Windows 10: Black Screen at Startup

Let's see. I turn the PC on and the login screen comes up as normal. I login and then seconds later I get a black screen with cursor. From there I can use ctrl+shift+esc (or the ctrl+alt+del route) to bring up the task manager. From there I can use that bring up an explorer window, a command/PowerShell prompt, or even Chrome. I haven't timed it exactly but I would say it takes about 45 minutes to an hour before the taskbar and desktop icons appear but even when they do the Win10 exclusive stuff doesn't work. The Start Menu, Cortana, Task View, Notification Center, etc. I can right click on the sound and network icons but I can't right click on the Start Menu Button. Clean boot made no difference. The system acts the same in safe mode. As for what I can do, I feel like I can't do anything in the way I normally would (I mean going through task manager isn't normal) and I definitely can't do anything that is pretty much Win10 exclusive. I mean I can't use Cortana (not that that really mattered anyways), I can use apps especially the settings app. If I try to open the settings app via explorer then explorer just crashes. If I try to do it via command/PowerShell prompt it just hangs.

As for system specs I will list them here but I will also fill them in as you suggested then:
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit v1511
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3340 CPU @ 3.10GHz (Ivy Bridge)
RAM: 12GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard: Dell Inc. 084J0R
Graphics: Intel HD graphics (Dell)
Storage: 1TB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162
Optical Drive: PLDS DVD+-RW DH-16AES
Audio: Onboard

Oh and thanks @essenbe for making this its own thread and thank you @simrick for all your help thus far.

 

See if this will help with the system specs

Please fill out your System Specs


Information Your System Specs will help us to help you, and doing it in this manner will make them available to all helpers in every post and keep us from hunting for them. We ask that you fill them out in as much detail as possible including Desktop or Laptop, Model number if it is an OEM computer and all components with the Manufacturer and Model number if possible. If you will go to your last post and click the 'System Specs' in the bottom left of the post, you will find a link to update your system specs. Please fill those out in as much detail as possible, making sure to click save at the bottom of the page. If you would like to know what we would like, you can click 'My System Specs' at the bottom left of this post to see mine. If you do not know what your components are, this will help you accomplish this task. System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums

 

I just wasn't sure how quickly I would fill out that specs page so I wanted to at least include them in the thread. Either way though I've updated my system specs page.

 

Great, thanks a lot. Trust me, it helps.

 

Just a quick recap (for my own reference)sfc /scannow fails at 49%; "appears" to set everything for repair (but one issue); subsequent scans show same results/same failure
DISM /restorehealth error 1392
ISO repair error 1392
in-place upgrade error: setup couldn't start properly
chkdsk reports no issues
Crystal Disk Info shows SMART healthy
clean boot makes no difference
safe mode makes no difference
created new admin account and errors persist
sfc resultsCannot repair member file [l:27]"Windows.Devices.Sensors.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-Sensors-Universal, version 10.0.10586.0, arch amd64, nonSxS, pkt {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35} in the store, file is missing
Fast Startup is turned off.

Takes 45 mins to 1 hour for desktop to populate; even then it's pretty much crippled.
Attempting to open settings crashes explorer; via command prompt it hangs.

------------------------------

Did your friend give you any idea of what the trigger might be when this started happening?
Have any anti-telemetry programs been run on this thing?
How many instances of explorer.exe are running in Task manager, when you finally get to the populated desktop?

It would be helpful if you could run Ccleaner and save the list of installed programs; post it here in a code box.







Can we get a Macrium image of the entire drive (all partitions) before we proceed?
You can use Kyhi's bootable PE rescue media, run Macrium from that, and image the hard drive to an external drive (EDIT: Image + Verification).
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Then, I'd also like to see a Malwarebytes scan run from the same media; update the definition database, use the Custom Scan option, check the box for rootkit detection, and run a complete scan on the drive. We just have to rule out any malware issues.

Pointing DISM to a Source:
Error 1392: For DISM, we must use a "WIM" ISO which is the same version as what's installed on the machine (v1511). Have you tried DISM, pointing to a v1511 WIM file? Or do you not have that ISO? I'd like to see what results you get from DISM-(1) scanhealth (2) checkhealth (3) restorehealth (in that order), using a v1511 WIM ISO, pointing the tool to the WIM each time, and limiting the access to WU for now.
DISM - Repair Windows 10 Image - Windows 10 Forums

If you don't have that ISO, please let me know, and we'll get you one.


-------------------------------
Normally, I would recommend a repair install using an in-place upgrade. Either v1511 or v1607 could be used for that.

