I’m installing Windows 8.1, and after a reboot, it has a black screen.

Anonymous
2013-10-29T18:13:23+00:00

I’m installing Windows 8.1, and after a reboot, it has a black screen, with just a cursor. How do I solve this?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Install and upgrade

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Anonymous
2013-10-29T18:14:57+00:00

This may be an issue with your display drivers. Try entering Safe Mode and updating the drivers:

  1. When you boot your PC, try hitting the F8 key. This may take you to the Startup Settings that include Safe Mode.
  2. If hitting F8 doesn’t work, and you have media for Windows 8.1 (such as a DVD or USB), you can boot from media using the instructions here. Further instructions about Safe Mode can be found here.
  3. If you do not have media, use the power button to restart your computer during the boot process three times (do not let it get to the end of the boot process) . This should bring up the Windows Recovery Environment.
  4. Once you have started in Safe Mode with Networking, check for updated drivers:
  • Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.

(If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

  • Tap or click Update and recovery and then tap or click Windows Update.
  • Tap or click View details, and tap or click Check for updates. (If you don't see View details, there aren't any optional updates available.)
  • Under Optional, tap or click the update that you want to install, then click Install.

If no updated drivers are available through Windows Update, check the website of the manufacturer of your video card to see if they have updated drivers available.

If this does not resolve your issue, post in this thread.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-07T10:56:04+00:00

    This happened to me too, on a custom built box. I found that the display failure on mine (it was an upgrade from Windows 8.0) was caused LucidLogix's Virtu MVP. I had the latest version, 2.1.226 prior to the Windows upgrade.

    To mitigate this, I had to boot Windows into Safe Mode, uninstall Virtu MVP, reboot, and then all is well. Give it a try.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-05T15:50:05+00:00

    Thank you Eric for showing that. I will study it further to see how it can help me.

    To answer your question, there is a procedure in Windows 8 and 8.1 to create a USB thumb driver recovery disk.  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

    I followed that procedure and come to the dead end at the window that requires a check mark to have the application copy the image to the USB thumb drive.  As you can see from the link it is for windows 8.  I did the upgrade from 8 to 8.1 and no longer can create that recovery drive.  The process shows clearly how to make and where to place the img file, but I can't get to onto the USB drive. These instructions for windows 8.1 apparently don't exit yet and the grayed out check box situation is not explained.

    thank you for your interest and please help me if you can.  The original thread where my plea for help on this matter is:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-system/creating-a-recoveryrepair-boot-usb-drive-ms/f42560e4-f941-4d95-8518-6bfc168fbfbd

    I should add that my machine uses the UEFI bios setup, perhaps yours is legacy.

    I am glad for you that you got done what you intended.

    clarence

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-05T14:57:15+00:00

    That sounds like a good method, but I think another interesting issue will then come up with creating a custom refresh image.

    I went through the creating a custom refresh image in Windows 8.1.  When the window appears to enter a check mark, you know what? The check mark will not be accepted.  It is kind of grayed out.

    I did searches and founnd the precisely exact same issue with Windows 8, but the fix doesn't work for 8.1 and there is no solution "YET" on the MS help.  In fact, I have the question still open on these community forums.  How to create a repair/refresh USB for Windows 8.1?  So far no answer to it.

    Still in the developing stage I supposed, like the If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it...

    That is interesting. When I created the custom refresh image earlier today for the notebook, it went without a hitch. The notebook has two hard disks (750 GB each), so I created the image in a folder on the extra disk.

    What do you mean by    " When the window appears to enter a check mark, you know what? The check mark will not be accepted.  It is kind of grayed out." When I create the image it is done by executing dos commands at an elevated permissions command prompt. This was done in Windows 8.1.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-05T11:32:03+00:00

    That sounds like a good method, but I think another interesting issue will then come up with creating a custom refresh image.

    I went through the creating a custom refresh image in Windows 8.1.  When the window appears to enter a check mark, you know what? The check mark will not be accepted.  It is kind of grayed out.

    I did searches and founnd the precisely exact same issue with Windows 8, but the fix doesn't work for 8.1 and there is no solution "YET" on the MS help.  In fact, I have the question still open on these community forums.  How to create a repair/refresh USB for Windows 8.1?  So far no answer to it.

    Still in the developing stage I supposed, like the If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it...

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