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Windows 7 hangs at black screen with arrow whilst starting

Anonymous
2014-03-07T15:06:25+00:00

In the normal sequence of events you see:

  1. Starting Windows and Windows logo
  2. Black screen
  3. Black screen with arrow (which you can move with the mouse/touchpad)
  4. Please wait
  5. Welcome
  6. Windows logon screen

The computer I am working on never gets past stage 3, no matter how long you wait.  You can move the arrow/pointer around with the touchpad but there is no response to Ctrl Alt Del.  In Safe Mode you see the 'drivers loading' screen then arrive at the same point of a black screen with arrow and go no further.

The computer originally ran Vista but was upgraded to Winows 7 (so runs the 32-bit version).  It has worked perfectly well for several years with no recent changes.  It suddenly shut down in the middle of a game of Minecraft and has refused to start since.

There was a spare 'Data' partition so I installed a parallel copy of Windows.  This works perfectly so no indication of a hardware problem.  I ran a virus scan on the faulty partition which found and removed a few bits of adware but nothing of significance; no good.  I ran chkdsk in all five stages on the 'bad' partition but this found nothing and had no effect.

I tried the F8 - Repair My Computer option.  This found nothing to repair.  Oddly, the advanced options like System Restore and CMD prompt were not available - I've never seen that before.  So I booted from the Windows Disc and tried System Restore but it said there were no restore points - I take that to be some sort of error rather than the truth.  But this rules out the System Restore Option.

I found a backup copy of the Registry files in a subfolder of the Config flder where they reside.  The backup was a few weeks old so dates back to when the computer was working.  But substituting the backup copies for the current files had no effect. 

I tried Last known good and VGA mode without success.  All the drivers seem to load according to the log I made.  And if I look at the Event Log from the faulty partition I cannot spot any difference before and after the fault arose.  Indeed events continue to be logged for some time during the black screen with pointer phase, as if the computer has not really noticed that it is not working properly.

Any suggestions other than re-installing Windows which, effectively, I have already done.  I just want to get the old Windows installation working.  I have searched online for a solution but not found one, although there are other reports of the same problem.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-08T09:01:47+00:00

    Hello Alan,

    Thank you for posting your question in Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist you.

    You may try the following methods and check if this helps to fix the issue.

    Method 1:

    I would like you to perform a startup repair on your computer using a Windows 7 DVD. You can refer to the following article in order to perform a startup repair on your computer.

    Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Startup-Repair-frequently-asked-questions

    Also See: What are the system recovery options in Windows?

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-are-system-recovery-options#what-are-system-recovery-options=windows-7

    Method 2:

    If the above methods fail, I would suggest you to follow the suggestions given in the following article.

    Use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

    Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance with Windows, we’ll be glad to assist you.

    Thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-22T08:07:27+00:00

    I still have this issue.  I'm not the only person ever to experience this problem either, see http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-system/computer-hangs-up-at-startup-gives-black-screen/c15abe4c-7a2a-420a-86a3-4f896a3cadb2 for example.

    I have proved that it is not a hardware issue so it can be "fixed" by re-installing Windows but that's not really a fix, is it?  In fact I have already done that in parallel with the faulty Windows installation.  I was hoping someone would respond 'look in this log' or 'check that file' but unfortunately it seems nobody has any ideas.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-03-14T14:10:16+00:00

    I appreciate your reply and your line of thought is sensible but I tried and failed with the System Restore beforeI installed a second copy of Windows, so no possible ambiguity.  And as I was able to install a second copy of Windows there is no need for a Custom/Clean installation - I already have that.

    Is Windows really so fiendishly complicated that nobody amongst all the Microsoft experts knows what process is going wrong when it stalls as I have described?  I'm in an excellent position to read logs, replace files and do all the things that might be required to get the original copy of Windows working again but nobody has any suggestions.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-03-14T12:49:01+00:00

    Hello Allan,

    Thank you for your revert with information.

    It seems that you tried doing a System Restore by booting from a Windows DVD media, but there were no restore points.

    Now, the point of concern here is that when you boot to WinRE from a Windows DVD, it asks which OS you want to boot into. In your case, there are two Operating Systems installed in the computer. So this has to be selected properly.

    Did you boot to the corrupt Windows installation while trying to do an offline system restore? If not, you may not see System restore points because the other installation is a fresh copy.

    So, I suggest you to try booting into WinRE, using the DVD, for the corrupt Windows installation and see if a System Restore could be done.

    If not, you may have to go for a Custom/Clean installation.

    You may refer to the article: Installing and reinstalling Windows at:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/installing-reinstalling-windows#1TC=windows-7

    **IMPORTANT:**Please refer to the “Notes” section mentioned in the selection you make to either Upgrade, Custom without formatting the hard disk or Custom with formatting the hard disk.

    Please feel free to reply, in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.

    Have a nice day!

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-03-10T06:29:40+00:00

    As I stated in my original question:

    Method 1: Startup Repair

    I tried this, no problems were found.

    Method 2: Bootrec.exe

    Do you honestly truly think that there could be something wrong with either the MBR, the boot sector or the BCD store that would let the computer get so far into the start-up process?  If so, which?  Remember I told you that it now dual boots to a second copy of Windows and that starts without issue?

    So yes, I need further assistance, ideally from someone who understands the minutiae of the Windows start-up process.

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