\Windows\System32\config and hit enter. From here you are going to want to type dir /o/p again. We are looking for the RegBack directory so type: cd Regback and hit enter. Type dir and you should see the following files in CAPS: DEFAULT SAM SECURITY SOFTWARE SYSTEM and with that, a date and file size next to each of them. If the dates listed next to them are within the past few days or weeks, this is where you want to be. Now for the fix! Type: xcopy cd C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack C:\Windows\System32\config and you will get a prompt asking you (Y/N/A)? Hit A for All. It's the SYSTEM file we are really after to change, but, it doesn't hurt to change them all. You should now get a reply stating that all 5 files were copied. At this point, you can type: exit and hit enter and it will bring you out of the Command Prompt. Exit each screen and reboot your computer and you should be seeing your Windows 7/8/10 again, simple as before the problem started. :) Let me know how it goes... I just fixed this and am posting this reply everywhere that has it listed as a problem. Good luck! Johnathan
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