Windows 7 boots to an unresponsive black screen with mouse cursor...

I solved this problem on my machine.  I'm running win 7 Home Premium on a Lenovo with an intel i7 processor and a separate Nvidia graphics card.

This was driving me crazy.  Sometime it would just boot straight to a black screen with mouse cursor.  Other times Win 7 would appear to be booting normally, and then partway through the boot process the screen would go black with a mouse cursor.  Additionally if I hit the "windows" button on my keyboard, I'd get the start button, quick launch bar, and system tray...but the desktop would remain black.  I could restart via the start button, and sometimes it would boot up normally, other times to the same black screen.

I tried system restores both from both normal and safe mode, no luck.

After trying lots of things with no success, I finally experimented with my anti virus software and hit pay dirt.  I suspect the cause was a conflict between something in Windows (perhaps the last update?) and my Avast Free antivirus. I uninstalled Avast and put on another antivirus program (I used Panda because of the good reviews), and the problem disappeared.  It's been running solid for more than a week now.  And the Panda icon is kinda cute....

Hope this helps someone.

I solved this problem on a computer : black screen with mouse cursor before logon screen.

The problem was appear after an antivirus cleaning.  The safe mode didn't work too.

In my case, the security on folders was changed.

You must restore security parameters for all the partition where WINDOWS is stored not only for SYSTEM32 (as I read it on some forums).

For the WINDOWS's PARTITION : 

• full control to ADMINISTRORS and SYSTEM on subfolder and files
• full control - subfolder delete - permission change  to ADMINISTRORS and SYSTEM on this folder only
• read, execute, open folder rights to users.

Add full control  for each user to its home folder

....

The best is to check the security folders on an another working computer (W7).

Sir might I ask, " How are some of us able to update anything if we cannot read our screens and or have no mouse or use of our keyboards?" Furthermore how do we update drivers and can't do anything?

Hello, I'm running Win 7 Pro 64 and sought to check the drive by connecting it to the another PC Win 7 home and infected it?

The problem with both now is that there is NO MOUSE Cursor, and a black screen, the key board on either platforms don't seem to want to work though the numbers Lock light do light up. I tried the F8 fix, I tried the Cntrl Alt Del fix tried the F2 fix,tried the F12 fix and neither is bringing up a response from either PC? I have also tried wiping the drives but as the screen cannot be read, it is hard to tell if anything at all is going on? I also tried a fresh install hoping something will show!\[\](http://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png) up, nothing has. I've also removed battery, pulled memory as I held the power key down and or pulled the plug entirely. Nothing seems to work, .. The methods that I have been reading about this far all suggest some sort of action based on a visible screen, for instance one person suggested, "go to START and type XXXXX.." and the problem with that is that again, there is nothing visible to work with on either screen.

Is there a solution for a truly unresponsive PC? I can't say entirely unresponsive, , all the internal functions all appear as if working, the drive seems to be spinning!\[\](http://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png), the disc players open and close, even blinks a bit when the OS is put in but as I can't see, I can't say something is going on?

I read a thread on a site and whoever figured this out WAS a genius... 

This is what this person said to do..... 

1. UNPLUG THE LAPTOP 
2. REMOVE THE BATTERY 
3. HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS TO 2 MINUTES 
4. THEN PUT THE BATTERY BACK IN 
5. START IT UP.. 

It worked immediately...I nearly cried when it started up... try it!!! Best of Luck friends

tried this three times and it didn't fix my black screen with cursor.

I tried every F2 & F12 option  and then tried "Restore System" on F8.....................it worked.

When Windows finally loaded I used Norton Power Eraser to see if there were any bugs, viruses, etc. It found one bad file "rpcss.dll" and fixed it.

Now my laptop is running faster than it was last Sunday.

Hi,

1. Have you made any changes to the computer prior to this issue?

The issue (black screen) you’re facing could be related to drivers and could be resolved by updating the display drivers. Without the correct driver, the hardware or device that you want to use won't work properly.

To confirm the same, start the Computer in low-resolution video mode. This starts Windows using your current video driver and using low resolution and refresh rate settings.

This option is available in Advanced startup options.

To start you computer in low-resolution video mode, follow the steps below:

1. Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
2. Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts.
3. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Enable low-resolution video (640×480), and then press Enter.

If the problem doesn't reappear in low-resolution mode, then the issue is driver related. You can resolve this by downloading display card driver from the manufacturer's website.

I’d suggest you to visit the manufacturer’s website and update the chipset, display and graphic drivers to the latest one for Windows 7.

Refer the links below for more details on updating drivers:

Update a driver for hardware that isn't working properly**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly******

Update drivers: recommended links**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Update-drivers-recommended-links**

Also refer: Why is my screen black when I start Windows 7?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/why-is-my-screen-black-when-i-start-windows-7

Hope this helps.

You said "If the problem doesn't reappear in low-resolution mode, then the issue is driver related." You gave a thorough and helpful guide, but this guide will only help you if the problem did NOT appear again. You gave no help as what to do if the problem DID reappear, which is what happened to me.