Black Screen, No Cursor (Multiple Categories)

Hello all. This is a weird, convoluted set of circumstances so please bear with me.

This past December my custom built computer, last rebuilt in 2013, suddenly Black Screened on me. Everything was up to date, no signs of weirdness before that. I turned the computer on, but it never appeared to finish loading windows, only showing a Black screen with no cursor. It is worth noting I have been using Windows 10 and keeping it updated (with a couple fresh installs since then) since the Windows 10 beta let me upgrade for free from Windows 7.

A few reboots later, I managed to get to the login screen, input my credentials, and see my desktop for the last time (this only happened once). After a few seconds the screen blinked Black a few times, and then went black again. A few more restarted later I got to the login screen but it black screened me again. After that the system never made it to the login screen again.

I was busy at the time, and by coincidence I had ordered a brand new HP Omen 15 laptop just a few days before, so I wasn't freaking out about it. I opened it up, yanked out my large storage HDD so I could use it as an external drive for the new computer. Then on the older Black Screened computer I tried wiping the entire main SDD, formatted it, and then tried to install again. There was a point (shortly after you choose not to use Cortana or One Drive, on the install screen with multiple options, like using Location and such) the screen went Black again.

After a few more tries of this, I gave up for the time being. After all, I had all my important files in the Cloud or on my external drive, and a brand new computer arriving.

My best guesses at that time:
-Probably not the Power Supply or the Motherboard, as the BIOS screen loads with no problems, and I can still boot from USB or a DVD/Bluray.
-Unlikely to be the graphics card because the display works correctly from the BIOS
-Possibly the SDD drive failing as I haven't experienced that yet.

Jump to the last few days. I had an old Windows 7 install disk so I put that in, and everything installed correctly, save for virtually no drivers working. After a quick USB fix for network access, the system worked with no problem. That seems to rule out all hardware problems, so I made a fresh install USB and tried to wipe the drive and do another fresh Windows 10 install.

Once again, I reach the same settings screen during install listed above, and the screen goes black. Reboots also load to a black screen. BIOS loads fine. Still no cursor.

I have no error codes and very little to go off of here. This system was working perfectly for years before mysteriously this happens. Anyone have any idea?

I would not rule out the graphics card since the BIOS display does not use the full functions of the display card. If you have on board graphics you could try removing the graphics card and plugging the monitor into the motherboard. See if you can get the system to finish installing that way.

How long did you wait once the screen went black? Windows 10 will try to install/update your graphics drivers. As it's doing so your screen will go black.

philc43 said:

I would not rule out the graphics card since the BIOS display does not use the full functions of the display card. If you have on board graphics you could try removing the graphics card and plugging the monitor into the motherboard. See if you can get the system to finish installing that way.

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately the motherboard doesn't have any video out slots so I don't think it has integrated graphics to do that. I may have to wait until I can find a used graphics card or some such to test this, as I don't want to spend much on it.

ram1220 said:

How long did you wait once the screen went black? Windows 10 will try to install/update your graphics drivers. As it's doing so your screen will go black.

Well as I said above, the black screens don't occur anywhere you would expect a graphics dinner to install, and when this started it was when everything had been installed and working for years. I still can't figure out why windows 7 worked though.

If the computer is able to run windows 7 without problems then post some files into the thread:

Use share links (one drive, drop box, or google drive)

Speccy: Speccy - Free Download
msinfo32 > save as NFO
dxdiag > save as text


https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...-screen-errors



Update the specs in the "My Computer" section:

System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums | Tutorials
In the left corner below in your post you find 'My System Specs'.
After clicking it you can find a link a little below that says 'Update your System Spec', click on this link to get to the page where you can fill in your system specs.
System Info - See Your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums

Include PSU. cooler, case, peripherals and anything attached to the computer by wired or wireless (mouse, keyboard, headset, printer, xbox, USB wireless network card, etc.)