What to do When Your Laptop Screen Goes Black

There are many reasons why a laptop screen goes black, and most of these causes can be fixed easily. Major technical failures are harder to identify and expensive to repair, but you must first apply the following solutions for this problem.
If you find that your laptop screen has gone black suddenly, then you must know that there are a number of possible reasons for this. It would be impossible to accurately ascertain the exact cause by mere speculation, as there are many wires, connectors and devices that need to function properly in order, to keep the screens of laptop computers working properly. If your screen turns black randomly then you must not panic and should follow a systematic troubleshooting procedure.

Screensaver
The most obvious reason why this happens, can be a screensaver. This is a mode into which the computer progresses if it is left idle for a stipulated amount of time. In order to get the machine out of the screensaver mode all you need to do is move the computer mouse around a bit, or hit any random key on the keyboard. You can also change the settings of the amount of time a computer must be idle before it goes into the screensaver mode. To do this right click on your desktop, select 'Properties', choose the 'Screensaver' tab and then change all the settings that you wish to change.

Hibernate or Standby Mode
If a laptop is left idle for a long time, it sometimes slips into hibernate or standby mode automatically, in order to preserve power in the laptop battery. All you need to do in this case is press the power button and the laptop will switch back on. In most cases, you will reach a screen where your computer will be locked and you will have to choose one of the user icons that you see. If you have enabled password protection then you will have to enter your password as well. If your screen turns black after a few minutes then you must press the power button and see what happens.

Computer Crash
One of the more complicated reasons why the screen goes black is a crash. This could occur for a variety of reasons and is often very difficult to fix. You will have to take the machine to a computer repair shop, and they will open up the laptop there to find the cause. Needless to say, this could set you back by a few hundred dollars as well. The crash could be caused by overheating, or maybe even a loose power supply cable. One solution for you is to play an audio file if the laptop goes black. If it does not play at all then something is wrong with the entire system, but if the audio file plays then it is just the laptop screen that is troubled.

Virus
There are a few computer viruses that can cause this problem, but most antivirus programs can effectively deal with such a virus. Update your antivirus software regularly and make sure you download all possible firmwares, and this sort of virus will be successfully thwarted. If your machine is infected with such a virus then your video drivers will most certainly be affected, and even your video card could get contaminated. All this results in your computer screen going black, and in some instances, your screen may even go blue.

Drivers and Programs
The video drivers are crucial for making the computer monitor function properly. On some occasions though, these programs can stop functioning due to some reason. If your screen turns black after startup on a consistent basis, then maybe it is your video drivers that are malfunctioning. To avoid this situation, you should constantly upgrade your video drivers, and should also refrain from using pirated video drivers. Spend those extra bucks on getting licensed drivers, and you will save a lot of unnecessary expenditure in the future.

The screen runs on a complex mechanism and many devices and wires enable it to work properly. If your laptop screen goes black, it could be due to any one of the reasons mentioned above, apart from some other technical failures as well.
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Published: 4/20/2010
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