Black screen before loading Windows

Poro · Nov 30, 2008

Hello!

I have a problem with Vista. When I start my computer, it displays a black screen for a couple of minutes before starting to load Vista. I don't really know what to say more, since I'm totally clueless with this one.

What I've tried to do, is to update my drivers. I've also updated my BIOS. What should I try next?

Thanks in advance!

smarteyeball · Nov 30, 2008

Is this before or after the loading bar?

Do you have a DVD in the drive?

Poro · Nov 30, 2008

Before the loading bar. I do not have a DVD in the drive.

Everlong · Nov 30, 2008

I think it might be the multi-monitor transition Vista does as it searches for a 2nd display. You can disable it if you don't use a 2nd monitor.

To disable it:

Click the "Start" menu button and in the search, type "Task Scheduler".

When Task Scheduler opens, you should see "Task Scheduler Library" on the left hand side.

Expand the library by clicking the small arrow, and continue expanding through Microsoft>Windows and click MobilePC.

You should have the TMM (Transient Multi-Monitor Manager) in the main window.

Right click and just simply disable this.

It should remove the black screen hangs while Vista boots now.

skylab2000 · Nov 30, 2008

Thanks for the info Everlong18. Just done it and it now loads without that long black screen were I think Is it going to load ok.

Brian.

Poro · Nov 30, 2008

Everlong18 said:
I think it might be the multi-monitor transition Vista does as it searches for a 2nd display. You can disable it if you don't use a 2nd monitor.

To disable it:

Click the "Start" menu button and in the search, type "Task Scheduler".

When Task Scheduler opens, you should see "Task Scheduler Library" on the left hand side.

Expand the library by clicking the small arrow, and continue expanding through Microsoft>Windows and click MobilePC.

You should have the TMM (Transient Multi-Monitor Manager) in the main window.

Right click and just simply disable this.

It should remove the black screen hangs while Vista boots now.

Thanks for the tip, but sadly that didn't cut it.

I actually measured the time it the black screen is there and it stays there some 1 minute 20 seconds. I appreciate the help you are giving. Any other suggestions?

Everlong · Nov 30, 2008

Try opening Start menu and search msconfig and open it.

Go to the boot tab and change the "Timeout" to 3 seconds and check the "make boot settings permanent" and click apply.

skylab2000 said:
Thanks for the info Everlong18. Just done it and it now loads without that long black screen were I think Is it going to load ok.

Brian.

Happy it helped you

smarteyeball · Nov 30, 2008

I believe the TMM kicks in after the loading bar dissapears.

poro, Are you at least seeing BIOS POST messages? is there any HD activity while the screen is blank?

Try booting in safe mode and see if any of the drivers take a long time to load.

Poro · Dec 1, 2008

Everlong18 said:
Try opening Start menu and search msconfig and open it.

Go to the boot tab and change the "Timeout" to 3 seconds and check the "make boot settings permanent" and click apply.

I tried that, but sadly it didn't solve this issue.

smarteyeball said:
I believe the TMM kicks in after the loading bar dissapears.

poro, Are you at least seeing BIOS POST messages? is there any HD activity while the screen is blank?

Try booting in safe mode and see if any of the drivers take a long time to load.

The black screen comes after the POST message, so yeah, I am seeing the POST message. There is no HD activity during the black screen.

I tried booting in the safe mode and it had the black screen also for 1 minute 20 seconds.

johngalt · Dec 1, 2008

Then it is probably some hardware that is connected to your system that is causing this. Do you have a SCSI card installed, or else a lot of USB devices, or else some other device that requires it's own power up / check sequence? A lot of SCSI cards, for example, have their own BIOSs on the card, and it performs additional scans, such as ascertaining what items are connected to the SCSI chain....

smarteyeball · Dec 1, 2008

As John said, it sounds like a h'ware initialization issue rather than Vista itself. Is it a recent occurrence? Have installed any new h'ware, unplugged / plugged in, adjusted some BIOS settings?

Poro · Dec 2, 2008

Thanks for the help! It turns out it was my 500 GB external HD from Buffalo. I switched it off and now there is no black screen anymore before the loading bar. There is one after it, but it only takes about 5 seconds, so nothing to worry about. I guess it is normal.

Thanks again!

johngalt · Dec 2, 2008

I believe either one of two things is happening - either your system is searching the drive for bootable partitions to try to boot, which indicates that your BIOS is set up to boot other devices *before* reverting to a HD boot (I always change my boot order to HD first since most modern motherboards have a boot menu that I can use to force boot from another device when I need it to) or else you have a very integrated system anti-virus suite that is *scanning* the drive every time you boot because it recognizes it as an attached removable device.

Since this is before the Vista loading bar, I doubt the latter one, but stranger things have happened.

smarteyeball · Dec 2, 2008

Yep, as John suggested, check your BIOS boot device priority and make sure it boots from the HD first. Then you can switch on the exteranl and hopefully no more pause.

Glad you got it sorted

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