Laptop Won't Load Desktop, Black Screen

Hi there, I need some help, please. Randomly, out of nowhere, my laptop stopped working. It is a Lenovo IdeadPad Flex, Model Name (on the bottom) says 81SQ.

I can boot the laptop up with no problem, and I get the first screen where you enter in your pin/password. The problem is after I enter the password, I have a completely black screen. It won't load to my desktop at all. On that black screen, I can do Alt+Ctrl+Del to get those options for task manager, sign out, etc. If I click task manager, nothing happens - back to black screen. All I can do is sign out and shut off the computer. I tried to figure out how to boot in safe mode to see if that would help, but I have no idea how. Can you help me, please? Is my laptop toast?

 

Assuming that you are running Windows 11:

1. At the Sign-in Screen, click the Power button
2. Hold down Shift as you click Restart

This should get you the Windows Recovery Environment, where you can find a number of options to work with.

(This was taken almost verbatim from Microsoft Press' Windows 11 Inside Out, pg. 561 © 2023. If something has changed, I am unaware of it.)

Hope it helps.

 

Hi there,

Thank you! I did try searching and hadn't found that. That did give me another screen, but I have no idea what to do to try to fix the computer.

The options are:
Continue (exit and continue to Windows 11)
Use a device
Troubleshoot (Reset your PC or see advanced options)
Turn off your PC

I did click Troubleshoot to see what it had there. The options are:
Reset this PC
Advanced Options

Under Advanced Options, it has
Startup Repair
Startup Settings
Command Prompt
Uninstall updates
UEFI Firmware Settings
System Restore

I did try startup repair, but that didn't fix it. It's still the same issue.

 

Assuming that there's a saved restore point on the machine, you could try System Restore.

Did this happen after an update, perhaps 24H2? If so, look at Uninstall Updates, and see if you can remove it.

Failing these, and depending on if there's any irreplaceable data on the machine or not, you could use Reset This PC, which should reset the entire thing back to its factory state.

 

I looked but it says there's no restore point, unfortunately.

I'm honestly not sure. I hadn't used it in a few days, when I opened it up to use it, it wasn't working. I don't know if it did an update while I wasn't using it.

I tried uninstalling updates. There's two options: Uninstall latest quality update and uninstall latest feature update

I tried the quality update first, and it says "We ran into a problem and won't be able to uninstall the latest quality update of Windows."

I tried the feature one next, and it says the same thing and says to try resetting my PC instead.

Is there any option other than losing all my information? I definitely have things on there I'd like to not lose and, unfortunately, didn't back up.

 

This does sound similar to what folks were discussing in another forum: 24H2 has managed to cause some people endless grief.

Perhaps someone else here can weigh-in on this, but I'd be considering taking it to a shop and seeing what they might have to say.

Sorry I couldn't offer a solution.

 

Unfortunately, with no saved restore points, and the fact you have tried everything but reset, that may be your only thing left to try for a DIY'r. If you have information you want to save, you can try booting up with something like Hiren’s BootCD and transfer your info onto a portable drive.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/hirens_bootcd.html

 

Thank you both, I appreciate you trying to help me out with this. I'll look at Hiren's BootCD to see if it's something I can do/figure out.

 

No desktop, when you C-A-D, select Task Manager, then File> New Task and type in explorer & enter.
Now what is it doing? If you get the desktop try running the usual - SFC, DISM repair..

 

Ok so this is new! Before, when I did C-A-D, task manager - it just took me back to the black screen.
Now, I can actually SEE the task manager!
I don't have file but I do see "Run a new task" at the top. I clicked that ,typed explorer, enter. Nothing happens.

 

If you end up having to reset Windows, you might be able to remove the drive from your laptop, install it as a secondary drive in a working machine and extract your data. Put the drive back in your machine and do the reset routine.

I do not know if this is possible, being unfamiliar with your machine, but I used this method to rescue data from problem drives...albeit many years ago.

 

Ok, try CMD instead of explorer, then try repairing it..

Yeah, what OS was this running before it crashed?

 

I just went to do this and it is now randomly loading my desktop. Do you think it's ok? Should I do anything?