I’ve had this problem for years: Every now and then, Safe Mode “breaks” and booting into it gives a blank black screen: no logon screen, no desktop icons, nothing. The mouse becomes visible when I move it and the “Safe Mode” text in the corners briefly appears, but it all vanishes when I stop moving the mouse. Otherwise, the mouse buttons, keyboard, etc. are unresponsive; the only way to exit is with the power button.
Weirdly, the issue doesn’t affect normal Windows, which works fine; it only affects Safe Mode. It occurs seemingly at random – sometimes after less than a week, sometimes after more than six months – so I can’t pinpoint what causes it.
(To clarify, I don’t use Safe Mode that often; I just check it weekly to make sure it still works for when I do need it, since it breaks so frequently.)
Running SFC fixes nothing; each time it says no corruption was found. The only way I know to fix it is to roll back to a previous System Restore point, or to reimage the drive from a full system backup.
I regularly update Windows and all other software. All my system’s drivers are up to date from the manufacturer’s website. I run DISM (dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth) and SFC (sfc /scannow) weekly, though that evidently doesn’t help prevent or fix this issue.
Right now, Safe Mode is again broken, and this time all my System Restore points are inexplicably corrupted, so the only option left is to reimage the drive, which is a pain and a last resort.
At the moment my most pressing concern is finding a way to fix Safe Mode so that it works again. Afterwards, I’d like to find what causes the problem to begin with and stop it from happening in the future.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(See “My Computer” below for specs)
Weirdly, the issue doesn’t affect normal Windows, which works fine; it only affects Safe Mode. It occurs seemingly at random – sometimes after less than a week, sometimes after more than six months – so I can’t pinpoint what causes it.
(To clarify, I don’t use Safe Mode that often; I just check it weekly to make sure it still works for when I do need it, since it breaks so frequently.)
Running SFC fixes nothing; each time it says no corruption was found. The only way I know to fix it is to roll back to a previous System Restore point, or to reimage the drive from a full system backup.
I regularly update Windows and all other software. All my system’s drivers are up to date from the manufacturer’s website. I run DISM (dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth) and SFC (sfc /scannow) weekly, though that evidently doesn’t help prevent or fix this issue.
Right now, Safe Mode is again broken, and this time all my System Restore points are inexplicably corrupted, so the only option left is to reimage the drive, which is a pain and a last resort.
At the moment my most pressing concern is finding a way to fix Safe Mode so that it works again. Afterwards, I’d like to find what causes the problem to begin with and stop it from happening in the future.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(See “My Computer” below for specs)
Last edited:
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1 Pro (x64)
- Computer type
- Laptop
- System Manufacturer/Model
- Asus G750JZ-DB73
- CPU
- Intel Core i7-4700HQ @ 2.40 GHz
- Motherboard
- ASUSTek Computer Inc. G750JZ (Intel/Haswell)
- Memory
- 32 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz
- Graphics Card(s)
- Intel HD Graphics 4600 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M
- Sound Card
- PreSonus AudioBox USB 96
- Screen Resolution
- 1920x1080
- Browser
- Firefox (latest)
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender + Spybot Search & Destroy