Apparently the Black Screen Boot up problem that you are having is because of the most recent Windows Vista automatic download (which is why automatic downloads should always be turned off). Apparently a lot of people are super pissed about it. The solution that you came up with ....
to open the task manager (ctrl-alt-delete), click file, click New Task, and type in explorer.exe then hit ok. This should finish loading windows.
apparently works, however some geek found a way to solve the problem if it keeps happening.
Exploring Our Matrix: The Vista Black Screen After Login Mystery...Solved! First, download the free Autoruns program,
Link Removed - Invalid URL which is made by Sysinternals (a Microsoft-owned company). Thanks to Scott Dunn, whose article "Fast Windows Fixes" in the latest issue of PC World recommended this program.
Once you've downloaded and installed the program, right click on it and run it as an administrator.
Next, once the program is running, you will see a list of all the start-up functions in the registry and elsewhere. You will probably want to look for places where it says a file that the registry is supposed to load is not found, and either uncheck that entry or change the location to the one where the file is, if it still exists on your computer.
The key to solving the black screen is a file called lsass.sys. I found the problem initially because it was looking for that file in C:\Windows\Config\ instead of in C:\Windows\System32\ where it is actually located. But changing the location did not solve the problem (I mention my doing so simply because this was a step I took, and I have no way of telling whether it was significant in the resolution).
The final step I took that solved the problem was to uncheck the command to run lsass.sys at startup/login. Once I did this and then closed the program and restarted my computer, it worked properly.
Thank you for the reply. I have not found the lsass.sys in the autoruns after having looked two times through it. I'll give the automatic downloads a try.
I'm writing this to acknowledge your reply and help. It's much appreciated. I'll post again if I find the culprit.
hank you for the reply. I have not found the lsass.sys in the autoruns after having looked two times through it. I'll give the automatic downloads a try.
I'm writing this to acknowledge your reply and help. It's much appreciated. I'll post again if I find the culprit.