Windows 7 Laptops Blackscreening

The fix must be implemented on machine level not on user level ,if you can get it done this will be fine and no user will get impact other then AERO feature disabled.
I would suggest to go with single machine first and if it fix your issue then enable it for all.
However if disabling Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service doesn't solve the issue , it means there is an issue with  Explorer or any service or application waiting indefinitely before explorer gets loaded. If it happens to all the machine then its something related to netork so best will be to check the output in following state :-
1. safe mode  -if issue appears it means its related to the core component of windows
2. Safe mode with networking :: if safe mode is fine however issue is in safe mode with networking then issue is with core networking component.
3. Normal mode without NIC connected : to verify if things are related to network or not. [anything waiting for network should timeout]

 Best is to get manual dump of a machine at the time of issue  [http://sangnak.com/memory-dump-its-configuration-and-method-to-do-it/] and get this analysed that which component is causing the issue.  However this is the last but sure-shot method to solve the issue.

Looking at the article it states that you should disable Desktop Window Manager Session Manager, this seems a bit odd as this would imply not being able to use Aero..

We have also seen the same behavior but hours is more complex tbh, but it just might be the same in your case.
What happens in our case is that, when a user works outside of the office and Wifi is enabled it will try to connect to the network but that network isn't available yet hence waiting for a few minutes before it finally decides that the DC is not available and continues logging in.

To be honest i wouldn't suggest enabling this as i guess you will get quite some remarks from users. Aero desktop is quite nice tbh instead of the basic one. But that offcourse is up to you.

We also always tell our users (and off course they never listen to us) to disable WIFI when they are connected to the network using a physical interface because having a multihomed machine is never a good idea.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies,

I will proceed with disabling the service using GP but only with a test user to start off with.

Also I think we would be prepared to sacrifice Aero to get the laptops to boot quicker.

Other alternative we have is maybe setting the network timeout as you suggest Rhandels..

Hi,

Are you using roaming profiles? do those roaming profiles have a desktop background located in network?
no reason for this to happen if you are using local profiles, can you please try connecting one of the laptops to a network lan cable and login? do you still get a black screen?

Hope this helps,

Gilad

Hi,

We don't use roaming profiles in our environment. We're just in the process of testing the aero fix and I will come back to you once tested. Atleast we've determined the issue isn't with the laptop image build.

It seems the issue happens mainly when offsite. Maybe because its looking for a wireless network to connect to?

Anyone come across this before?

>> when they turn on their machines
Are they shutting down and then starting up again or are they suspending at work and resuming when offsite?

I've had similar issues with a Dell machine like the ones you're mentioning, it was network related. The Dell BIOS has a switch where you can set the WLAN/LAN to switch automatically. I don't remember the exact option right now but setting that option enabled fixed the issue for me. Can you that setting and boot up a Dell machine with and without the WLAN on? See if there is any difference.

Hi Gerwin,

They're shutting down. I've checked the BIOS's on the Lenovo and Dells in our environment and neither have the switch you're talking about. However without the Wifi off the Black Screen doesn't occur we believe the machine maybe searching for a log on server or trying to run a start up script via GPO so at the min all this is being tested.

Also the Aero fix didn't resolve the issue.

However without the Wifi off the Black Screen doesn't occur we believe the machine maybe searching for a log on server or trying to run a start up script via GPO so at the min all this is being tested.

I guess you mean with the WIFI off it doesn't do this??
As said, we have the exact same issue but to be honest haven't really find a good solution other then to switch Wifi off. Maybe the DHCP offering on the WIFI is still intact and it tries to reassign the DHCP address. Problem is that not all network have the same ip configuration. You could try and assign a static ip address to the machine and test at home with the exact same subnet, it might just work..

Yes sorry that's what i mean't!

Yeah we think it maybe an application internally, unfortunately due to the amount users roam around offices even setting a static IP wouldnt help :(

you could suggest users to disable the wifi NIC using the hardware key, let them log in with cached credentials and enable the WIFI again.. Could be that it would be working then.

Still working on this guys, bare with me!!

read my solution.