Windows login boots to black screen

Hey guys I've read multiple threads about this issue but I never found someone who had the exact same issue as I am having now. Last night I left my computer on to charge my iPod while sleeping, I shut the lid and unplugged the A/C cord figuring it would charge it until the battery went dead. When I woke this morning I tried booting my computer and it started everything fine (I could enter Bios and what not) but once it finished loading Windows the screen flickered and then went black. I can see my mouse cursor on my screen but nothing else. But when I tried booting it in safe mode it goes into Windows just fine. I'm still running stock drivers and have not updated to the new drivers and/or the vbios. The only update I have done is from A06 to A07 and I didn't install anything new last night except for Drivesweeper/CCleaner. I also tried the power drain trick and still no dice. I'm assuming though that if I can boot fine into safe mode then something must of gotten changed or maybe the video drivers need to be reinstalled. Thanks for any feedback and help.

My specs are in my sig but I am running Windows 7 64-bit version.

 

This is an easy one. Same thing happened to me yesterday when I got back and our generator had gone down that serves my billiting. Turn on, boot into safe mode, then go to "device manager." Once there go to display adaptors, and right click on the ATI card or cards, and click unistall, but check the block to delete your drivers when its done. Probably only have to do it on the first card. Then uninstall the second GPU. Then restart. Boot into windows in regular mode, and reinstall your GPU drivers. Probably found in the dell C:drive/dell And it's one of the numbered folders. Open each one till you find the ATI setup, and reinstall them. Then when it's done restart. That should clear up your problem and worked for me. Seems like when the battery goes down like that it kills the GPU driver. Not sure why, didn't investigate much. Good luck and let me know if it works. Worked for me and it's fairly quick unless your using non dell ATI drivers, then it should still be the exact same process but you may have the driver setup application somewhere else.

 

You sir are a genius, thanks a lot man. Problem has been solved.

 

Interesting to know another way. I solved it (yep happened to me on the first day) with P-p-p-p.........POWER DRAIN! *massive cheer in the background*

 

Hahaha, nice one unreal, Powerbook was a classic. When my drivers did the same thing as the OP, the power drain wouldn't work. I did it a few times, tried booting with the batter out, all sorts of wierd stuff. In the end only reisntalling the GPU drivers worked. The good thing is that it can be done fairly quick once you know what your doing.

 

Just wondering... does it (the black screen with only cursor visible) happen also with the latest beta drivers? I'm still on the factory drivers, but on A08 BIOS. I don't dare trying putting it to sleep again.

 

Yes, happens with the newest Dell dl'd beta drivers as well as the ATI WHQLs

 

I seem to have fixed the problem. Here's what I did (please forgive the handholding style- I wrote this for non-Windows facile colleagues I'm helping fix this):

1. Download this driver: Drivers and Downloads - Public Sector
... and do nothing for now.

2. Download and install Driver Sweeper from here: Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

3. Use the “Programs and Features” Control Panel to uninstall the ATI Catalyst drivers using the “ATI Catalyst Install Manager.” Choose the Express option.

4. Reboot

5. Go to the Start menu, right-click on Computer, select Properties. Click on “Device Manager” on the left. At the top of the list, you will see “Display adapters.” Click to expand. Right click on the lower one and select Properties. Go to the Drivers tab. Hit the Uninstall button. If it asks you if you want to delete the files as well, say yes. Repeat what you just did for the upper (should be only now) display adapter.

6. Reboot

7. Allow the machine to fully boot. Wait a minute or two.

8. Reboot into Safe Mode (hit F8 as the machine is going through the BIOS screens and you will get a menu that will include the choice to go into Safe Mode)

9. After it has finished booting, adjust the screen resolution to something large (right click on the desktop and choose screen resolution)

10. Run Driver Sweeper as Administrator (from the Start menu, right click it, select the Run as Administrator option). Click the ATI option. Hit Analyze and then Clean.

11. Reboot (into normal mode)

12. Install the Driver you downloaded earlier from the Dell site.

13. Reboot

14. Problem solved!