How to Fix a Black Laptop Screen

You press the power button, you hear your laptop start up, but the screen stays completely black. Here's how to diagnose and fix it.

Step 1 — Check the Basics

• Is the brightness turned up? (Fn + brightness key)
• Try a hard reset: hold power button 10 seconds, then restart
• Is it outputting to an external display? Press Fn + F4 to switch back

Step 2 — Check if Backlight is Working

Shine a torch at the screen in a dark room. If you can faintly see the desktop, the backlight has failed and the panel needs replacing.

Step 3 — Connect an External Monitor

If the external monitor works normally, the fault is with the laptop screen. If it's also black, the fault is with the GPU or motherboard.

Step 4 — Check the Screen Cable

Access the back of the screen panel and reseat the video cable connection firmly.

Step 5 — Update Display Drivers

Boot into Safe Mode and uninstall/reinstall your graphics driver.

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