Windows 10: How to fix Black Screen at boot or AMD driver issues after upgrade

Windows 10 has been plagued with persistent bugs and inherent issues ever since its release, even as discerning users and industry experts are finding numerous ways to tackle or fix these problems permanently.

Some users are reportedly flooding Microsoft Forums with complaints about delayed boot-up issues, which are supposedly due to faulty AMD video card drivers.

The delayed boot-up issue is characterised by a black screen with a mouse cursor during the boot process, wherein users are reportedly forced to wait up to a minute on the same screen, before the login window appears.

It is confirmed that the issue is limited to newly installed AMD Catalyst 15.7.1 video card drivers and it can be resolved by restoring or reverting to earlier drivers.

This issue can be easily resolved using simple troubleshooting steps as outlined by the folks at Bidness Etc:

Steps to fix Black Screen at boot and AMD driver issues on Windows 10

Step 1: Launch Start Menu and go to Settings > System

Step 2: Choose Apps and Features tab in the left pane and then find the AMD Catalyst Install Manager from the list. Finally, click Uninstall

Step 3: Select 'Yes' to confirm the User Account Control (UAC) prompt to grant permission for uninstalling the drivers

Step 4: Wait for the video card drivers to uninstall and then download the previous 15.7 version of the AMD Catalyst drivers, based on the system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) of your computer

Step 5: Let the driver download complete. Then run the .exe file and extract the installation files for the driver to a desired location (preferably desktop)

Step 6: Close the AMD driver setup wizard after the extraction completes

Step 7: Once again launch the Start Menu and open up the Device Manager

Step 8: Scroll down and locate Microsoft Basic Display under Display drivers. Note: This means the video card drivers are not installed for the display

Step 9: Just right-click on the Display drivers icon and click update

Step 10: In the ensuing dialog box, click Browse and then go to the folder where you extracted the Catalyst 15.7 drivers. By default, it should be located under C: > AMD folder

Step 11: Once you have selected the correct folder location for the driver, just click Okay and the setup wizard should automatically identify the driver within the folder and install it

Step 12: Finally, reboot your PC and it should start booting up normally without any boot delays or unexpected Black Screen, just before the Windows login.

[Source: Bidness ETC]