Windows XP - screen suddenly went black except for cursor

carbon13 · 10-28-2007, 03:38 AM

Hi,

This problem has just appeared, and I've no idea what caused it, and would love to get any suggestions on how to solve it!

My system:
Thinkpad T60 (8445BU) with discrete ATI X1400 card, 15.4" screen.

A couple of hours ago I booted into windows, then suddenly after half a minute or so of use (i don't think all the background progs had finished loading) the screen suddenly went black, except for the mouse cursor. There wasn't much i could do, so I killed it with the power button.

Booting to safe mode was fine, no issues. I tried a system restore to yesterday, but that didn't solve the problem.

I disabled startup items / services that may have had an effect - eg ATI catalyst control center. This didn't solve the problem either.

Sometimes the screen is black as soon as the windows logo splash screen goes away, other times i get a minute or so of desktop, enough to log in, before it goes.

I can also boot via "VGA mode" (another F8-on-boot setting) however when i tried to resize the screen resolution from 640x480 to 1024x768 it went black again).

I don't think this is a problem with the graphics card itself, because I can still see the mouse cursor. Also, I'm dual booting with Linux, which is working perfectly (fglrx 8.37.6). I can't think of anything that I did in Linux between windows-working and windows-not-working that might have caused this. So I think something must have happened to the windows drivers.

Either way I can't try to reinstall them because the latest ati installer seems to have to check your system to ensure that the correct card is present before it will even download the drivers - and when i'm in safe mode / vga mode, the adapter is disabled so the installer says that there is no card in!

Has anyone seen or heard of this black screen problem before, or have any suggestions as to how to fix it? Please help!

Richard

dai · 10-28-2007, 12:07 PM

tap f8 when booting and from the options try
last known good configuration
if you are seeing the cursor it is not a video error more likely a corrupt registry

carbon13 · 10-29-2007, 01:02 PM

Thanks for the advice, though I forgot to mention that I had tried system restore to no avail.

I fixed the problem yesterday night by removing several drivers and then getting the updates off lenovo.

I'm still not a fan of ati... :P

dai · 10-29-2007, 01:22 PM

i'm not either always use nvidia cards
my lenovo has a intel chip in it

10-28-2007, 03:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
carbon13 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP SP2, Ubuntu Gutsy	Windows XP - screen suddenly went black except for cursor Hi, This problem has just appeared, and I've no idea what caused it, and would love to get any suggestions on how to solve it! My system: Thinkpad T60 (8445BU) with discrete ATI X1400 card, 15.4" screen. A couple of hours ago I booted into windows, then suddenly after half a minute or so of use (i don't think all the background progs had finished loading) the screen suddenly went black, except for the mouse cursor. There wasn't much i could do, so I killed it with the power button. Booting to safe mode was fine, no issues. I tried a system restore to yesterday, but that didn't solve the problem. I disabled startup items / services that may have had an effect - eg ATI catalyst control center. This didn't solve the problem either. Sometimes the screen is black as soon as the windows logo splash screen goes away, other times i get a minute or so of desktop, enough to log in, before it goes. I can also boot via "VGA mode" (another F8-on-boot setting) however when i tried to resize the screen resolution from 640x480 to 1024x768 it went black again). I don't think this is a problem with the graphics card itself, because I can still see the mouse cursor. Also, I'm dual booting with Linux, which is working perfectly (fglrx 8.37.6). I can't think of anything that I did in Linux between windows-working and windows-not-working that might have caused this. So I think something must have happened to the windows drivers. Either way I can't try to reinstall them because the latest ati installer seems to have to check your system to ensure that the correct card is present before it will even download the drivers - and when i'm in safe mode / vga mode, the adapter is disabled so the installer says that there is no card in! Has anyone seen or heard of this black screen problem before, or have any suggestions as to how to fix it? Please help! Richard

10-28-2007, 12:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Windows XP - screen suddenly went black except for cursor tap f8 when booting and from the options try last known good configuration if you are seeing the cursor it is not a video error more likely a corrupt registry __________________

10-29-2007, 01:02 PM	#3 (permalink)
carbon13 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP SP2, Ubuntu Gutsy	Re: Windows XP - screen suddenly went black except for cursor Thanks for the advice, though I forgot to mention that I had tried system restore to no avail. I fixed the problem yesterday night by removing several drivers and then getting the updates off lenovo. I'm still not a fan of ati... :P

10-29-2007, 01:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,546 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Windows XP - screen suddenly went black except for cursor i'm not either always use nvidia cards my lenovo has a intel chip in it __________________