Vista boot Stuck on a black screen with a mouse cursor

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Guest

I upgraded to Vista from XP and everything worked for one month. My kid
resetted the PC and since then Vista does not boot. It passes the boot
screen with the green stripes with Microsoft logo and does not reach the
Vista green screen. It get stuck on a black screen with only mouse cursor
pointer dispalyed.
I tried to boot in safe mode, I tried repair mode without success; it is
stuck the same way as in normal mode.

Please advise what I need to do or how to reinstall from DVD. I tried to
reinstall from DVD and could not pass the product key screen.

Please help, I have run out of any good ideas...
 
Do you have a printer installed? One morning I tried to boot up and
got stuck on the black screen with a cursor. Called up Dell and we
found out it was the Lexmark printer. It has these flash drives (for
camera memory sticks) and my computer wanted to boot from those.
Strange. Anyway once i removed the printer USB, it boot up fine.
 
DannyE,

You should have no problem getting past the Product Key screen whether or
not you enter a product key. Sometimes you need to reformat your hard drive,
reinstall the XP software and then install Vista.

In any event, I would do a clean install of Vista on a reformatted hard
drive. You will have far fewer problems and conflicts.

C.B.
 
Hi Danny,

I have the same problem: both Normal and Safe Mode end up with a blank black
screen with a mouse pointer active. The system is freezed then, it does not
respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del. Repairing with the Vista DVD does not help, I can
only run a command line from the Vista DVD repair menu and access the
filesystem, but I don't know what to do next. I cannot run sfc.

Have you resolved your problem anyhow?

Thanks,

Petr
 
FYI, I had this happen when I installed Nero/Nero Virtual Drive on my
computer.
Uninstalling it solved the problem...if you can get that far.
 
Doug,

thanks for your suggestion.

Unfortunately, I cannot get that far. I would like to uninstall a lot of
programs, but all control I have is the command line in the Vista Repair mode.

But here is what I tried: I loaded BIOS setup default values and now I have
a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with a stop error 0xA0 and error message
INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR. I get this in both normal and safe mode, so again I
cannot get into Vista to uninstall programs or disable devices.

There is one more thing: by resetting the BIOS, my RAID array was not
functional and one of the four Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA drives
showed S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD. When I switched the RAID array back on, it
appeared to be functional.

Do you think the S.M.A.R.T. status BAD is an interconnected error? Why is
the RAID array showing Functional then?

Thanks,

Petr
 
Not knowing anything about Windows, it may be a case of minor power loss as
the OS is booting, due to everything requiring power.
Have you tried removing peripherals (additional gfx cards etc.) & then
booting?
Unless you require RAID to read the data (eg. 5), try removing all
unnecessary drives & RAID & booting then.
I expect you've already tried google...

AFAIK, SMART is just a method of speeding read/writes, so isn't required to
run correctly.
If you can boot into a windows terminal, is it possible to "uninstall" via
the shell? (again, google)
 
About 3 days ago I got brilliant and installed the 15 language updates I've
been seeing in Update for months. It took all night to install 15 .6 to .8
GB files. The first boot took nearly 40 minutes, which I let run since I
noted the HDD light on solid. I did note an occaisional flicker in the HDD
light so there was hope. At one point it finally brought up the Windows boot
banner followed by a very long period, ~10 minutes, of blank screen with
curosr. But ... it did finish the boot. Even now it takes much lon ger to
boot than pre-brilliance.

Do you see a slight flicker in the HDD light Petr, and ... how long did you
wait during the boot? If this is the case ... I'd give it a good hour.

Now ... does any one know how to remove the scum sucking, pig fart language
updates my brilliance installed? I tried System Restore but the boot is
still dog slow. <sigh> Looks like I'm in for a re-image this weekend ... :(

Gary G. Little
 
Gary,

thanks for your suggestion.

I have tried to wait when I see the black screen during boot up, but it
always ended up with a reboot. I don't know what triggered the reboot -- if
it was a mouse movement, suspend mode wake up or just a spontanneous reboot.

I wonder why the Vista freezes at this moment. There must be some common
cause, because it is not a unique situation -- I have seen a lot of posts
with people stuck at this point, but with no resolution/explanation.

I hoped to see a Microsoft representative explain this problem here in the
Microsoft's community.

Petr
 
All suggestions from other forums regarding INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR BSOD stop
message mentioned unplugging of all USB accessories. I remember I had such a
problem before and unplugging my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse helped
to boot.

But now I have already unplugged everything (only monitor is connected) and
the INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR still appears. And if I don't get the BSOD, I get
the black screen after Vista boots which is followed by a reboot after long
hours of waiting.

Petr
 
Justin,

I have a Elaborate Bytes Virtual CloneDrive and also VMware Workstation 6
installed, which was also mentioned with regard to black screen freeze during
boot.

But I really don't know how to uninstall those, since the command prompt I
can use is not running in the system the programs are installed into. I am
running a Vista repair wizard, which installs itself on a RAM disk X: and it
is a very limited version of Vista.

I have only access to the filesystem. I can remove files, but I don't know
what files to remove to properly uninstall Virtual CloneDrive or VMware
Workstation. I tried to rename the relevant directories in Program Files but
that didn't help.

But there is one more finding I have: the Vista DVD is being read during
boot for a long time -- is it just a scratch on the disc?

