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I'm experiencing a catastrophic boot failure on my Win10 box. Each time I boot, the system hangs on a black screen before the login screen. The keyboard and mouse are unresponsive; even the num lock / caps lock lights do not respond to button presses in this state. The same issue persists in a clean boot with everything disabled. However, I am able to get the machine to boot into Safe Mode, so I can at least do some basic things.

Based on my reading, I have a hunch that there is a driver problem. My plan to diagnose it was to disable everything in the Device Manager and then try re-enabling devices one by one. But, I'm a bit nervous about this plan; I don't want to do anything irreversible, and I don't want to lose my limited Safe Mode functionality. In particular, I'm worried about what will happen when I disable fundamental things like those related to the motherboard or display adapter.

My question: is it risky to disable all devices in the Device Manager?

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    It depends on the device. No blanket statement not know the device. You can disable Network (assuming you can re-enable), Audio, Mouse (assuming you can navigate with keyboard). Be careful about removing other devices less your computer does not start. Better way: Get the Driver Update app from the PC manufacturer and update all Drivers. Disabling motherboard devices could prevent booting. Disabling video might prevent seeing.
    – John
    Jun 4, 2021 at 20:06
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    Some disabled devices could be detected during the boot and enabled automatically, but it isn't risky.
    – harrymc
    Jun 4, 2021 at 20:11

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Disabling devices can be a bit dicey in that an error may prevent you from booting at all.

A better approach is to look at Reliability Monitor and see what hardware or other errors there are. Then look for driver updates for those things.

Screen Shot here:

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Another approach is to enable MiniDumps (Control Panel, Advanced Options.

Now when it crashes, post the Mini Dump here and also review it with Nirsoft.net Blue Screen View.

These two things should help you get a view on driver issues.

Then remember that Root Kit Viruses can also cause what you see. Scan completely with TDSS Killer (Kapsersky).

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  • Thanks very much for the help. I'll give these a shot this evening and get back to you. Jun 4, 2021 at 20:43
  • This was very helpful! The first thing I tried was checking for rootkits - fortunately, all clear. I then went to the Reliability Monitor and noticed a recent error with my video card. I ran the AMD uninstall utility and it booted in normal mode perfectly. The trick is that I can't seem to install new drivers; first I got the same hanging black screen, then when I tried again the Radeon utility claimed I had incompatible hardware (I definitely don't). All of this seems to suggest a video card hardware failure, but at least I have an avenue to pursue from here. Jun 5, 2021 at 2:16
  • Thanks for the update and good luck in your pursuit.
    – John
    Jun 5, 2021 at 10:53

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