Desktop is a Black Screen

Last night, I cleared a bunch of unneeded files and shortcuts off my desktop. One of those was a shortcut to Windows Explorer. I also installed updates to the Microsoft LifeCam software, which prompted me to restart my computer. After restarting my computer, I entered my password, and was shown a blank, black screen. All I could see was the mouse. I've tried rebooting the computer several times, I ran the full spectrum of Diagnostic tests (hit F12 when the BIOS is loading, went to the Diagnostics screen, and ran -all- of those tests), and nothing seems to work. The same thing happens when I open Windows in safe mode.

I am currently running Windows 7 on a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop. I don't know my system specifications other than that. I don't know a lot about computers, as you can probably tell by the above explanation. The best I can think of is that somehow deleting that Windows Explorer shortcut deleted Windows Explorer? I'm really not sure. The computer was running perfectly fine before I deleted the shortcut and installed the new LifeCam software. Any thoughts?

The problem with doing a Repair Install that I can't see -anything- on my screen. All I have is black space and my mouse. From that link you provided, I would need to interact with stuff on my screen to do a Repair Install, which currently isn't possible.

I unplugged everything from the laptop and turned it on, and the screen is still completely black.

pebbly said:

bdjones4 said:

The problem with doing a Repair Install that I can't see -anything- on my screen. All I have is black space and my mouse. From that link you provided, I would need to interact with stuff on my screen to do a Repair Install, which currently isn't possible.

yes sorry about that try this Startup Repair

Haha, one step ahead of you. I just couldn't figure out how to do a System Restore. I'm trying that now, hopefully it will work. Thank you so much!

System Restore fixed the problem, whatever it was. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!