Black Screen with cursor... send help!

[HollieSmith]

Hi all. Apologies, I'm new to this and purchased a PCSPECIALIST Tornado R3 Gaming PC - AMD Ryzen 3, GTX 1650, 512 GB SSD back in November. And this morning when turning on the PC, after the access BIOS screen has disappeared, I have only black screen, with the mouse cursor. This is where normally I would login to my windows user account. I can't access the task manager, as it just stays on that screen when pressing anything. I have tried turning it off and removing all the wires, then putting them back in and turning it on. Could anyone help me with some things I could try to fix this at all?

 

[Scott]

Are you aware of any changes since the last boot? As you're seeing the BIOS screen everything would seem plugged in correctly. Do you have a dual monitor output or anything like that? Any HDMI dongles or anything to be aware of?

It's possibly a Windows update that's went awry. My next recommendation would be to safe mode and see if that works. Will wait on your feedback though.

 

[HollieSmith]

Are you aware of any changes since the last boot? As you're seeing the BIOS screen everything would seem plugged in correctly. Do you have a dual monitor output or anything like that? Any HDMI dongles or anything to be aware of?

It's possibly a Windows update that's went awry. My next recommendation would be to safe mode and see if that works. Will wait on your feedback though.

Hi Scott.

No, nothing has changed since the last boot, and no I only have one monitor and no HDMI dongles.

How do I start it in safe mode please? Sorry - this is all pretty new to me!

Thank you!
Hollie

 

[Scott]

There may have been a background update or something that's caused a conflict.

Unfortunately from the position you're in I don't think there's an elegant way to enter safe mode. If you can't shut down the PC via normal methods then the power off is the only option. I think it's every 4th attempt that the repair option is triggered, so with that in mind...

First try the F8 method. Switch on the PC and hold the F8 key. Hopefully nothing in the BIOS is mapped to F8 and it will take you to the Windows repair options.

If not.....

Turn off the PC

Turn on the PC, immediately after the BIOS splash screen press and hold the power button to switch off (takes 4 seconds).

Repeat 3 times.

The next time you switch on leave it, hopefully it should enter the recovery menu. If it doesn't, try repeating it 4 times. If that's a non starter either you will need access to another PC and a USB pen drive to load a Windows image to access the recovery options.

 

[HollieSmith]

Thanks Scott, I will give it a go and let you know what happens!

 

[DarkPaladin]

I had a friend who had a similar issue lately. Their PC would load fine normally but as soon as they logged into Windows, their screen went black with the cursor visible. It isn't identical to your issue but the fix may be the same.

The culprit was a Windows August update. We confirmed this by deleting the update > logging into Windows > everything looked fine > installed the update > black screen with cursor reappeared.

Unfortunately, the fix may require you to reinstall Windows (either factory settings while keeping your personal files or USB for a fresh install).

However, I would recommend calling PCSpecialist and having them guide you over the phone before attempting my recommendation.

 

[ubuysa]

I would boot the Windows installation media - that will prove the hardware is (probably) ok. In there select 'Repair my computer' and then run Startup Repair.

 

[HollieSmith]

Morning all. So last night I booted the windows installation media and ran the repair and then also the start-up repair, which resulted in a 'start-up repair couldn't repair your PC' message. I also tried a system restore from an old point in time before I was having this issue, which also didn't complete successfully.

Somebody else also suggested to try to reinstall Windows this evening from USB, which I am hoping will solve the problem. Does anybody have any links which can help me do this at all?

Thank you again for all of your suggestions!

 

[Martinr36]

Morning all. So last night I booted the windows installation media and ran the repair and then also the start-up repair, which resulted in a 'start-up repair couldn't repair your PC' message. I also tried a system restore from an old point in time before I was having this issue, which also didn't complete successfully.

Somebody else also suggested to try to reinstall Windows this evening from USB, which I am hoping will solve the problem. Does anybody have any links which can help me do this at all?

Thank you again for all of your suggestions!

Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool (Second option on linked page) to an 8GB (min) USB.
Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia/AMD website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).

This is also worth a watch

 

[Scott]

Morning all. So last night I booted the windows installation media and ran the repair and then also the start-up repair, which resulted in a 'start-up repair couldn't repair your PC' message. I also tried a system restore from an old point in time before I was having this issue, which also didn't complete successfully.

Somebody else also suggested to try to reinstall Windows this evening from USB, which I am hoping will solve the problem. Does anybody have any links which can help me do this at all?

Thank you again for all of your suggestions!

Did you try running in safe mode? I don't think the boot was the issue as you got to the cursor screen.

Is it still getting to the cursor when not using the install media? If not, you've no option now.

 

[ubuysa]

If Startup Repair can't fix it then a clean install is the best option. The good news is that if the installation media booted ok and you were able to use it then there probably isn't much wrong with your hardware.

 

[Scott]

If Startup Repair can't fix it then a clean install is the best option. The good news is that if the installation media booted ok and you were able to use it then there probably isn't much wrong with your hardware.

If the cursor is there it's starting up though, it's just not getting to the login splash (Which I don't believe is part of the startup check). By that point it's likely a driver or file error IMO. If safe mode works, the driver can potentially be found/recovered. I've had it with an AIO before, the black screen and cursor, I managed to fix it without actually doing anything of note, I recommended a full reformat anyway as it didn't seem right, but the user got their stuff off it first without multiple installs on the drive.

If it won't get past the black screen/cursor in safe mode either then I would go postal on the OS as well. I think it's worth trying to recover it, even if the end result is a full format anyway.

 

[ubuysa]

If it were a driver I'd expect it to BSOD. I.think it more likely that a critical Windows service is corrupted (csrss or dwm possibly).