Anniversary Edition v1607 download
Windows 10 ISO
Select Windows 10>Confirm
Select English>Confirm
Download the 64-bit architecture

However, you indicated an in-place upgrade failed as well, with the error "Setup couldn't start properly." So I'm back to DISM for now.

If you have any questions, please ask. I did not get into a lot of details on the DISM steps, as it appears you are quite comfortable with this stuff. *Wink

 

p.s. I don't see the model number of the Dell system - wanted to look it up on their support page; can you provide that please?

 

Model # & Service tag should be there now. Did a malwarebytes scan and that came back clean. No rootkits were found. As for CCleaner here is the info from that you requested:

Code: 7-Zip 16.02 (x64) Igor Pavlov 9/9/2016 4.75 MB 16.02Adobe AIR Adobe Systems Incorporated 1/17/2016 19.0 MB 3.2.0.2070 Adobe Reader XI (11.0.17) Adobe Systems Incorporated 7/14/2016 373 MB 11.0.17 Amazon 1Button App Amazon 12/6/2013 9.85 MB 1.0.3 Bitdefender Anti-Theft Bitdefender 1/17/2016 29.1 MB 1.0.9.44 CCleaner Piriform 9/10/2016 5.21 Conexant SmartAudio HD Conexant 1/8/2016 8.50.12.0 CrystalDiskInfo 7.0.3 Crystal Dew World 9/9/2016 10.3 MB 7.0.3 CyberLink Media Suite Essentials CyberLink Corp. 1/17/2016 98.4 MB 10.0 Dell Backup and Recovery Dell Inc. 9/7/2013 581 MB 1.7.5.63 Dell Digital Delivery Dell Products, LP 6/7/2015 6.67 MB 3.1.1002.0 Dell Support Center PC-Doctor, Inc. 1/17/2016 88.5 MB 3.2.6032.125 Dell Wireless Driver Installation Dell 9/7/2013 22.6 MB 10.0 Disciples UNKNOWN 1/17/2016 2.09 MB 1.3.10 Google Chrome Google Inc. 3/9/2014 493 MB 52.0.2743.116 Google Earth Google 6/12/2015 213 MB 7.1.5.1557 Intel(R) Control Center Intel Corporation 9/8/2013 1.2.1.1008 Intel(R) Management Engine Components Intel Corporation 6/6/2014 8.1.0.1281 Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Intel Corporation 9/8/2013 11.6.0.1030 Malwarebytes Anti-Malware version 2.2.1.1043 Malwarebytes 9/10/2016 66.9 MB 2.2.1.1043 Microsoft Office Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 284 MB 15.0.4454.1510 Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Microsoft Corporation 1/17/2016 18.9 MB 12.0.4518.1014 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition [ENU] Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 3.85 MB 3.1.0000 Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 9.69 MB 8.0.59193 Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17 Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 20.5 MB 9.0.30729 Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219 Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 27.7 MB 10.0.40219 Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - 10.0.40219 Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 22.2 MB 10.0.40219 Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64) - 11.0.50727 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2016 20.4 MB 11.0.50727.1 Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86) - 11.0.50727 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2016 17.3 MB 11.0.50727.1 PocketCloud Wyse Technology 12/1/2013 15.2 MB 2.6.21 Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 9/7/2013 14.5 MB 6.1.8400.30136 Shared C Run-time for x64 McAfee 9/7/2013 2.76 MB 10.0.0 Speccy Piriform 9/9/2016 1.29 VLC media player 2.1.1 VideoLAN 1/17/2016 99.9 MB 2.1.1 Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant Microsoft Corporation 9/8/2016 5.00 MB 1.4.9200.17354 Windows Live Essentials Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 16.4.3505.0912[/quote] With regards to the DISM commands you wanted me to run I cannot do /ScanHealth and /CheckHealth using the /Source option or at least I get an error when I try. So am I somehow doing this part wrong or no?

As for that Macrium image I will get it as soon as I can because right now the recovery disk iso is taking longer to download than expected.

Oh and my friend couldn't really tell me what he was doing at the time this happened. He just turned it on one day and it was like this. The best he could tell me is that he is currently letting his daughter and her 2 year old stay with him. Perhaps the little child might have done something he thinks. I doubt this but then again I can't be sure.

I will get you that Macrium image as soon as I can but if you anything else let me know.

 

MBAM is clean - good. That rules out anything lurking on the system.

