Black Screen and Cursor after Restore

I was having some small issues with my computer lately. Things which are usually fixed with a system restore.

I did a system restore, and it was for about three months back.
As it restarted the computer it went to the loading screen and instead of going from the black screen to the log in screen, it just stayed at the black screen with a cursor.

I waited for about 30 minutes and restarted the computer. After doing this a few times and getting the same black screen with cursor, even when I tried to go into safe mode, I tried once more and waited for hours with no fix. From the laptop I'm on right now I saw some suggested fixes like unplugging usbs, trying to get to the task manager, but these did nothing. I can open up the sticky keys by pressing shift 5 times.

It's a Vista 64bit.

Frankly, there's just no reliable "fix" for the black screen error. At work I've spent over 2 weeks trying to fix them and rarely (if ever) have I been successful. Now I don't bother trying to fix therm - but suggest to the customer that backup their info and reinstall Windows as it'll be much, much quicker.

If you're able to get into System Restore, then try to undo the system restore. If you're able to get into Windows, immediately update all drivers on the system from the PC manufacturer's website.

Beyond that, backup your stuff, wipe the hard drive with DBAN or KillDisk (both are free) and then reinstall Windows with the recovery disks for your system.

Good luck!