Thanks,

Petr
 
"Docweiser" asked...
All,

I have this same issue, but it only happened when I added a user to the
user accounts (this Vista install is on a domain) and logged in as that
user. It doesn't happen with I log in as the local admin, or the
network admin. (The network admin isn't added to the local machine)
I've tried to reformat twice, the same thing happens.....
Click to expand...

Theory - maybe Vista is 'creating driver database' before booing into
Windows, like earlier versions, but it just got hung up for some reason. It
paused on a blank/black screen with the usual arrow cursor when I updated my
AV software, it lasted 3 minutes, then when right into Windows as normal.
 
I have the same problem as well on multiple computers.
We have worked it all the way down to this to replicate the problem.

1. Installed Vista (Ent. 32-bits) and joined it to a Win2003 domain
2. Installed all updates
3. Installed Office 2007
(everything is still working)
4. Installed all Office updates - reboot - black screen just like you, with
the mouse cursor which you can move around... waited for several hours, but
nothing ever happens after this...

Also was hoping the option to reinstall Windows on top of the current
installation, to keep all the installed programs, in repair mode would work,
just like in Win XP, but Vista doesn't seem to have that option... !?

Any clues to why this is happening or how to fix it from here would be
greatly appreciated!

/ Per
 
Per said:
I have the same problem as well on multiple computers.
We have worked it all the way down to this to replicate the problem.

1. Installed Vista (Ent. 32-bits) and joined it to a Win2003 domain
2. Installed all updates
3. Installed Office 2007
(everything is still working)
4. Installed all Office updates - reboot - black screen just like you,
with the mouse cursor which you can move around... waited for several
hours, but nothing ever happens after this...

Also was hoping the option to reinstall Windows on top of the current
installation, to keep all the installed programs, in repair mode would
work, just like in Win XP, but Vista doesn't seem to have that option... !?

Any clues to why this is happening or how to fix it from here would be
greatly appreciated!

/ Per
Click to expand...


One machine I have loses the video card somewhere after install and is
displaying the message "Press Space" but since it's on the "Wrong"
screen I never see it. It is possible you have something similar? Just
asking in case you haven't tried...
 
I have tried to wait when I see the black screen during boot up, but it
always ended up with a reboot. I don't know what triggered the reboot -- if
it was a mouse movement, suspend mode wake up or just a spontanneous reboot.

I wonder why the Vista freezes at this moment. There must be some common
cause, because it is not a unique situation -- I have seen a lot of posts
with people stuck at this point, but with no resolution/explanation.

I hoped to see a Microsoft representative explain this problem here in the
Microsoft's community.

Petr
Click to expand...

Any updates here? Lots of posts about this issue, but no answers... Here's
another example

http://forums.microsoft.com/technet...5&siteid=17&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=1

I'd really like to see a solution to this problem.
 
Any updates here? Lots of posts about this issue, but no answers... Here's
another example

http://forums.microsoft.com/technet/showpost.aspx?postid=2413565&site...

I'd really like to see a solution to this problem.
Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem. After I installed the language packs my
Vista machine hangs with a Black Screen with Cursor. This is
bullshit!! Why can't someone from Microsoft Address this issue. There
are literally a ton of people experiencing the same problem and yet,
no one can find a solution. I tried installed a backup from my
External HD and still no go. I have tried restoring from a backup
point and still no go. I have tried booting form Last Known Good
Configuration and no go.
 
If you ask me this is Vista's way of saying it has a BIG BUG. My copy was
working fine. Except for IE being virtually unusable but i've been informed
that this is common. Interesting that the Web browser written for windows
doesn't work with windows isn't it. Anyways. My problem with the black
screen was actually caused by Vista going to sleep. Everything was fine
until then. I didn't install anything on that boot up. I just left the room
for a bit and when i came back my pc was actually off. I tried everything i
could think of before i finally resorting to hitting the reset button and
that woke it up. When i shut it down it seemed normal but when i loaded it
again i got this screen that i can't do anything with. It is like it is in
sleep mode but i can't get it out of it. Leave it be and it reboots itself
eventually.

Any suggestions.
 
My suggestion is to read your manuals or online help. You will find out that
it is a NORMAL behavior. If you leave your machine unattended, not moving
the mouse then depending on the screen saver settings the machine will put
itself in hibernation, and if this period has been long enough after you
came back you will not be able to wake it up with any mouse movements. You
will have to hit the power button just for a second but do not keep pressing
it for a long time. You will get a sign in screen with the globe, I think,
and will have to enter your password again.

It is done for your protection. Being a lone user you may feel it a
necessary drag but in a different environment like a large corporation when
people leave they may get lost in the cafeteria for a long time and some
"noninflammable" characters may sneak in, reset your password or plant a
virus, give himself permissions you won't want to have, etc.
 
I get stuck on the blue welcome screen. Dell thinks it's a Microsoft update
corruption. If I can get to the desktop (ctl-alt-del sometimes works - and
sometimes the boots options gets me there) I can at least limp along. But
once I shut down (or it decided to shut down by itself) it's back to the
beginning and each time it's a guess as to how to escape that welcome trap.
One Dell technician suggested I delete update 944355 and then the next said
that could cause more harm than good.
I don't know who to believe anymore.
I'm scared to death to try anything now, including reinstalling Vista.
Anyone else stuck on welcome?
 
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