xp pro startup with black screen

My neighbor's pc has xp pro, and when it starts up it shows the xp logo then the screen turns black and the only thing on the screen is the mouse pointer. Even when I try to start it in safe mode, the screen stays black and the safe mode is shown in the four corners. I'm going to try the recovery console tomorrow. Any ideas as to what might cause this symptom.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Sounds like a video issue.
Uninstall the video card or swap the card with another.
The video driver is the final thing to load which leads me to believe thats where your problem lays.

 

Thanks for your reply.

This pc had two video cards. One intergrated and another in a slot. I removed the one in the slot a tried it using the intergrated video. It did the same thing. It's funny that you would see the mouse pointer and be able to move it around the screen and not see anything else.

 

I fixed the problem by repairing the xp installation. After that everything seems ok. I then ran Ad-aware spyware detection software and found a $#@% load of spyware.
Possible cause of the problem.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Had the same problem on my XP. The XP logo would show and the green bars would scroll along the screen then the screen would just stay black. Had to reformat. Lost everything. Everythings been fince since then though.

 

Safe mode

This is a tipical video problem. Try rebooting in safe mode and see if the problem disappears. If so, get the latest drivers for your adapter, install them and start with a low resolution (800x600) and see if it fixes it. Then increase the resolution and check. I had some old monitors that would not support high res and give me a black screen as well...

Good luck!

 

apeferreira,
Amen on the bad monitor brother!!
I had a machine that kicked my a$$ for days.
I swapped every single peice of hardware before I figured out it was the monitor! Including the mother board!

 

Congratulations!

Hi SSmith!

Good to know your ordeal has ended... Keep up the good work!

Cheers!