1

I'm not an IT tech but very computer savvy and the goto guy for family, friends and colleagues when they have computer questions or issues.

System Information: Stock Best Buy Lenovo IdeaPad B570 Laptop, i3-2330M 2.2GHz, 4GB Ram, Win7 SP1 64Bit

Background: I don't live with my daughter but my 17yo daughter's Lenovo IdeaPad B570 laptop is 2 years old and pretty much only used for homework once or twice a week. It was always kept updated and virus and malware free. For about 3 months now according to her, occasionally it would freeze up on the welcome screen or after the Welcome screen go into the Black Screen Of Death BSOD with movable cursor without ever showing the Desktop. After one or two hard reboots it would work fine according to her. For the last week she hasn't been able to boot into her desktop and calls Dad to fix it.

My observations: In Normal Start Up the laptop always freezes on the Welcome screen with or without the Orb spinning or it displays the BlackSOD with cursor right after the Welcome screen displays for a few seconds. This DOES NOT ever happen in Safe Mode.

I've spent about 8 hours researching and trying to fix the laptop. Initially I did all the Virus, Malware and Root scans and found only very minor threats that where cleaned and no root issues. The hard drive and RAM was checked and are good. The video driver was uninstalled and re-installed. "Explorer" shell was fixed in the registry (never broken I assume). So now I'm thinking some Windows files are corrupt. :eek: No problem, she doesn't have much on there and after saving some files to a flash drive I decided to do a "Recovery" to "Factory New" from the recovery partition. Booted up, logged in and onto the desktop and everything is working fine UNTIL....... WAIT FOR IT..... WAIT FOR IT..... I do the first Windows Update and....

So after installing the recovery everything is working fine and booting normally and then I install the first Windows Update the same thing as before.... It locks up on the Welcome screen or gives me the BlackSOD in Normal Start Up but not Safe Mode. WTH?

I played around with it some more to no avail. I finally decided to do a system restore to before the first Windows Update after the reinstall and wadayaknow!!!??? It boots right into the desktop again... I swear I hate computers sometimes!!!

I've disabled automatic updates and restarted windows several times now and it always boots into the desktop. :) I need to do my updates though.

Anyway, I'm at a loss...

What could have been the initial cause of the lock up? Why is is working fine after doing a "Recovery to Factory New" BUT is locking up again after the first Windows Update? Why is is working fine again after doing a system restore to before the first Windows Update?

What should I do now???

3
  • Do you know the specific update thats causing the problems? Intel/Nvidia/AMD GPU?
    – Ramhound
    Feb 28, 2014 at 5:13
  • It sounds more like hardware failure than software. That initial install may be using a very basic graphics driver, but it seems possible that the graphics hardware is dying. I'd suggest you start by running the full set of diagnostics for the system, not just memory and hard disk. Also, check to see if the system is just getting very hot when running; sometimes with laptops, the CPU fan stops making good contact, or vents get clogged with dust, etc.
    – Debra
    Feb 28, 2014 at 7:28
  • When you get a black screen and you can move the mouse cursor, that means Windows is still up and running, but wasn't able to load the Explorer shell properly. To troubleshoot this issue you could install updates manually, one by one, and then restart. Repeat these steps till you find the update that's supposed to be causing the problem.
    – and31415
    Feb 28, 2014 at 8:56

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .