Windows 7 Black Screen when booting up

Question

I am getting the "Black Screen of Death" when booting up, it started a couple of days ago with no change in hardware configuration, no new software was installed, and I don't believe there was a Windows Update. The Black Screen happens after the Windows Logo appears, right before the login screen. I was able to go into Safe Mode and disable the display adapter which then let me restart and boot up normally (no black screen, although the resolution is not good).

After disabling the Display Adapter I booted up normally and then tried System Restore, first going back a few days and then as far as a month.

I also tried uninstalling the Graphics Card Driver and reinstalling with the latest Intel HD Graphics Card driver, and then tried installing the previous Driver to see if that was it.

My computer is an ASUS CG5275-AR003 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and the graphic card is the Intel HD Graphics Card.

Right now I am able to login normally if I disable the Display Adpater or if I use the 'Standard VGA Display Adapter'.

How can I get my Intel HD Graphics Card to work again? Please help...

Answer 1

Hi,

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

References to Vista also apply to Windows 7.

Saving any needed data and re-installing Windows 7 might be the best option though here are a

few others.

You can save your files by putting the drive in another computer or an external drive case and then

backing them up. Do so using several methods in a redundant manner. Of course a real computer

shop or your System maker can help recover the files.

---

Can you access Safe Mode? Repeatedly tap F8 as you boot? If so you can try Control Panel

• Device Manager - Display Adapter - Double Click on - Driver tab - click UPDATE driver -

then Right Click on Device and UNINSTALL - REBOOT.

Another method to try to access the desktop (try in both regular Windows and Safe Mode)

is to CTRL + ALT + DEL and on Process Tab find EXPLORER.exe and END PROCESS on it -

then on Applications Tab - lower right - New Task - type in EXPLORER.exe . Safe Mode is

reached by repeatedly tapping F8 as you boot up.

First check this thread in case its a simple one and if not come back to this thread.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaprograms/thread/50247d5e-0ae0-446c-a1bd-11287fd1478a

Black screen issues are extremely tough to repair and any fix is usually on a hit or miss

basis. That there is no information on a black screen like there is on a blue screen just

adds to the difficulty. Often using a restore point nor startup repair will have any effect.

You can try a google to see suggested repairs some of which have worked however these

cover a wide field of efforts.

Here is a video of one fix.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=black+screen+of+death+vista&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1

Here is another fix

http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2008/12/the\_mysterious\_black\_screen\_of.php

Do you have a Window 7 Disk? You can try System Restore from it. If you do not have the

disks your system maker will sell them cheap. Or try from Safe Mode if you can get

there.

How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

You can create a Recovery Disk or use someone else's same version (to do the System Restore

it only has to be bootable).

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

---

These require the correct Vista Disks since you can't boot to Safe Mode.

Try Startup Repair -

What are the system recovery options in Windows 7?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/What-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-7

How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html

Try StartUp Repair from Recovery Options or a Windows 7 boot disk

How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

---

Here are Google searches where several have found different solutions :

Vista Black Screen - check this one 1st

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=vista+black+screen&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

Vista Black Screen Solution

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vista+black+screen+solution&aq=f&oq=&aqi

Vista Black Screen Fix

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vista+black+screen+fix&aq=f&oq=&aqi

---

If needed and you can access regular Windows at all.

If nothing works you can do a repair installation.

How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html

How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

---

Another method that sometimes works : In the Command Prompt of a Vista boot disk type :

(type one line or copy and paste one line at a time and then hit enter - do not type parenthesis or BOLD)

c:

cd\

cd c:\Windows\System32\winevt        (there is a space between cd and C: )

ren Logs LogsOLD                             (there are spaces between ren and Logs and Logsold) 

REBOOT to Windows

Hope this helps.

---

Rob Brown - MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Answer 2

Hi rachelohio,

Please start your own thread with the information we need to help us help you.

How to ask a question

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hope this helps.

---

Rob Brown - MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Answer 3

I have been extremely busy at work and haven't had much time to try to troubleshoot this, although i did get something to work.

As mentioned before I was able to avoid the black screen only by logging-in in Safe Mode or by logging-in in Normal mode with the Graphics Card disabled (with very low resolution). Up to this point my monitor has always been connected to the graphics card using an HDMI cable.

So, I thought I would try a different approach. My monitor was connected to the graphics card using an HDMI cable. So I disconnected the HDMI cable and tried using a DVI cable. Now that I am using the DVI cable I am able to login with the Intel HD Graphics card enabled and with the latest driver installed for the graphics card. 

Again, not much time to really investigate this, but it seems that maybe there might be a problem with the HDMI port on the graphics card not outputting a signal when the graphics card is enabled?

 

I can confirm this as i have spent over 6 hours trying to sort my PC out after originally thinking i had killed my card by trying to hook it up to my tv via a HDMI>>Composite converter.

HDMI works only in system restore, safe mode, boot screen and minus the proper drivers but even then it was not nice. Also did a full format and once the proper driver were installed for my ATI radeon it all went wrong and the screen went black.

Answer 4

Same problem here on 2 Windows 7 64 bit machines, neither have recent hardware changes, one has the latest updates from microsoft and one doesn't. Pretty frustrating after all these years of wasting time trying to fix problems like this with microsoft OSs. I'm am so frustrated that I would like to get my money back for both copies of 7 but I know that isn't going to happen.

I agree with you to some extent. If I didn't need Windows OS for some of my businesses I'd flush it in a heart beat.

However I work in a national call center for IT Tech Support taking calls from hundreds of thousands of people and I can safely say that Thanks to Microsoft I HAVE A JOB. Because of all the trash they publish in software I have a job helping people fix their computer to work. Most cases installing Mozilla Firefox and trashing Internet Explorer fixes a major number of things. Windows 7 & IE 8.0 is ok but IE 9 SUX.

Answer 5

Just got the same problem.  My monitor is reporting a DVI signal is being received, but the screen is black.  Athough I can't see anything, I can log in and hear my startup programs firing up, and can operate my desktop as if I was blind, but can only do so much as to shut it down.  As long as the display driver is set to Standard VGA Display Adapter, or is disabled just after the true driver installs, I get a low res screen.  Otherwise I need safe mode.  It will still be black with the "low res 640x480" startup setting in the F8 startup menu.  Doesn't matter if it's the Microsoft version of the driver or NVidia's.  Tried three different cards too, 240GT, 9800GX2, and 6600GTS, all PCI-E is I have to try.  Tried system restore back from a few days, then weeks to no avail.  VMWare player was installed a few weeks ago.  Then installed VMWare workstation 7.1.4 on top of that, reboot, and BAM, black screen of death.  Used VMWare workstation on many a machine before and never saw that.  Wish I uninstalled those programs before doing the system restore attempts, not sure if that was a bad move.  Installed them again just so I could succesfully uninstall them.  No luck there.  Searched up and down for a resolution to no avail.  Found this thread and read talk of resolutions to no avail.  Stumped and I'm about to erase it all and start over after a long time runnin'.  Good luck to all that have come to this place seeking help.  Fill in your situation so we may figure it out and have a quicker fix, should happen again.