Solved Black screen with cursor

[dougglos]

Just recently my PC (which used to boot up in about 90 seconds) now opens with just a black screen, although my cursor pointer is showing there. If I do nothing, it now takes in excess of seven minutes to boot up. All my programs, etc., are there and function properly, but I would like to know how to get it to revert to a faster boot up time. Any help would be appreciated. I am using Windows 10 which has had the latest update installed.

 

[dmccoy]

Have you tried booting into Safe mode with the same results? I would recommend testing the hard drive to rule it out as a possible cause as the first step.

Seagate Seatools for Windows - Run the Long Test
https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/seatools-win-master/

 

[dougglos]

Rebooted in Safe Mode as you suggested, and had a fairly quick boot. But after restarting in Normal mode it was again seven+ minutes.

I then downloaded the Seagate program per your link and arrived at the screen as shown below. Have no idea where to go from there!

Any thoughts please?

 

[dmccoy]

Okay select the drive to test and then select Long test under basic tests. Let me know results. I would also test rebooting without USB drive attached if the hard drive passes. The.n we can move forward.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/202435en

 

[dougglos]

Long test took over 2 hours, and the page has just gone back to the same as the screen shot above, except for Drive Status showing "Long Generic - Pass" and Test Status window is blank . Can I assume that means that the hard drive has passed - and if so I can disconnect my external (backup) drive from the USB and try a reboot ?

 

[dmccoy]

Yes yes that means it passed.

 

[dougglos]

Disconnected my external hard drive from the USB port it was using. Restarted my PC as you suggested. Still took in excess of six minutes to get back to my desktop, most of which time was again showing only a black screen plus the cursor pointer.

 

[dougglos]

Further to my last post - I was browsing through various suggestions via Google, and came across this so gave it a try!

"I found a fix for this issue through following steps.

For issue were you are getting black screen with white cursor
>Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
>Go to 'Services' tab
>Look for 'AppReadiness'
>Right click and stop it.

Make sure you disable the same after login into Windows.
>Click start and type 'Services'
>Look for 'AppReadiness'
>Right click and select 'Properties'
>Startup type should be set to 'Disabled'
>Set the 'Service Status' to Stopped "

So I gave it a try and everything was back to normal - no black screen and PC booting up in about 75 seconds!!!

Didn't think I could be so lucky, but have closed down and restarted several times as a check, with 100% success!

Will give it a couple of hours and then, if all continues, will mark as "Solved".

But I also want to thank you for all your efforts!

 

[dmccoy]

Great I hope it continues and Thanks for sharing the solution. I have not heard of that one before. Do you know if this happened after your latest Windows update?

 

[dougglos]

Yes, it did, and that was only one of the problems that arose after that update! Still can't change my desktop from pictures (some of which I had from photographs I had taken in many places around the world) so am just stuck with single coloured backgrounds, and the other problem was that when I start my PC and click "Start" the small squares which used to show various pictures, etc., are a solid blue colour containing a "down" arrow, and I can't do anything with them. Clicking on them just brings up the message shown below as a screenshot - which means nothing to me I'm afraid!




Still, at least I can now start or restart my PC without having to wait over seven minutes each time!!

Again, many thanks for all your efforts!

PS: PC still starting beautifully!

 

[dmccoy]

Thanks for letting me know. It seems there are lots of issues still being worked out with this release. Hopefully they will resolve a lot of issues soon. It is good practice to make an image backup before updating to major releases if you do not do it on a regular basis.