Black Screen of Death

Oh the sudden and unexpected joys of running a Vista computer.  Yesterday, I turned on my computer and got a solid black screen with a white mouse pointer.  This is known as the Vista "Black Screen of Death".  I tried every possible solution listed on the web.  Nothing worked.  Only one option left: reload the operating system.  For anyone who has never done this, it erases everything.  I lost data, programs, etc.  What joy!  I have spent the day trying to get programs reloaded and setting back the way I like them.  I also have over 100 updates to install.  Yep, fun times.