Blank screen with mouse cursor after login

I have an HP Pavilion 17-1053us laptop. The issue is as follows:

Upon turning on it will get to the login screen. You see a full screen with login in box. Put in password and the boot starts. Then when you would expect the desktop to appear, I get a black screen with a mouse cursor. I get the same if I try safe mode. I can get to troubleshoot after interrupting boot a few times. I can also get to CTR ALT DELETE stuff. I did a restore point back to before this started and still have the issue. Tried a few things found googling but no go, so I came here to get suggestions on how to troubleshoot and resolve.

You may have already tried this:

If there is a monitor and cable available, would the result be the same?

It may eliminate the driver, the graphics hardware, or the laptop screen as possible source of frustration.

Do you get a taskbar at all? If not, that would suggest a repair install is needed, or dism to repair or replace bad OS components.

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you try to run explorer.exe via task manager?

It could also be that, your computer thinks it has another monitor connected and set as main, and what you see on your main screen is what it treats as the secondary monitor. Just a wild guess. Although in Windows 10 I imagine it'd also show your wallpaper, once logged in, on any external monitor as well, not just a black screen

TheDeerDude said:

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you try to run explorer.exe via task manager?

It could also be that, your computer thinks it has another monitor connected and set as main, and what you see on your main screen is what it treats as the secondary monitor. Just a wild guess. Although in Windows 10 I imagine it'd also show your wallpaper, once logged in, on any external monitor as well, not just a black screen

Explorer shows to be running in Task Manager. I can stop it and restart it.

I used an HDMI cable to connect laptop to external monitor and see the same results. Toggled thru the 4 settings:
● PC screen only: View the screen image on the computer only.● Duplicate: View the screen image simultaneously on both the computer and the externaldevice.● Extend: View the screen image extended across both the computer and the externaldevice.● Second screen only: View the screen image on the external device only

got the same results as laptop screen.

Something is haywire. The CPU @ 85%, Disk mostly explorer and svchost.exe(UnistackSvcGroup) @ 93% all at idle

EdTittel said:

If completely removing the graphics driver using DDU, and a trip to the HP site to download and install a new graphics driver doesn't set your system back to rights, I'd recommend performing an in-place upgrade repair install. Here's a link to the TenForums tutorial on that subject: Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-Place Upgrade. If that doesn't work, you'll have to wipe the drive and perform a clean install. For your sake I hope it doesn't come to that: I know from repeated experience how much time it takes to restore a Win10 PC to my preferred state, with all the apps, applications, settings and customizations required to get there. I can only imagine things will be quite similar, if not exactly the same, for you.
HTH, and best of luck in your repair maneuvers.
--Ed--

Thanks Ed. I'm not sure how I would uninstall and reinstall the driver. I have no display.

I not sure but don't you have to do a repair install from within Windows? Not sure if I can do it since I have no screen.

Forgive me, for I am not questioning you, but I may be thinking wrong. Your input has always helped me in the past.

EdTittel said:

Win10 should load a generic driver if you use DDU to uninstall the current one. Obviously, you must have graphics to use the system. But I understand your concerns. If you simply want to skip ahead to the in-place repair install, I think that would be OK, too.
HTH,
--Ed--

Again thank you. While I was editing post #7, you responded.

My question is does the repair install require that you do it from within Windows? Once I log on I cannot see anything in order to maneuver.

You said you could access task manager?

You could press the windows key on the keyboard, and the letter I together (win+i) and it should open the settings dialogue allowing you to proceed to "Refresh/Reset this PC" or via Task Manager by going to File> Run new task> and type in "ms-settings:"