How to remove the black screen of Windows 7: detailed instructions

The black screen when you start the operating system is one of the most common errors encountered by users. The symptoms of this Windows 7 error look like this: immediately after the download is completed, when the greeting and the user selection dialog should appear, nothing happens. The screen remains black, no controls are displayed, error messages do not appear. The causes of this problem can be different, and to understand how to remove the black screen of Windows 7, you will have to independently diagnose the computer and look for a solution.

Computer shutdown or power outage

If the error when starting Windows 7 is due to an unexpected shutdown of the computer due to, for example, a power outage, then launching the last successful configuration will help to fix this. The essence of the solution is that Windows writes important parameters to a special file and marks them as operational when the computer starts successfully. If after a random change in any of these parameters the system cannot start, then it is possible to use the old configuration. To do this, carry out the following steps:

• turn off computer;
• re-enable it;
• wait until the very first screen goes blank, which usually displays the name of the motherboard and model or list of connected devices (hard drives, CD-drives);
• hold down the F8 key and wait for the menu to appear with a choice of actions.

Among the displayed boot options, you can see options such as "Safe Mode", "Safe Mode with Network Driver Support" and others. We find the parameter “Last successful configuration” among them, select it with the arrow keys and press Enter.

When this menu item is selected, 90% of Windows startups fail without errors, and the computer returns to normal operation.

Error caused by installing new driver versions

We all love updates. Manufacturers of computer equipment are well aware of this and periodically release preliminary versions of drivers, marking them as beta versions. And if in the pursuit of a couple of extra frames per second in your favorite game you downloaded and installed this version, and the computer met you with a black screen when you restarted, then there is a solution for this too. It should be noted that such an error may appear during regular updates, when you download the final stable version of drivers, but the installation fails. In any case, if the black screen appears after you have updated the drivers for Windows 7, you must do the following:

• following the instructions from the previous section, start a window with a choice of computer boot options;
• Use the arrows to select the option “Safe mode with support for network drivers” and press Enter.

Next, you need to wait until the loading of the operating system is completed . In safe mode , all unnecessary services and drivers are disabled, including the sound and video card drivers, so starting the system in this mode almost always succeeds if the problem lies in them. Uninstall the problematic driver and replace it with a working one. This is done as follows:

1. Right-click on the “Computer” icon, select “Properties” in the context menu.
2. In the window that appears, in its left part, find the “Device Manager” item and click on it.
3. Find the “Video adapters” section in the list of devices, expand it by double-clicking the left mouse button.
4. Right-click on the name of the video card, open the context menu, select "Properties".
5. In the window that appears, open the “Driver” tab and select one of the possible actions:

• “Roll back” (the current version of the video driver will be deleted, the previous one will be restored);
• “Delete” (the current version of the installed driver will be completely removed from the system).

If there is such an opportunity, it is better to select the "Roll back" item. In any of the options, after selecting the action, follow the instructions of the "Installation Wizard", wait for the operation to complete, and restart the computer. It should be remembered that after the drivers are completely removed from the system, they must be downloaded again from the manufacturer’s website or installed from the disk that came with the equipment.

Black screen after installing any program

This scenario is extremely simple and almost exactly repeats the steps of the previous section, so most readers have probably guessed how to remove the black screen of Windows 7, which appeared after installing the new software. The procedure is as follows:

1. Following the instructions in the previous section, start the computer in safe mode.
2. Click "Start" -> "Control Panel".
3. Find the item “Programs and Features” and click on it.
4. A list of programs and components opens, presented in a table. You need to sort the list by installation date by clicking on the appropriate column, then proceed to search for programs that were installed on the day the black screen appears.
5. Select the required component by clicking once with the left mouse button and click the “Delete” button that appears.

After that, you should restart the computer and evaluate the result.

Black screen caused by a change in system settings

There are times that uninstalling a program that led to a black screen is not enough. Many of the programs, as well as official updates from Microsoft, in addition to copying their own files to the hard drive, change some system parameters. If this is exactly what happened to you and you don’t know how to remove the black screen of Windows 7 and restore the old settings, do the following:

• following the instructions in the previous section, start the computer in safe mode;
• press the “Start” button and enter the word “recovery” in the search bar;
• in the results that appear, select "System Restore" by clicking once with the left mouse button;
• in the window that appears, click "Next";
• select the recovery point to which you want to roll back the system, and then click "Next", then "Finish".

Do not worry about the safety of files created later than the date by which we decided to roll back: when restoring files created by the user will not be affected. It remains to wait for the completion of the operation and restart the computer.

When nothing helps

If all the methods described above did not help in any way, and you still do not know how to remove the black screen of Windows 7, you should think about radical measures. Ordinary users can seek help from specialized service centers, where professionals will save you from this error. More advanced ones might try reinstalling Windows. Although this measure requires some knowledge and training, it guarantees absolute success in getting rid of the black screen. In any of the scenarios you choose, you should make a backup copy of the necessary files by logging in in safe mode, and only then proceed with decisive action.