Solved Black screen, cursor active before login screen.

[DRPCs]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1750, and the owner said that his son installed BearShare and it's been giving him complications. He told me it sometimes freezes when he tries to start the computer, and has to give it a hard shut down. I (hopefully) removed BearShare with Malwarebytes and MSE, yet I can't seem to find why it's not letting me boot up regularly.

It boots into safe mode fine, and I can access everything from there, but when I try to restart into regular mode, it just hangs after 'Starting Windows' with a black screen and active mouse cursor. I've tried various tutorials from searching "black screen, active cursor", "laptop frozen after starting windows" etc, but nothing that I try works.

After a few hours of research I keep seeing the reoccurring phrase 'shell', I believe it's not being loaded correctly or at all. I've tried a fix by Prevx that said it would fix the black screen to no avail.

But here's the funny part. Sometimes it boots to Windows fine and everything acts as it should. There's been several times I was about to call the guy and tell him that the laptop is finished, but I hesitated and restarted just to see if it was fully fixed.

Vid: Dell - YouTube

Let me know if I need to post further information.
-Dustin

 

[Pauly]

I would try some more scans to be sure
Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/166445-windows-defender-offline.html
run some hardware tests
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html
and when you can get it to boot
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html
a system file check
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html
and have a look through these handy tutorials
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
and if all else fails
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[DRPCs]

I would try some more scans to be sure
1. Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller
2. Windows Defender Offline
3. Memtest
4. Disk check
5. System File Check
6. Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure Boot Tutorial
7. Startup Repair Tutorial
8. Repair Install

Here's my progress so far:

1. TDSSKiller found nothing
2. Never got past the stupid windows 8 logo.
3. Everything passed
4. Took a few hours, results: results. I believe it said 'volume is clean right before it rebooted too.
5. "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them." (see attached zip)
6. I'll take a look at this in the morning
7. I'll take a look at this in the morning
8. I'll take a look at this in the morning

#Note: I can get it to boot in regular mode if I first boot to Safe Mode (with networking) and disabling both display adapters.

 

[Saurabh A]

Hi DRPCs,

Would like to know the operating system installed in the laptop. Is it Windows 7 or 8?

It appears to be a 'software conflict' preventing the laptop to boot into the normal mode. Ensure that the system does not have more than 1 security software installed; in a similar situation in the past, removing 'Malware Bytes' worked for me. (Also ensure that no external peripheral/USB device is connected)

You may try a clean boot to see if that works for you: How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8

If the issue persists, you may try uninstalling the current 'video drivers'. Please log into 'Windows' in 'Safe Mode', uninstall the 'video drivers'; and then try to log into the 'normal mode'. You may find the following steps useful:
- Log in 'Safe Mode'
- Click 'Start Icon' and type 'devmgmt.msc' (without quotations) in 'Search programs and files' text box
- Tap 'Enter' (Device Manager page appears) > Expand 'Display Adapters'
- Right click and uninstall 'display drivers' (Inspiron 1750 offers an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 discrete video; if not listed under 'Display Adapters', it may also be listed under 'Other Devices' and may have a 'yellow bang' besides it)
- Follow through with the uninstall; and restart the laptop in 'normal mode'
- Check if the system boots up this time; if yes, you need to install the best available/compatible drivers for the 'graphics adapter' installed in the unit

Hope this helps. Do reply with the results; would be glad to assist.

 

[centaur78]

Please use this tool to update your profile specs that you are referring to.

Use Autoruns click on "Save" and save the file in .arn format and post it here.. I will have a look

 

[DRPCs]

Operating System is Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I attached the Autoruns .zip file to this post.

Saurabh A, I disabled the display adapter before, and this is how I'm able to boot into Windows normal mode right now. I checked in his downloads folder and he has a bunch of drivers that I'm assuming he downloaded himself. It does not show "ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330", rather it shows "
Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family". My assumption is that he has an incorrect driver installed. Once I get a reply back from centaur78, I'll go ahead and completely remove the old driver.

 

[DRPCs]

I've gone ahead and uninstalled the display adapters, and rebooted. It boot normally now (with a low resolution). The laptop has tried to install drivers but gives up after a few minutes. When I go to the Device Manager and look under display adapter, both 'Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family' have the yellow exclamation mark on them, with a Code 52 (Windows cannot verify the digital signature). I downloaded the driver from Dell's website and when I try to update the current one (with the exclamation mark) I get 'The best driver software for your device is already installed'.

I'm also getting other software crashes now too:

'Virtual C# Command Line Compiler has stopped working'
'The Dell Dock's language file, which is necessary for its operation, has failed to load.'
'Dell DataSafe Local Backup has stopped working'

Update: I've managed to install the correct driver 'Mobile Intel(r) 45 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1)' but it's giving me the same problem as before. I just shows a black screen with active cursor. I can boot into safe mode and get the full resolution (1440x900) but regular mode is a no-go.

 

[centaur78]

DRPC

Why did you install ATI drivers when your chipset is clearly a intel GM 95 ????

Here is what you need to do in Autoruns..(Those that are marked in red are once that has file not found... probable cause of the black screen as windows is trying to locate the files during logon.....usually caused by improper uninstallation.)

Under Logon tab uncheck the following..
-rdpclip
-IAAnotif
-IgfxTray
-Persistence
-QuickSet
-Adobe ARM
-BYRUA_AGENT
-DATAMNGR
-Dell DataSafe Online
-DellSupportCenter
-PDVDDXSrv
-QuickTime
-ShopAtHomeWatcher
-SunJavaUpdateSched
-Akamai NetSession
-MobileDocuments

Under Scheduled Tasks tab uncheck the following..
-\CandyUpdater
-\JavaUpdateSched
-\PCDEventLauncher
-\PCDoctorBackgroundMonitorTask
-\PCDoctorBackgroundMonitorTask-Retry
-\SystemToolsDailyTest

Under Services tab uncheck the following..
-AdobeARMservice
-GameConsoleService
-GoToAssist

Under AppInit tab uncheck the following..
uncheck both the entries... those for imesh

Last but not the least .. the important one
Under Winlogon tab uncheck the following..
-GoToAssist


Uncheck this above and restart your system... it should solve the problem and boot a little faster..

Let me know

 

[DRPCs]

DRPC

Why did you install ATI drivers when your chipset is clearly a intel GM 95 ????

I never did. I was just saying that it doesn't show.

Uncheck this above and restart your system... it should solve the problem and boot a little faster..

Let me know

Restarted and so far so good, no freezing.

What does unchecking the files that are not deleted do, and is this permanent?

 

[centaur78]

Unchecking is disabling and yes its permanent most of the time but certain programs have persistant option to reenable it.. but most of the time.. even that can be stopped by going to the respective program setting and unchecking options to startup at boot.

But i suggest .. there are lost of programs you need to remove / uninstall from your system... lots of crapware...

 

[DRPCs]

It's my friend's laptop that he uses for work, so I can't uninstall any program that isn't malicious. I'll forward it to him though. I'm going to restart is a handful of times to make sure, but I'm pretty certain it's fixed.

 

[centaur78]

restart as much as you want

 

[centaur78]

If you think the issue has been solved.. please mark this as closed.

And please do REP those helped...

 

[DRPCs]

Absolutly!