Windows 10: 2018 Creator's Update-Insurmountable Black Screen Of Death

I bought a new Dell XPS 15 9560 last year but just took it out of the box two days ago to use. It came with Windows 10 Pro x64 and a Buffalo Blu-ray Burner since the laptop has no internal optical drive. I was assured by Dell that this Buffalo Blu-ray burner would also play DVDs. I assume that's correct and I'm assuming that I don't have to install the software that came with it (to enable the watching of Blu-ray movies) for the DVD function to work but I really don't know. I didn't take the Buffalo drive out of the box until yesterday, trying to get my laptop to boot by using A Windows 10 Rescue Disc, a Windows 10 ISO DVD and an Ultimate Boot DVD so I have no prior experience with it.

It took many hours for Windows to update to the current date since the laptop has been sitting in a box, unused, for fifteen months. After all the updates were done, but NOT INCLUDING the Creator's Update because it hadn't been offered yet, I installed Office 365 Home. No other software was installed, including browser software. Office was working as it should, just as it does on three of my other computers. I then installed the Creator's Update and restarted my laptop as instructed.

That's the end of it. That's when it all went downhill. I've had a black screen and freezes ever since. I have to do a hard shutdown every time I attempt something as it never gets past the black screen or it freezes and then goes black again. I did manage to get to Recovery in Windows, but when I chose to reset Windows everything froze and I was then presented with a black screen. After many, many attempts I was able to get to System Restore when a Dell Support Assist window appeared. Once System Restore was initiated, the screen froze, the screen dimmed and then locked up. Another hard shutdown ensued. The Dell Support Assist presented itself again and I chose Recovery but as you can imagine, the screen locked and dimmed. I managed to get into Setup by using F2 but once there the screen froze and dimmed again. I then did many more hard shutdowns until I was able to access the boot order menu using F12. It then froze and dimmed. More hard shutdowns were needed before I determined that I was not going to be able to use F8 to access Safe Mode. I cannot enter Safe Mode as the F8 key does nothing.

It's now at the point where I get absolutely nothing but a black screen after every hard shutdown and restart, and I can't use the Buffalo drive because I can't change the boot order so that the laptop boots from the drive. Restarting with any of the previously mentioned Rescue Discs in the Buffalo drive does nothing, which is to be expected.

Any ideas or should I simply call Dell and let them send a technician? I have a four year Premium Warranty on this laptop so the technician will not cost me any money. I don't expect Dell to be able to do anything online or over the phone because I can't boot into Windows so that they can remotely diagnose the problem.

Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance provided.

:)

 

Windows 10 - April 2018 Update - Black Screen Bug of Death

I discovered a severe bug in the Windows 10 April 2018 update that will cripple the workstation. I have not tested this on anything except Windows 10 Home, Pro, & Enterprise (before and after the April 2018 update). This seems to only effect the latest April
2018 update.

Do not make these changes on a workstation that you intend to keep using. This will prevent you from using Safe Mode in all conditions. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Once these changes are made, the first reboot will result in a black screen that inevitably leads to a hard reboot. After the next reboot, you will not be able to make it past the "Welcome" screen under any circumstances. This includes rebooting into Safe
Mode with or without Networking and or Command Prompt. Attempting to repair the computer will fail (chkdsk, scandsk, revert to restore point, etc...) under every condition.

Assuming this is a brand new installation of Windows:

• Configure Windows 10 auditing
  • Go to the "Local Group Policy Editor"
  • Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Advanced Audit Policy Configuration -> System Audit Policies
  • Turn on enough policies to generate enough log event data (turning on everything under "Object Access", "Logon/Logoff", and "Privilege Use" will suffice)
• Once auditing is configured, configure the event viewer to archive log data
  • Go to the "Event Viewer"
  • Windows Logs -> Right click Security -> Properties
  • Set log size to 1028 (this is a critical step)
  • Select the "Archive the log when full, do not overwrite events" (this is a critical step)
• Reboot the Windows workstation
  • You may run into a black screen at first (nothing will happen, I have let it sit for 30 minutes)
  • Hard reboot and attempt to log in. You will be stuck at a "Welcome" screen.
  • Reboot into advanced settings. Repairing will fail, reverting to restore point will fail, etc...

This could severely impact large organizations relying on Active Directory. If an intruder accesses the domain controller, a policy could be deployed to the domain that will break all Windows workstations on the network.

I believe I know what the issue is. When Windows goes to archive the Security.evtx file during the Windows boot sequence, it breaks the workstation. If you manage to get to the log on screen before the event log attempts to archive the log, you will succeed
logging into the workstation. This is why setting the the size of the log to only 1028 is important. The boot sequence will generate enough data to cause an archive to occur, breaking the system before the user has time to log in.

Again, I have emailed a few times explaining the bug and have heard nothing back from Microsoft.

 

The Black screen of death with cursor

Hi Gregory,

I appreciate the troubleshooting steps you have tried to resolve the issue. Follow the link below and perform the troubleshooting steps suggested.

Troubleshoot black screen problems. Do let us know the status. Thank you.