This article was reviewed by Luigi Oppido
and by wikiHow staff writer, Travis Boylls
. Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
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It can be frustrating when you are trying to work or play games and your monitor keeps going black at random. Luckily, you can do a few things to fix this issue. This wikiHow article teaches you how to troubleshoot a monitor that keeps going black.
Quick Steps
- Check your video cables and connectors for damage.
- Update and/or reinstall your graphics drivers.
- Factory reset your monitor.
- Make sure your screen saver settings are set to off.
- Disable your power saver settings.
- Ensure your resolution and refresh rate settings match your monitor.
- Reduce the graphics settings in resource-intense games and apps.
Steps
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Inspect your video cables and connection ports. Make sure they are firmly connected. Inspect for damage. Wiggle the cable to see if the monitor goes black. Try using a different video cable and see if it fixes the problem. Try connecting to a different monitor or a TV and see if that fixes the issue. Also, check the connection ports for the video cables and make sure they are clean, free of debris, and not damaged.
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Make sure your graphics driver is up-to-date. The graphics driver is the software that interfaces with your graphics card and tells it how to function. If your graphics card driver isn't updated, it could cause issues, like your monitor randomly going black. Use the following steps to update your graphics card driver :
- Right-click the Windows Start menu.
- Click Device Manager .
- Expand Display adapters .
- Right-click your graphics card driver.
- Click Update Driver .
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Uninstall and reinstall the correct graphics card. If updating your graphics driver doesn't work, you may have a corrupt or incorrect graphics driver. You can download the correct graphics driver from the manufacturer's website of your graphics card. Use the following steps to uninstall and reinstall your graphics card:
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Reset your monitor to its factory settings. If there are any software issues with your monitor, factory resetting it may fix it. The way you factory-reset your monitor will differ depending on the make and monitor of your monitor. Consult the user's manual or manufacturer's website to learn how to factory reset your monitor.
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Make sure your power plan settings aren't turning off your monitor. Your power management settings could be causing your monitor to shut off. Use the following steps to check your power saver settings:
- Click the Windows Start menu.
- Type "power saver."
- Click Choose a power plan .
- Click Choose when to turn off the display on the left.
- Select "Never" next to turn off the display (If you have a laptop, you can select a different option from when your computer is plugged in and when it is on battery.)
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Ensure you have the correct resolution and refresh rate. If your resolution and refresh rate are different than your computer monitor, your monitor will need to flicker or go black to change modes. Use the following steps to change your screen resolution and refresh rate: [1] X Research source
- Right-click your desktop.
- Click Display Settings .
- Use the drop-down menu next to "Display Resolution" to set the resolution to match your monitor's resolution.
- Click Advanced Display .
- Set the refresh rate to match your monitor.
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Reduce the graphics settings of resource-heavy games and software. Many new AAA games have gorgeous-looking graphics, but they require a heavy-duty GPU and CPU to play. If your computer isn't up to the task, you may want to reduce the graphics settings in the Settings or Options menu for the games you play to prevent hardware and graphics issues. [2] X Research source
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Turn off High Contrast in Windows Settings. High contrast modes can interfere with the display output of your monitor. Use the following steps to disable high contrast.
- Click the Windows Start menu.
- Click the Settings icon.
- Click Accessibility .
- Click Contrast themes .
- Select "None" next to "Contrast themes."
- Click Apply .
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Uninstall apps that may be interfering with your graphics driver. If you noticed the problem started happening after you installed a particular app, use the following steps to uninstall that app:
- Click the Windows Start menu.
- Click the Settings icon.
- Click Apps .
- Click Installed apps .
- Select the problematic app.
- Click Uninstall at the top (Windows 10) or click the three dots in the upper-right corner and click Uninstall . (Windows 11).
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Revert your overclock settings back to the default. If you have overclocked your CPU or GPU, you could be pushing your computer hardware past its limits. Revert your overclock settings back to the default.
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Fix corrupt files that may be causing issues. If your computer's operating system has broken or corrupt files, it could be causing problems with your graphics driver. Use the following steps to scan for corrupt files and fix them: [3] X Research source
- Click the Windows Start menu.
- Type "CMD."
- Right-click the Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator .
- Type sfc /scannow and press Enter .
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Your monitor or power supply could be failing. If you've tried everything and your monitor is still going black, it could be failing or have a faulty power supply. You will need to take it to a repair shop or purchase a new one.
- If your monitor is experiencing power problems, you can [ it yourself ] with a soldering iron and a few capacitors.