Black Screen of Death - what to do?

[Painter]

The only 2 times I have experienced a black screen of death was after having installed a Microsoft update. I'd like to know what is the best way to respond to this situation. I am only aware of one option and that is to power off and power back on again. Is there other options?

A friend I have who works in IT told me that if the logon screen does not reappear because Windows is stuck at a black screen, the update (specifically a security update) may have reset the permissions in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell key. He says that MS denies that this happens. I assume workarounds get offered if this stuff actually happens, otherwise there is nothing a user can do.

In Safe mode, Windows repairs will revert the update and reconfigure Windows, but if the black screen keeps on happening each time you try that update, is there something that a user can do before trying it again? Teaking com recommends draining the power completely before doing repairs - is this the only option?

I understand that the user gets an error code to help in diagnosing and fixing a problem, but if that does not work and the black screen continues, what should a user do before zipping the CBSlog and Windowsupdate log for analysis here? The tutorials here are great but they do not include what is best to do when the user is staring at a black screen. Are there options?

 

[torchwood]

Hi Painter,
Your IT friend is not entirely correct.
When the new update is installed it updates specific files, now the problem is then caused by the incompatability between the new/old requirements on what its changed NOT the winlogon shell key.
This you have confirmed by being able to access safe mode where ony required MS drivers are loaded

The windowsUpdate and CBS logs are irrelevant at this point , you need the Dumps analysed,
http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html
Please follow the instructions from the link and post in the BSOD section.

note
there are 2 further actions that you can perform prior to uploading the logs
sfc /scannow
chkdsk /r
these check for disk and system integrity

Roy

 

[Painter]

Tnx Torchwood for the link. That should come in handy one day. I've used those scans a few times myself.

My friend told me that after a few beers (maybe not a good time to pick his brain). My question was more to what options the user has at the time the bksod happens. I was thinking of recovery steps (if there are any).