For the installed apps, here's what I would like to see removed:

Code: Amazon 1Button App Amazon 12/6/2013 9.85 MB 1.0.3 Dell Backup and Recovery Dell Inc. 9/7/2013 581 MB 1.7.5.63 (unless he uses this, then it should be updated.) Dell Digital Delivery Dell Products, LP 6/7/2015 6.67 MB 3.1.1002.0 PocketCloud Wyse Technology 12/1/2013 15.2 MB 2.6.21 (Dell Digital Delivery and PocketCloud are part of Dell - if he buys software and downloads through Dell, he'll need this, otherwise not.) Shared C Run-time for x64 McAfee 9/7/2013 2.76 MB 10.0.0 (I don't see McAfee AV, so I don't think this is needed and may be a leftover from a long time ago.)[/quote] Here's what I would like to see updated:

Code: Dell Wireless Driver Installation Dell 9/7/2013 22.6 MB 10.0 Google Chrome Google Inc. 3/9/2014 493 MB 52.0.2743.116 Google Earth Google 6/12/2015 213 MB 7.1.5.1557 Intel(R) Control Center Intel Corporation 9/8/2013 1.2.1.1008 Intel(R) Management Engine Components Intel Corporation 6/6/2014 8.1.0.1281 Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Intel Corporation 9/8/2013 11.6.0.1030 Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 9/7/2013 14.5 MB 6.1.8400.30136 Windows Live Essentials Microsoft Corporation 9/7/2013 16.4.3505.0912[/quote] On the Dell support site, you can download the updates one at a time, and when you go to install them, they will tell you if they are not needed, so don't worry about checking the rev of every driver to see if you need it or not. It also will tell you if a component is not installed if you try to install a driver for something that's not on the system.

I will get you the link(s), and have a look at the available updates for this system later this evening, but I think this may help...have to see what's there.

It's my understanding that you can do all three DISM commands pointing to the WIM, but I could be mistaken. I'll have to check on that. Do those two run without pointing to the WIM? If so, what are the results? And the third one, RestoreHealth, does that complete when pointing to the WIM? Are you using a v1511 WIM ISO for that?

Okay, the ISO you are downloading, that is the v1607, the latest (Anniversary Update), right?

Okay, probably not a result of anything anyone did. I suspect an update coupled with an old driver of some sort may have something to do with it, but wanted to check if anything specific had happened, just for clues. I may have more specific ideas once I have a look at the Dell support page.

The Macrium image is not for me - it's for you, or rather your friend, in case we are unable to correct this, or something goes terribly wrong, or we determine that a clean install is the only solution. Of course, I'm trying to avoid that, as I'm sure your friend will prefer a fix rather than a clean install...So, I'd like to have that done before anything else, as a little "insurance policy". I hope you have some room on an external hard drive for the image?*Wink

 

Ok, I've uninstalled the requested programs and am working on updating the others you listed. As for DISM scans I did what I could and for the restore health scan I used a v1511 ISO but I do also have a v1607 ISO. Oh and earlier when I was talking about the ISO taking long I was referrring to the rescue disk ISO that is used to make the Macrium image.

dism-scanhealth.log
dism-checkhealth.log
dism-restorehealth-with-v1511-source.log

 

Thanks for the update. I'll have a look at the logs in a bit.

It's correct to use the v1511 for the DISM tool, as long as it has the WIM and not the ESD. If it's an ESD, I believe you'll get the 1392 error. Did the DISM scans complete fully? Or, did they fail?

Oh right - the Macrium PE - yes, that takes a little while. Actually, the rescue ISO isn't used to make the image. It's used if you ever need to restore an image. Kyhi's rescue media has Macrium built-in, so you actually could boot a system to that, and restore an image (just FYI). Additionally, you could add Macrium to the system's boot menu, and have that available at every boot, in case it's needed.







At any rate, here is what I've got from the Dell support site:

Dell Updates for this system tag:
Product Support | Dell US


I've listed them separately here, but there is a "Guide Me" tab that will check the system automatically, if that's easier.

(Speccy will tell you the current BIOS rev.)
Dell have vA11 available (Nov 2013)
Dell Inspiron 660 / Vostro 270 System BIOS Driver Details | Dell US

If it's the same, skip it.

Intel Management Engine Interface Driver (Chipset)
Intel Management Engine Interface Driver Driver Details | Dell US

v9.0.0.1310, A02 15Dec2015

Intel Chipset Device Driver
Intel Chipset Device Driver Driver Details | Dell US

v9.4.0.1025, A00 29Nov2015

IRST - Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver Driver Details | Dell US

v12.8.0.1016, A00 29Nov2015

Realtek Card reader Driver
Realtek Card Reader Driver Driver Details | Dell US

v6.2.9200.30164, A00 29Nov2015

There are also updates for the Ethernet and WiFi NICs from Dec/Nov 2015, respectively:
Realtek RTL8111G/RTL8151GD-CG/8111F Ethernet Controller Driver Driver Details | Dell US

Dell Wireless 1506 WiFi Driver Driver Details | Dell US

These should be installed in this order, if you do it manually.

