Desktop is Black

Not sure where I should have put this, so I'm doing it in the general...

I just bought a new laptop last night that came loaded with Vista Home
Premium. When I shut down last night it was taking forever, so I did a hard
shut down. When I booted up this morning, it boots just fine, but when it
actually gets into Windows, I get a black screen. Only the "MY DOCUMENTS"
window opens, but I can see anything else. I was able to get on the internet
through the my documents window, but none of the shortcut keys work. I've
tried hitting the start button and I get nothing - it's almost as if
everything is hiding behind this black screen. I didn't mess with it too
long this morning before I had to leave for work, so it may be nothing. I
just thought it was strange that less than 12 hours after I start using it, I
have this issue.

Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of it or fix it? Thanks in
advance!

Sarcastic Cheese wrote:
> Not sure where I should have put this, so I'm doing it in the general...
>
> I just bought a new laptop last night that came loaded with Vista Home
> Premium. When I shut down last night it was taking forever, so I did a hard
> shut down. When I booted up this morning, it boots just fine, but when it
> actually gets into Windows, I get a black screen. Only the "MY DOCUMENTS"
> window opens, but I can see anything else. I was able to get on the internet
> through the my documents window, but none of the shortcut keys work. I've
> tried hitting the start button and I get nothing - it's almost as if
> everything is hiding behind this black screen. I didn't mess with it too
> long this morning before I had to leave for work, so it may be nothing. I
> just thought it was strange that less than 12 hours after I start using it, I
> have this issue.
>
> Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of it or fix it? Thanks in
> advance!

A new machine should not be doing this out of the box. Unless you went
on an installing spree and installed anything dodgy or incompatible,
take it back for replacement immediately. Don't even mess around with
it. If hardware is going to fail, it will usually do so quite quickly -
yes, even right out of the box - or go for years. So while your
experience is irritating, it is not unusual.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Take it back to the shop where you purchased the computer from ASAP. I can only echo Malke's comment and in full agreement

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Sarcastic Cheese" <Sarcastic > wrote in message news:CB48F8A8-4056-43DF-B61F-...
> Not sure where I should have put this, so I'm doing it in the general...
>
> I just bought a new laptop last night that came loaded with Vista Home
> Premium. When I shut down last night it was taking forever, so I did a hard
> shut down. When I booted up this morning, it boots just fine, but when it
> actually gets into Windows, I get a black screen. Only the "MY DOCUMENTS"
> window opens, but I can see anything else. I was able to get on the internet
> through the my documents window, but none of the shortcut keys work. I've
> tried hitting the start button and I get nothing - it's almost as if
> everything is hiding behind this black screen. I didn't mess with it too
> long this morning before I had to leave for work, so it may be nothing. I
> just thought it was strange that less than 12 hours after I start using it, I
> have this issue.
>
> Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of it or fix it? Thanks in
> advance!

I don't think it's a hardware failure though, I think it's something with
Vista. The hardware is working fine, aside from not being able to see the
desktop. My wireless connected just fine, I connected to the internet just
fine. That was all that I was able to really try this morning before I had
to leave, but although I'm not an expert, it seems to me it's something with
Vista.

I'd like to not have to take the thing back if entirely possible - I bought
it at Best Buy and the closest one is 25 miles from me, so having to take it
back is a bit of a pain. If I have to, I will, but I'm hoping there is
something I can try before I do that.

Thanks!

"Peter Foldes" wrote:

> Take it back to the shop where you purchased the computer from ASAP. I can only echo Malke's comment and in full agreement
>
> --
> Peter
>
> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
>
> "Sarcastic Cheese" <Sarcastic > wrote in message news:CB48F8A8-4056-43DF-B61F-...
> > Not sure where I should have put this, so I'm doing it in the general...
> >
> > I just bought a new laptop last night that came loaded with Vista Home
> > Premium. When I shut down last night it was taking forever, so I did a hard
> > shut down. When I booted up this morning, it boots just fine, but when it
> > actually gets into Windows, I get a black screen. Only the "MY DOCUMENTS"
> > window opens, but I can see anything else. I was able to get on the internet
> > through the my documents window, but none of the shortcut keys work. I've
> > tried hitting the start button and I get nothing - it's almost as if
> > everything is hiding behind this black screen. I didn't mess with it too
> > long this morning before I had to leave for work, so it may be nothing. I
> > just thought it was strange that less than 12 hours after I start using it, I
> > have this issue.
> >
> > Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of it or fix it? Thanks in
> > advance!
>

Sarcastic Cheese wrote:
> I don't think it's a hardware failure though, I think it's something with
> Vista. The hardware is working fine, aside from not being able to see the
> desktop. My wireless connected just fine, I connected to the internet just
> fine. That was all that I was able to really try this morning before I had
> to leave, but although I'm not an expert, it seems to me it's something with
> Vista.
>
> I'd like to not have to take the thing back if entirely possible - I bought
> it at Best Buy and the closest one is 25 miles from me, so having to take it
> back is a bit of a pain. If I have to, I will, but I'm hoping there is
> something I can try before I do that.

Well, I already told you what I thought. Since I can't see the machine,
that was my best guess. Return the machine to factory condition using
whatever restore method the OEM has for your machine. If it misbehaves
after this restore, then you know for sure it's hardware. If it behaves,
then be cautious about what you install - updates, programs, drivers
(you shouldn't need to change these on a laptop), etc. Only install one
thing at a time and test after each install.

Good luck, and EOT for me.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to try booting it into safe mode when I
get home and see what happens. I can do ctrl+alt+del and get the choices and
I can look at task manager. I also am going to do the restore and see what
happens from there.

Thanks again for the input.

"Malke" wrote:

> Sarcastic Cheese wrote:
> > I don't think it's a hardware failure though, I think it's something with
> > Vista. The hardware is working fine, aside from not being able to see the
> > desktop. My wireless connected just fine, I connected to the internet just
> > fine. That was all that I was able to really try this morning before I had
> > to leave, but although I'm not an expert, it seems to me it's something with
> > Vista.
> >
> > I'd like to not have to take the thing back if entirely possible - I bought
> > it at Best Buy and the closest one is 25 miles from me, so having to take it
> > back is a bit of a pain. If I have to, I will, but I'm hoping there is
> > something I can try before I do that.
>
> Well, I already told you what I thought. Since I can't see the machine,
> that was my best guess. Return the machine to factory condition using
> whatever restore method the OEM has for your machine. If it misbehaves
> after this restore, then you know for sure it's hardware. If it behaves,
> then be cautious about what you install - updates, programs, drivers
> (you shouldn't need to change these on a laptop), etc. Only install one
> thing at a time and test after each install.
>
> Good luck, and EOT for me.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

I did a restore to factory settings last night and everything is fine now.

"Sarcastic Cheese" wrote:

> Not sure where I should have put this, so I'm doing it in the general...
>
> I just bought a new laptop last night that came loaded with Vista Home
> Premium. When I shut down last night it was taking forever, so I did a hard
> shut down. When I booted up this morning, it boots just fine, but when it
> actually gets into Windows, I get a black screen. Only the "MY DOCUMENTS"
> window opens, but I can see anything else. I was able to get on the internet
> through the my documents window, but none of the shortcut keys work. I've
> tried hitting the start button and I get nothing - it's almost as if
> everything is hiding behind this black screen. I didn't mess with it too
> long this morning before I had to leave for work, so it may be nothing. I
> just thought it was strange that less than 12 hours after I start using it, I
> have this issue.
>
> Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of it or fix it? Thanks in
> advance!