If you are a Windows Vista user and facing black screen problem during startup, here is an hotfix to fix the issue.
When you start a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, sometimes it stops responding at a black screen early in the startup process. According to Microsoft support page, the issue occurs because of a deadlock between a thread in Windows NT File System driver (Ntfs.sys) and a thread in the Autochk.exe program.
How to fix Vista black screen at startup:
1. Download the hotfix from Microsoft.
2. Install the hotfix and then reboot your PC.
Note that this hotfix applies to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 only.