Windows 7 black screen and mouse cursor but nothing else

black-screen-of-deathwindows 7

HP dv7. Purchased 2010. The hard drive was a bit flaky from the beginning. I had some startup problems early on so after running chkdsk /r it reported finding and fixing some bad clusters.

This has happened a few times.

Fast forward to this past weekend and it boots to the Windows logo to a black screen. Locked up and unusable.

Ran another chkdsk /r and again bad clusters but now after booting I get a black screen and a functional mouse cursor. Same result in safe mode.

My best guess is corrupted files due to those clusters.

Is there some automated or easy way to restore or refresh the Windows system files so I can get it back to a working state? Can I copy all the dlls from one PC to the other?

Please note that I realize the HDD is FUBAR and I need a new one. This PC is not important to me. There is no data on it that needs to be saved, it's all on my file server.

I simply want to squeeze as much life out of it as possible with the least effort and my budget doesn't allow for a new hdd at this point.

Thanks

Best Answer

I encountered the same problem that you have and it took more than 2 days of my life! So I can bring you a dozen of links but I just suggest you this :

  1. backup your most important files
  2. format the HDD fully
  3. Reinstall the windows
  4. Don't waste your time with other options!

because this is really more efficient.

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