Screen black after Windows login

[Jay_Z]

When I start my computer (Win 7 32 bit on a ThinkPad T60P), I am taken to the login screen and after logging in, my screen goes black. I can still see/move my cursor but the screen is black!

I can start in Safe Mode and Windows loads fine. I've tried updating my graphics driver from the Lenovo site (last update was 2008, so that shouldn't be the issue) - I also attempted to use a previous restore point, although the only point was 24 hrs prior which didn't rectify issue.

I can use Ctrl-Alt-Del and go go task manager, etc - I've tried ending explorer.exe and reloading ... still nothing, still black with my mouse cursor.

Any recommendations, please??

[Jay_Z]

Another thing I tried - I can open notepad or word (from the task manager) and they open on top of the black screen. So, the only thing I see is the notepad or word window and the mouse cursor. All else, black!

[rkawakami]

The only thing I can think of is that your system is in multiple-monitor mode and that the laptop's LCD is the "extended" part of the desktop. This assumes that you have NO wallpaper/background image set, otherwise I believe you'd see it on both monitors. Try moving the mouse cursor far left and right and see if it appears to travel "further" on one side than the other. To confirm, either right-click on the desktop (blank screen) and click on the Screen Resolution option or attach an external monitor and see if your normal desktop appears on it.

[Temetka]

I have heard of viruses and ransomware doing this.

Download combofix from another computer, and install it onto the machine with the black screen by opening the run command and then browsing to the USB flash drive where you copied the installer to. Then run the installer. It should run combofix after it installs.

Report back.