Windows cognoscenti recognize two different types of black screen for both Windows 10 and 11. The first is a black screen, plain and simple. This means the screen is completely dark with nothing at all showing. Zip, zero, nada.
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| Best Fix for Windows 11 Black Screen After Update |
If you see a completely black screen, it’s worth checking to see if the PC is actually powered on. Sometimes when Windows shuts down, it kills the power, too — in which case the fix could be as simple as powering and booting up the device. (Or not.)
Repair a Black Screen of Death in Safe Mode
Hardware and driver issues resulting in a Black Screen of Death can be repaired via Safe Mode.
If your computer is hanging with a black screen:
- Restart the computer.
- Hold F8 or Shift + F8 to boot the computer into Safe Mode.
Unable to reach Safe Mode in this way? Try turning the computer off and then back on again during the Windows splash screen. On the third attempt, the system will automatically boot into Safe Mode.
For desktop PC users, the first step is to verify all monitor cables are securely connected. Unplug and firmly reconnect both the power and display cables to eliminate loose connections as a potential cause. Though simple, this can often resolve display issues.
I could workaround/fix this by
- Changing the display device from virtio-ramfb-gl (default, I never have changed this) to virtio-gpu-gl-pci
- edit: some folks have found they need to eject any Windows installer ISO and the spice tools ISO as an additional step
- Restarted VM. Display now works.
- Reinstalling UTM/Spice guest tools (this is normal to need to do after an upgrade due to the way insider previews work)
- Changing back to virtio-ramfb-gl. Display still works.
Clean Your PC
The overheating system is also responsible for the black screen of death Windows 11 error. The system will keep cool when the CPU fan works properly. However, if dust piles up or the CPU fan error occurs, the performance of fan will drop. Then your computer gets overheating, causing Windows 11 black screen issue.
In this case, you can try cleaning your CPU fan, graphics card, as well as RAM and power supply unit with a piece of cloth. To cool down your PC, you can also put it in a place with enough air circulation.
Force Restart Your PC
A system reboot can fix temporary glitches.
- Hold the power button for 10 seconds
- Disconnect all accessories
- Wait 30 seconds, then turn the PC back on
Reset the Graphics Driver
Quickly reload the display driver without restarting.
- Press Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B
- Wait for a beep and brief screen flash
- Ideal when the screen turns black suddenly but the system stays responsive.
Detect display
A black screen could also happen because Windows 10 will lose its connection with the display. The "Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B" keyboard shortcut can restart the video driver and refresh the connection with the monitor.
On specific devices, you can wake up the screen by pressing the volume up and volume down buttons at the same time three times (quickly).
When you perform the wake action, you will hear a beep and activity on the screen indicating that Windows 10 can respond to the command and is trying to establish a new connection.