Alex Ruben
How To Resolve Random Monitor Shutting Off and Going Black on Windows 10/11
If your monitor just decides to turn off or go black without warning, yeah, it’s super frustrating. Happens more often than it should, especially on Windows 10 or 11. Usually, the culprit is some driver glitch, loose cable, or power settings gone rogue. Here’s a rundown of what’s helped in the past — some quick, some a little more involved. Because of course, Windows has to make it harder than necessary.
Step 1: Check Your HDMI or DisplayCable
This feels basic, but sometimes the fix is as simple as swapping out your HDMI or DisplayPort cable. If your monitor uses HDMI, try a different one—preferably a shorter, high-quality cable. I’ve seen many cases where a dodgy cable causes flickering or blackouts. It’s worth trying a different port on both the GPU and monitor if you have multiple options. Just disconnect everything, try again, and see if that was the problem. On some setups, replacing the cable even fixed intermittent issues after a reboot or two.
Step 2: Update Your Display & Chipset Drivers (Using Driver Booster or manually)
Outdated drivers tend to throw a wrench into things. Driver Booster is a quick way to get things updated—just run it, scan, and hit update. But you could also go the manual route, which I prefer because sometimes automatic tools miss things.
- Open Device Manager (Press Win + X and select Device Manager).
- Go to Display adapters, right-click on your GPU, and pick Update driver.
- Select Search automatically for drivers. If that doesn’t find anything newer, check the GPU manufacturer’s website (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) for the latest releases.
- Don’t forget to update your chipset drivers—visit your motherboard manufacturer’s site for that. This can sometimes fix compatibility issues that cause the screen to flicker or go blank.
Why bother? Updated drivers fix bugs and improve hardware compatibility, lowering the chance of random blackouts. Happens often when Windows is sloppy about driver updates, so keeping everything fresh is just good sense. On some machines, you might need to reboot after updating drivers, or even do it in Safe Mode if things get weird—including clean installs of the GPU driver.
Step 3: BIOS/UEFI Firmware Update (Kind of a pain, but sometimes necessary)
This is where you poke around in the BIOS or UEFI settings. It’s not always needed, but if you’ve updated your GPU drivers and cables and still get the black screens, BIOS update might help. Different motherboards have different tools, but generally:
- Identify the motherboard brand (Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI, ASRock, etc.).
- Go to the manufacturer’s support page and download the latest firmware/BIOS tool.
- Follow the instructions they provide—sometimes flashing via USB, sometimes from within Windows. Be careful—this step has caused problems if done wrong, but if you follow steps, it’s usually fine.
- After flashing, restart and see if the random blackouts continue. Usually, a BIOS update improves system stability and compatibility with newer hardware or OS updates.
Why do it? BIOS updates often fix hardware bugs, especially graphics glitches or power management issues that can cause the display to cut out unpredictably.
Step 4: Tweak Power Settings
This one’s a classic. Windows sometimes powers down your display way too aggressively. To fix that:
- Type edit power plan in the Start menu and select Edit power plan.
- Set Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep to Never.
- Click Change advanced power settings.
- Expand PCI Express and then Link State Power Management. Change it to Off. This sometimes tricks the GPU into not cutting power unexpectedly.
- Also, scroll to Display and disable any options that turn off the monitor after a certain time—sort of a precaution.
- Finally, head to Choose what the power buttons do, click Change settings that are currently unavailable, and uncheck Turn on fast startup. Fast startup seems harmless but can cause display weirdness after updates or reboots.
Why bother? Because Windows’ power plans are often overly aggressive, especially if you’re running an energy-saver setup. Turning these off tends to stabilize things.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
While troubleshooting:
- Double-check all physical connections—reseat the cables and graphics card if needed.
- Test the monitor with another PC or even a different cable to isolate if it’s a hardware or software problem.
- Make sure your GPU isn’t overheating or throttling, which can cause the screen to go black.
When Nothing Works…
Sometimes, it’s a hardware issue—faulty GPU, bad power supply, or a failing monitor. Try hooking up another monitor or a different cable before tearing everything apart. Also, check your GPU temperature and make sure your PC’s cooling is adequate.
Summary
- Swap cables and test different ports if the display flickers or blacks out.
- Update your graphics and chipset drivers, preferably manually from official sites.
- Consider BIOS updates if everything else seems solid but problems persist.
- Adjust power and sleep settings to prevent Windows from shutting down your display prematurely.
- Confirm hardware connections and test with other hardware to rule out physical failures.
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours for someone. Black screens are a pain, but more often than not, they’re fixable with a little poking around.