Well after many days of searching and trying different solutions I am stumped.
 
I recently tried upgrading my video card and things went well initially until the video driver needed an update.
When it was finished I rebooted into Windows and the screen just sat there black with a cursor in the middle but nothing.
Here are a few other things that occurred along the way:
 
* login screen would be there then disappear after logging in.
* Black screen with mouse pointer. Did the "Phantom Login where you are blindly typing in your login password
* SafeMode boot where things come up and you try to remove bad drivers and hidden devices in device manager
* Pulling the card and trying a different brand. This was switching from an AMD Radeon to an NVIDIA GEForce 430GT same result.
* Actually did an in place Windows 10 refresh installation with the same results.
 
I am fortunate to have a working system image to fall back on as I try different solutions. I am able to run currently with the integrated Intel 400 graphics but cannot for the life of me understand what could have went wrong and how to fix it.
 
Thanks for any advice or suggestions. I know the ultimate on would be to just go back and re-install Windows but we all know how that is ;^(

I am just now recovering from a somewhat similar situation with Windows 7.
My issue was further complicated because one of my Crucial higrade memory chips went bad and it was causing random black screens where Windows would just stop running - no errors logged.  This led me to think my motherboard was going bad and wasting time and money having it replaced.
 
Based on what you describe sounds like your new video card is a lemon.

• If you've made sure that you've purged all the ALL old video drivers.
• Checked to make sure there is not some incompatibility with that video card and your system or that you don't need to update the bios, etc.
  
  and
• if you can boot into Safemode GUI - which means the card can run in standard VGA mode but not more demanding ones that use it's custom video drivers.

then odds are that your video card is bad.
 
If you've done due diligence and are still having issues - 
My advise would be replace the video card.
If card is under warranty return it/exchange it.
 
Good luck!
 
...Steven

TheSteven
If you've done due diligence and are still having issues - 
My advise would be replace the video card.
If card is under warranty return it/exchange it.
 
Good luck!
 
...Steven

Thanks for the help.
Well this was an NVidia card I had been using for a long time. I tried upgrading to an AMD Radeon card and it worked fine to until the graphics driver update. I am wondering how to make sure all of the drivers are truly purged?
I put the NVidia card back in and tried installing the updated drivers while in SAFE MODE and it seemed to install fine but it would boot up to the ENDLESS SPINNING DOT CIRCLE of frustration ;^)
 
At least the onboard video is working until I can figure things out but it looks as if something at a deep level is going on with Windows so it might mean a reinstall and image a good system state.

>I tried upgrading to an AMD Radeon card and it worked fine to until the graphics driver update
My laptop (using an NVidia card) is only stable with older drivers.
Unless your talking about the transition from standard VGA to AMD drivers...
 
If you haven't already
* check online for compatibility issues between the make/model of your PC  (or motherboard if the PC is a custom job) and the AMD card. It may be a hardware compatibility issue.
* check to see if there's a bios update available for you system, if so check the change log to see what issues it addresses. 
* I'm assuming that you have already tried reseating the card & cleaning the contacts.
 
Personally I've had more problems going from NVIDIA GEForce to AMD Radeon cards than the other way around.
 
>how to make sure all of the drivers are truly purged?
Under Program & Features check for programs by AMD - you can use Google to check names to verify.
Run MSCONFIG and see if any AMD video driver or services are loading and disable.
You can try MSCONFIG's "Diagnostic Startup" which if I recall should put you in standard VGA mode see if that works.
When my bad NVidia card finally failed it would only work in standard VGA mode.
 
Hope this helps...

Thanks so much!
It seems something really bad got into my system as far as video drivers and corruption after a Windows 10 update.
I went ahead and performed a clean install and set up my installation as UFEI with the new system disc format I think it is called GPT and things seem to be running fine with the new AMD Radeon card.
 
I can tell you I am not going to just jump when there is a new graphics card update and I am making a habit to do frequent system images when I know things are working like they should.
 

 I had a similar issue with a new card. I put it in the other PCIx slot and it worked.

I had the exact same issues with various ATI cards over the years. Most times booting to safe mode and removing all traces of the ATI drivers from the drive and registry would eventually allow the driver update to work.
 
For this reason, I will no longer use ATI cards. Too much hassle!