You'll be doing some rebooting after installing some of these. Please keep Fast Startup off, and I would do shutdowns instead of restarts.

Start Device Manager from a run box in Task Manager:
Code: mmc devmgmt.msc[/quote] Expand Display Adapters and right-click the Intel HD Graphics>Update driver software>Search automatically

I'll be interested to see what results you get from these updates. Could be the chipset and graphics updates may do it, or most of it - at least to the point where we can do an in-place repair.

I have read through another (quite lengthy) thread here, which had some similar problems, and there are some fixes that worked for a few people, but most of them had a black screen before login (you have a login and then a black screen), so I'm not too hopeful, but we can try them if the above doesn't work.

One thing I thought might - just might - help, would be to install Classic Shell (free) temporarily. That will give you a start menu similar to W7, and all functionality should be available in that configuration. Just a thought.

Please let me know how you get on. I will have a look at the log files in the meantime.

 

I'd like to work on the Component Store as well; two commands to run in an admin command prompt, in this order:

Code: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup[/quote] Code: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth (and point to your WIM)[/quote]
Then, clear and reset the Windows Store cache:
Code: wsreset.exe[/quote] See if Store opens after this completes and gives you a message that the cache for the Store was cleared. If so, check for updates in the Store while you're there.

 

First, I am using a proper v1511 ISO with WIM and not ESD. I also have a proper v1607 ISO with WIM. I updated all the drivers/etc. you wanted me to but that made no difference. Beyond that I did the /startcomponentcleanup and that completed fine but the /restorehealth still failed with the 1392 error. Here are the two logs from those commands.

dism-RestoreHealthPostComponentCleanup.log
dism-StartComponentCleanup.log

Also, I did the wsreset.exe command and despite running that command successfully (I assume successfully as nothing was reported back) the Windows Store doesn't open. At least running the command for opening the Windows Store doesn't cause Command Prompt hang.

EDIT: Some interesting behavior occurred. When I ran the command to open the Windows Store, nothing happened. Well I walked away from the PC for a bit a come back to a pop-up telling me "You'll need a new app to open this ms-windows-store" Also I thought that running the command to open the settings app had in fact caused command prompt to hang. Well after a while of letting that command run I come back to an error "ms-settings: Install failed. Please contact your software vendor."

 

Thanks for confirming that for me.

I see the same problems as before. *Sad

Interesting. Did you try putting Classic Shell on there, or are you managing?

Have you managed to make an image of the hard drive so we have an insurance policy?

Please run Ccleaner on the registry, checking all boxes except Help Files. Say YES to save the changes before committing them.






Let's try to re-register Windows Store, and then re-register the universal apps. I would like to see the system in a clean boot state for this.

Re-register Store
Store - Re-register in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
Code: PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"[/quote]
Reinstall & re-register apps for all users (See Option #1, item #3):
Apps - Reinstall and Re-register in Windows 8 and 10 - Windows 10 Forums


Then reset the cache once more. wsreset.exe

Shutdown the computer and restart it (clean boot).
Right-click to mount the v1607 ISO, navigate to setup.exe, double-click and see if we can get the in-place repair to work yet.
EDIT: if it does start working, make sure it gives the option to Keep all apps and files. If it doesn't give that option, cancel out.

A fresh sfc /scannow scan and [SR] log will be good at this point.
Code: findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"[/quote] Thanks.

 

I did the requested actions in CCleaner. As for re-registering the store. I didn't do that yet because I know that will fail because upon investigation the store is completely deleted from this PC. The folders where the Store and apps you get from the Store are stored don't exist.

I was away all day so that's why I'm only now sharing this.

 

Hi.
No problem/no rush. I am away a good part of the day today as well.

- Image - yes or no? (or, at least data backed up?)

Please try this:

Reinstall Windows Store
Restore and reinstall Windows Store in Windows 10 after removing with PowerShell

See if you can then open the Windows Store and any apps. If so, try to check for updates.

If not, then try the two links (2 posts above) to re-register Store and re-register and reinstall Store Apps.

Shutdown the computer and restart it (clean boot).

Right-click to mount the v1607 ISO, navigate to setup.exe, double-click the file to run it, and see if we can get the in-place repair to work yet. If it does start working, make sure it gives the option to Keep all apps and files. If it doesn't give that option, cancel out.

A fresh sfc /scannow scan and [SR] log will be good at this point.
Code: findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"[/quote] Thanks.