Another Black Screen Issue - Windows 10

[Hoss62]

Hello All,
Yes, I have the dreaded "black screen" in Windows 10, only after initial cold boot. I've worked through the issue on other builds with success. This time I noticed new behavior. So once I get the initial black screen, I can see clearly the monitor is on, but not receiving a signal. First things first; I reboot and Windows 10 desktop load fine. So the issue is only on the initial boot.

My thinking was it could be a graphics driver issue. So uninstalled all Nvidia drivers downloaded the same drivers (I had the most recent already) in Safe Mode and installed. No fix. I attempted to run through Windows Repair, no go.

Any suggestions, after reading my unique set of circumstances? Any help is appreciated.

I did look for other posts and articles prior to posting this, but did not find any relevant to my issue.

Thanks.

 

[Hoss62]

Ouch, close to 50 views and no replies. Guess I'll figure it out.

 

[ubuysa]

Ouch, close to 50 views and no replies. Guess I'll figure it out.

Patience my pet, we're not all here all the time.

I don't have a definitive answer for you, but the clue is that cold boot boots to a black screen whilst a restart (warm boot) is ok. The major difference between the two is that in a restart all the hardware is already powered up and running, whilst in a cold boot all the hardware has to be powered up.

I would thus suspect that some hardware device isn't powering on or initialising properly or not doing so fast enough. My first thought would be HDDs, so I'd have a good look at the SMART data for all your HDDs looking for issues. I would also suggest going into the BIOS setup and looking for the POST settings. Often the BIOS will let you specify the level of POST done on a cold boot, I suggest you set it to maximal so that all POST tests are done. This will make the boot longer of course, but it may highlight the device that is (may be?) causing you problems.

 

[Hoss62]

Thanks. Didn't think of an actual hardware issue. I will chase it down. Thanks again.

 

[pdesj2]

Hey @Hoss62 any update?

I have a similar issue with an external monitor set on "Extended Display" that now goes black and comes back on randomly, but eventually seems to end up full-time black. In fact, it started happening with my previous external monitor, a nice curved Samsung that was a bit smaller than I really wanted, but that's besides the fact as it's now in landfill somewhere. I got a new (larger) LG and it was fine for a while, like 7-10 days, then started the same GD behavior.

I've done all the troubleshooting suggested online, updated several drivers, etc.

This is the first I've seen anything about cold boot vs. warm boot, so I bookmarked this thread and did a warm reboot before starting this post on my laptop screen as I watch the on/off/on/off on the screen next to it. Interestingly, it seems to have just settled on "ON" for a couple of minutes, so maybe I'm in luck. I was just wondering where you've ended up with this issue.

Thanks!

 

[ubuysa]

Hey @Hoss62 any update?

I have a similar issue with an external monitor set on "Extended Display" that now goes black and comes back on randomly, but eventually seems to end up full-time black. In fact, it started happening with my previous external monitor, a nice curved Samsung that was a bit smaller than I really wanted, but that's besides the fact as it's now in landfill somewhere. I got a new (larger) LG and it was fine for a while, like 7-10 days, then started the same GD behavior.

I've done all the troubleshooting suggested online, updated several drivers, etc.

This is the first I've seen anything about cold boot vs. warm boot, so I bookmarked this thread and did a warm reboot before starting this post on my laptop screen as I watch the on/off/on/off on the screen next to it. Interestingly, it seems to have just settled on "ON" for a couple of minutes, so maybe I'm in luck. I was just wondering where you've ended up with this issue.

Thanks!

Since you've had the same issue on two different monitors, I would suspect the graphics card. Pop it out and back in and see whether that helps. Any tiny bit of grit or dust between the card and one of the pins can cause havoc....

(The above is assuming you are using a dedicated graphics card rather than the iGPU in your CPU?)

 

[pdesj2]

Since you've had the same issue on two different monitors, I would suspect the graphics card. Pop it out and back in and see whether that helps. Any tiny bit of grit or dust between the card and one of the pins can cause havoc....

(The above is assuming you are using a dedicated graphics card rather than the iGPU in your CPU?)

Thank you @ubuysa for the suggestion. Is that something you think I'll be able to do on a Dell laptop? I've opened up the casing once before when Dell sent me a replacement wifi card. It wasn't easy to open, but it's worth a try.

Windows 10 has been suggesting I upgrade to Windows 11 for a while now, so do you think that might possibly help?

Thanks again!

 

[ubuysa]

Thank you @ubuysa for the suggestion. Is that something you think I'll be able to do on a Dell laptop? I've opened up the casing once before when Dell sent me a replacement wifi card. It wasn't easy to open, but it's worth a try.

Ah, no. Most laptops used an integrated GPU in any case, and those that have a dedicated graphics card generally solder it in place. In that case I would suggest uninstalling all graphics drivers (if you have a dedicated graphics card then use DDU to do that), rebooting and then installing the latest driver(s).

Windows 10 has been suggesting I upgrade to Windows 11 for a while now, so do you think that might possibly help?

Thanks again!

IMO it is unwise in the extreme to upgrade to a new OS (or a new version of the OS) when you know (or suspect) that there may be a hardware issue with the PC/laptop. My advice would be to solve the problem you have before considering an upgrade.