Black screen of death with cursor

My computer is having a problem where the OS won't load properly and only shows a black screen and mouse. It doesn't go to the Vista loading screen and there is no access to task manager because the OS has not loaded.

I went into a PE environment and searched for infections such as virtumonde. I searched the registry and system32, windows directory, and program files. Completely clean. I tried repairing the boot mgr with bcdedit and used vista startup repair. I looked in profilelist in registry, no problems. I tried lots of other recommendations made by others which I don't remember, but no dice.

It seems to be a common problem lately and no one seems to have a fix.

 

I forgot to mention that the hardware was tested and is good.

 

I fixed a machine like this not too long ago and it was the wrong video driver loading...using a linux boot disk, I renamed the video driver files and Windows loaded up with basic VGA.

I then uninstalled ALL the video drivers (he had loaded nvidia drivers on a intel integrated gpu computer) and then reinstalled the newest compatible drivers from scratch

Came up without a hiccup after that

 

It doesn't load in safe mode either though. Nor does it make the Vista loading sound. I don't think it's a matter of video loading, I think it's a matter of loading the O/S. What do you think?

 

I still think it is a low-level driver not loading--something that still is required in safe mode,

When loading in safe mode, during the driver load phase--where does it hang (what is the last file to load)?

 

Real easy fix. FORMAT.

 

Kind of takes the fun out of it....

Besides, I regularly run into computers with irreplaceable software (owner lost the disk) so that is not always an option