Stuck on black screen with cursor after login

Hi,

Thank you so much for posting your query on this forum. You have reached the right place. Let us work together to find the root cause of this issue and try resolving it.

I understand that you have custom-built PC and suddenly it boots to a black screen with the mouse cursor when you started it today for the first time. I also understand that you have tried booting the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt and has performed a verification scan on the computer.

I would like to know –

1) By mentioning “verification scan”, do you mean that you have performed an SFC Scan to check if this is caused by any system file corruption on the computer?

2) Do you have any third party security program installed on the computer?

3) Did you try booting the computer is Low-Resolution Video (640*480) Mode?

4) Does this happens with all the user accounts on the computer?

You may try the following troubleshooting methods and check if that resolves the issue:

Method 1: Disconnect all the unnecessary external devices connected to the computer (except the mouse and the keyboard)

If you have any unnecessary external devices connected to the computer (except the mouse and the keyboard), then I would first suggest you to disconnect them and then restart the computer and check if that helps. If the issue still persists and if you haven’t tried booting the computer in Low Resolution Mode, then try the next method.

Method 2: Boot the Computer in Low-Resolution Video (640*480) Mode

In Windows, we can start the computer in different advanced troubleshooting modes to find and fix problems on the PC. One of such troubleshooting mode is “Low-Resolution Video (640*480) Mode”. Here, we start Windows using the current video driver and using low resolution and refresh rate settings. You can use this mode to reset your display settings. To access the Advanced Troubleshooting Modes (Startup Settings) on Windows 8.1, please try these suggestions:

a) When you boot your PC, try hitting the F8 key. This may take you to the Startup Settings that include Safe Mode.

b) If hitting F8 doesn’t work, and you have media for Windows 8.1 (such as a DVD or USB), you can boot from media using the instructions here. Further instructions about Safe Mode can be found here.

c) If you do not have media, use the power button to restart your computer during the boot process three times simultaneously (do not let it get to the end of the boot process). This should bring up the Windows Recovery Environment.

From the recovery environment, try booting the computer in Low-Resolution Video (640*480) Mode and check if you are able to boot and login to an administrator account on the computer. If you are able to boot the computer in the Low-Resolution Mode, then the issue is caused due to the incorrect/corrupted graphics card drivers installed on the computer. I would suggest you to uninstall and reinstall the graphics card drivers while the computer is still in the low resolution mode and check if that resolves the issue.

Uninstall and Reinstall the Graphics Card Drivers

Please follow these steps to uninstall and reinstall the graphics card drivers on the computer.

Step 1: Uninstall the Device Drivers

a) Press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard.

b) Click on “Device Manager” from that list.

c) Search for the Graphics Card device from the device list, right click on it and then select “Uninstall”. On the un-installation window, if you have an option: “Delete the driver software for this device” you may select that and then remove the corrupted drivers from the computer.

d) Follow the on-screen instructions to complete it and the restart the computer if prompted.

After the restart, please open the Device Manager again and then click on the “Scan for hardware changes” button. Check if Windows 8.1 detects the Graphics Card device and installs an appropriate driver automatically. If the issue still persists, then try the next step.

Step 2: Manually Update the Graphics Card Drivers

Please refer to the Microsoft Help article given below and follow the instructions given under the section “Update your video card driver” from that article and check if that resolves the issue.

Troubleshoot video card problems

To answer your questions at the top of your post:

1) Yes, I performed an SFC scan.

2) No third party security that I actively use, I only use Windows Defender and I have Malware Bytes installed but I have yet to use it.

3) Have not tried booting in low-resolution mode yet.

4) I only have one user account on the computer

Regarding Method 1: All I have plugged into my PC are my keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers. Restarting with my speakers unplugged didn't seem to change anything.

Regarding Method 2: I booted in low-resolution video mode, and unfortunately that didn't seem to change anything. :( Still black screen with my cursor...

Other things I tried: I tried booting into safe mode with command prompt and trying chkdsk. It said the following: "A disk read error occurredc0000185" and "error detected in index $130 for file 1754."

Is there anywhere to go from here? I mean, I could always just reinstall windows completely but I'd be a little upset if it came to that, considering that I randomly started having this problem without any warning or reason.

Thanks for all of your help.

Hi Kidneybot,

Sorry for the late reply.

This seems to be an issue with the hard drive.

Try to connect the hard disk to a different computer and check if it gets detected. If hard disk gets detected, take a backup of the data.

Once back up is done, run the check disk.

You can manually run the Chkdsk command prompt utility to check a drive. Follow these steps for Windows 8:

1. Start an elevated command prompt.
2. Type the following command

                   chkdsk /scan

                   <Drive letter>

                    :

          and then press Enter.

     3.  After the scan is complete, you are notified if errors are found.

     4.  If errors are found, run the following command to resolve the errors

                   chkdsk /spotfix

                   <Drive letter>

                    :

          and then press Enter.

The chkdsk utility may require you to restart the computer or to force an unmount. In this case, make sure that you save your work to avoid data loss.

If the same error occurs, contact the hard disk manufacturer.

Hope this helps. Get back to us for further assistance.