Windows 7 Black screen after Windows 7 logo upon startup

[Zynpol]

Specs:
Radeon HD 7870
i5 3570
8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium

My computer crashed while playing Morrowind, the screen froze upon a tessellated screen and I just turned my computer off, from that point:

1. Upon regular boot, after the 'Starting Windows' logo appears, my monitor goes black, then a black screen is shown without a mouse for about 30 seconds then the computer restarts.
2. Safe Mode with networking boots fine (held F8 on startup) and I can access my BIOS
3. Based upon the advice and themes in threads regarding my problem, I assumed it must be the video driver (was running 15.4 beta), so I uninstalled it in safe mode from device manager, downloaded 15.6 beta (incase it included a fix) and turned my computer off
4. After doing this I am able to access Windows 7 without safe mode, boots normally. Upon startup a driver starts automatically installing called 'Video Controller (VGA Compatible)', when it finishes it is a driver for my graphics card, version unclear though. I uninstalled it and installed the 15.6 I'd downloaded in safe mode then restarted my computer to see if it would boot without using integrated graphics, it black screens again.
5. I repeated step 3 but kept the driver which installed on startup and restarted with that installed, black screen again.
6. I system restored to a few hours before the issue, before I'd installed morrowind, the system restore finishes, prompts restart, upon that restart it black screens again, I am now sitting at the point the system restore was at with absolutely no clue what to do, praying to gaben that it isn't a hardware problem

edit: just used 'Display Driver Uninstaller' in safe mode, successfully booted regular Windows 7, downloaded and installed 15.4.1 AMD beta driver and restarted, black screened again

If anyone could help me or reference a thread in which a problem like mine is solved, I would be eternally appreciative and grateful, thanks.

 

[kemical]

Hi Zynpol,
is it possible for you to turn the integrated graphics off in the bios? Also check your 7870 isn't caked in dust and if possible try reseating the card.

 

[Zynpol]

Hi Zynpol,
is it possible for you to turn the integrated graphics off in the bios? Also check your 7870 isn't caked in dust and if possible try reseating the card.

I have checked that the card is in good fettle and reseated it, my bios is MSI bios, I'm sure that will be an option, however, by launching in safe mode (integrated graphics default) and regular windows 7 without a display driver successfully I believe I'm attributing the fault to 7870, since the black screen occurs upon booting/restarting with a display

 

[Zynpol]

Recent development since a DSKCHK I ran this morning; I can no longer boot in Safe Mode. It gets to Loading Windows Files and crashes on the driver system32\DRIVERS\amdkmpfd.sys then the screen freezes, about 30 seconds after I hear my audio drop out on my headphones, pretty scared now haha

 

[kemical]

Hmm... What about if you remove the 7870 entirely? Will the machine boot up as normal meaning can you access safe mode?

 

[Zynpol]

Hmm... What about if you remove the 7870 entirely? Will the machine boot up as normal meaning can you access safe mode?

I am able to boot in normal mode and safe mode without the graphics card in

 

[kemical]

If that's the case then chances are your graphics card has developed a fault. If you can check it in a different machine that would help but chances are it needs replacing.

 

[Zynpol]

If that's the case then chances are your graphics card has developed a fault. If you can check it in a different machine that would help but chances are it needs replacing.

is it worth installing a clean version of windows?

 

[kemical]

Yes I personally would at least try that too as it might be a registry related issue but from what you describe and the way it crashed it does sound a little terminal. However I'm constantly surprised at how these things can sometimes bounce back simply with a fresh copy of windows so of course it's always worth a try.. Let me know how you get on and good luck.

 

[Pauli]

Morrowind only uses one core. Having several cores enabled may invalidate the game. Take off all but one = first core. Via BIOS, preferably.

A Morrowind fan, played it thousands of hours. I was a Moderator in http://forums.uesp.net/ ... once upon a time. I still love it.

 

[Neemobeer]

Hi there I had a similar issue with a graphics card. Try the following.

• Boot into safe mode.
• Open an elevated command prompt and type pnputil -e >> drviers.txt
• Open the drivers.txt and locate your graphics driver, you will probably have multiple versions
• Locate the newest version and make note of the oem###.inf
• Type pnputil -d oem###.inf
• Reboot into normal mode and see if everything works.
• If so then that newer version of your GPU driver is buggy as hell as was the one I had

 

[Pauli]

Neemober reminds me of one thing: in many cases older graphics drivers work better than latest, especially with older games. You could try to recall when the game worked, and go back.