Windows 7 boots to black screen with mouse cursor after windows update

I've got a Dell PC here with Windows 7 home 64bit.
After a windows update that lasted over 12 hours, the computer now boots to a black screen with a mouse cursor.  It does show the login screen and it will boot into safe mode.  CTRL-ALT-DELETE also works in both safe and normal mode.

I've done a system restore to a few days before the update but that didn't help
I've tried sfc /scannow and it did not find any errors.
I've also tried chkdsk /f /r and it also did not find any errors.
I've deleted the video drivers but that did not solve the issue either.

At this point I'm stuck and hoping that you fine folks have the answers I'm looking for.  :)

Thanks in advance.

Dan
Daniel MandrackenAsked:
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Tom CieslikIT EngineerCommented:
If you did restore from restore point and you can't log on then this issue is pointing to Video Card or registry.
Try Run computer in VGA mode / F8 and select VGA mode.

If this will help then it looks like video driver get corrupted.
In that case, try reinstall or update video driver.

If not then try to run registry repair tool in safe mode.
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RaminTechnical AdvisorCommented:
Restart Windows and just before the Windows logo appears  press and Hold f8 Key on Keyboard. If you

missed, restart it again.
   Select Repair Your Computer  and Enter.  select "en" for English and then in next menu select Admin and type Admin Password, then select startup repair and use the tools.

systemrecoverycmd.jpg
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
Boot to VGA mode did the same thing.  It shows the login screen and when I select a profile (any profile), it boots to a black screen with a cursor.

Running start up repair resulted in "Startup Repair could not detect a problem"
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
I also did a Malware Bytes scan in safe mode but it didn't find anything.
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Sunny MukherjeeCommented:
@ Dan what i would suggest you to do is
if your system boots up you can see and move your cursor around is hit ctrl+alt+del and bring up taskmanager
disable or end explorer.exe if running and start a new task for explorer.exe or simply type "c:/" and hit enter does the same thing
if this helps that means your explorer.exe is impacted. Please feel free to revert if this helps.

Regards,
Sunny Mukherjee.
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
Thanks Sunny.  I ended the currently running explorer.exe and then started it again using task manager.  It didn't change anything.
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RaminTechnical AdvisorCommented:
please reseat the Graphic Card and reconnect Monitor cable and retest.
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
reseating the video card did not help.

I also tried something else.  When  I tried Sunny's suggestion, I opened task manager, ended explorer.exe and ran "explorer.exe" again.  Nothing happened.  

I just tried his other method of typing "c:\" and file explorer loaded.  I don't know if that means anything but I thought I'd mention it.
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Tom CieslikIT EngineerCommented:
After restart, run computer in safe mode and go to computer manager System event log and try to find any error when you boot in normal mode.
Try to isolate service or system device that is not starting.
Post result and error number. Maybe we can help you with this error.
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RaminTechnical AdvisorCommented:
I've deleted the video drivers but that did not solve the issue either
Also in safe mode go to device manager, expand the Display Adapters, right click on Graphic Adapter and select properties, select driver TAB, select Roll back driver if available or Uninstall and restart Windows and retest.
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
I started in normal mode and it went to a black screen as before.  i then shut down 1/2 hour later.
When I looked at the event logs, there were no errors during startup but there were a lot at shutdown.
All the errors are "Service Control Manager" errors and have event id's of 7000 or 7001.
And all the errors were because of either "The system could not find the path specified" or "The media is write protected"

I can't roll back the video driver as the option is greyed out.
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Tom CieslikIT EngineerCommented:
Event ID 7000 is pointing to service that can't start
If you can't realize what service try this step by step investigation

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc756344(v=ws.10).aspx
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nobusCommented:
do you have a vga AND HDMI port?  maybe it's selecting the other port
also disconnect all external devices
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
I've solved the problem.  The computer had Spybot and Zone Alarm installed.  I think the update causes some sort of issue with one or both of these because as soon as I uninstalled them the computer booted fine.
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Tom CieslikIT EngineerCommented:
Nice to hear.
So that's why some services did not started because AV and Zone Alarm software get corrupted.

I'm glad you've sorted this out.
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Daniel MandrackenAuthor Commented:
Issue was caused by installed software that needed to be removed after a Windows update.  That solution was not suggested by anyone else
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