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

Anonymous
2012-04-05T04:26:16+00:00

Started up the PC one day and it booted to a black screen. I didn't change the configuration in any way, it just happened suddenly.

What it does:

The PC turns on like normal. I get the bios screen. I get the Windows logo screen. Then I get a black screen with a mouse cursor in the middle.

I can move the mouse, but the buttons don't do anything--left or right click.  No keys on the keyboard change the screen. Ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing. Windows key does nothing. Esc does nothing, etc. At this point the only option is to hold down the power button and turn it off.

What I've tried:

I tried to start it in safe mode, but the same thing happens. It shows the system files that are loading. The last file it shows loading is Windows/system32/DRIVERS/AtiPcie.sys then it goes to a black screen with a mouse cursor again; only this time it is in safe mode resolution so the mouse cursor is larger and not as sharp. Also, no keyboard strokes have any affect just as with normal mode.

It is a Dell Inspiron, so it came with an onboard repair utility. I used the Startup Repair tool, but it found no problems. The diagnostics tools found no issues with the hard drive or any of the other major system components. However, this error came up which appears to be related to the multi-card (SD, micro SD, etc.) reader on the front of the PC:

error code 4400:011A

msg:SCSI_1-000 DISK_generic-_SD/MMC - target not ready

It seems that this is unrelated to the black screen. I unplugged the card reader and still had the same problem. Otherwise, it passes all other tests the onboard diagnostic utility has including, memory tests, fan tests, hard drive tests, etc.

I have not, however, tried a full system restore yet. From what I've read in several forums, many have tried this in similar situations and still had the same problem. Since there are several files I'd rather not lose, I wanted to explore all other avenues.

Sorry if this is a repeat question in the forum. Most of the other situations seemed similar, but there was always something they could do that I could not, like press Ctrl+Alt+Del or boot into safe mode or whatever.

Here is as much of the system info that I can gather without having the PC on (not mine, I'm doing this for a friend):

-Dell Inspiron (I think it's a 570)

-OS: Windows 7 Home

-AMD Athlon II X2

-Integrated Video Card (I tried both the VGA output and the HDMI, which he normally uses, and both give the same results) ATI Radeon HD 4200

I hope I've been thorough enough to allow you to help me without wasting any of your time, and I thank you in advance.

Windows for home | Other | Input and language

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-05-23T13:29:57+00:00

    Found this thread while researching the exact same problem as OP.

    In my case, it had to do with mapped network drives.

    I had been testing different login scripts to fix my other fav Windows bug: mapped network drives not connecting on startup.

    This was the only thing I could think of that may have changed before the problem started (other than Windows updates).

    Delete your mapped network drives, see if the problem stops (in my case, it did).

    Then just recreate your mapped drives.

    Please report back so others can see if this worked or not.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-06T12:01:21+00:00

    I just let it run about 10 minutes and it finally loaded up.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-04T02:39:08+00:00

    Had the dreaded Black Screen of Death and went through all the suggested methods of resolving, F8 on restart to boot into safe mode, etc. Nothing worked. Even tried to boot up with my Win 7 DVD, no go.

    I have a 24" ASUS monitor that I love, but it has manual selector buttons on the lower right side on the under side of the monitor. Apparently I had accidentally bumped the manual switch that toggled between input ports. My monitor is hooked up to the HDMI port on my PC, but the monitor was switched to the VGA input. All it could display a black screen with a mouse pointer.

    One more tap on the manual selector switch on the monitor brought up the DVI port and a second tap brought up the HDMI port. Left alone for a couple seconds, the familiar MS Windows screen came back up. Whew, what a relief.

    Hope this helps someone else.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-08-13T01:43:36+00:00

    Same horrible Black Screen + easily movable Mouse Pointer for my Windows 7 today.   (fought with it for 3 hours today)

    I FIXED IT!!!  -  Solution:

    1. Reboot
    2. Keep pressing F8
    3. Choose boot from Last Known Good Configuration
    4. Wait for it... and it was back (still slow booting but thats been normal for over 2 years now.)

    What else I did, however none of it was likely of any value:

    * Unplugged all USB devices, pendrives, etc, except mouse. (Keyboard is ps2 anyway).

    * During the Black Screen, hit Control-Shift-Escape (hoping it would bring up Task Manager so i could manually run explorer.exe)

    * Reconnected my second monitor which i usually connected, but it has been off for 1 week while used on a new computer build im doing.

    * Waited on Black Screen for over 1 hour (thought this might work since it was booting slower after installing Macrium Reflect this week.

    * Multiple Reboots, all to no avail.

    What I definitely did not want to do until I had tried safer stuff:

    * Reinstall Windows 7

    * Run System Repair from my Windows 7 install disk

    * Anything that runs a program that might touch the Registry, IE cleaners.

    * Any other external disk boot environment (not that they arent safe, or that i dont have, but i just haven't practiced with them enough.)

    * Safe Mode - Although this is clearly the safest in this list, but most people said it didnt help, and it has potential to change stuff

    * System Recovery to an earlier time - this would be fine, especially through safe mode, but i just couldnt remember how far back it would take me

    (In fact, if you have this problem, try my solution first, then go backwards through this list above from the lowest one to the top one.)

    What I dont think it was:

    • Not a virus
    • Not likely related to installing Macrium Reflect Free since it booted once or twice after that fine. (with longer boot time, which i think was related to being extremely low on disk space after the 400MB install.)
    • Not likely caused by low C: disk space (but i do get slower boots the lower it goes)

    What I think caused it:

    When I woke from Win 7 sleep (with basically no disk space and memory topped out at 4GB of 4GB when put in sleep), it blue screened but too fast to get a code, other than to see it was related to my nvidia graphics driver

    So I assume that the black screen + mouse related to the issue with the video corruption, that required last known good configuration to work again.

    What I'll do now that its back up:

    I have no trust that it wont happen again, since i didnt cause it to begin with, so therefore im:

    * immediately copying off all extremely valuable data to a pendrive

    * freeing up tons of space on the C drive (hopefully 100Gig, since its down to 19G on a 1TB drive

    * uninstalling Macrium Reflect Free, since thats the last program i put on before this issue happened.

    * updating and running both my Windows Defender and 3rd party antivirus (just to be safe)

    After my hour of research, including all the posts in this thread, I tend to believe that tons of different things can cause the same Black Screen + mouse issue.  And that each needs its own specific solution.  So I dont claim what I wrote here will absolutely help you, but hope it can.  Good luck!

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-11-02T13:27:32+00:00

    Get into comand prompt and type

    "sfc /scannow" then enter. Wait till 100% . My issue solved by doing this.

    I used safe mode to get command prompt. Repair mode has also command prompt in it.

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