black screen causes detection strategy

This approach may sound obvious but may help people who are experiencing a black screen after a reboot.
After two fresh installs and still ending up in a black screen condition, I decided to do it better the third time. Immediately after the third clean install, I set a restore point, so I could get back there using the System Recovery Options on the installation DVD when a new black screen should appear. The System Recovery Options are accessible from the second install screen when booting from the DVD. One of those is System Restore (Restore Windows to an earlier point in time).
After each major alteration in the install (domain joining, network disk definition, etcetera), I have been setting a restore point. I also switched off the automatic install by Windows Update so I was sure that I knew when new programs were installed. I set it to ask for a confirmation before installing (these updates set their own restore points).
Until now, , by going back to one of the earlier restore points, I have been able to use the System Restore to get rid of the black screen. I also discovered what change in my Vista installation caused the black screen (an automatic update by Windows Update).