Seeing your computer screen go black and not be able to turn it back on can be a frightening experience. Although the expensive is always in the back of your mind of having to get your computer repaired or replaced, the biggest worry most people face is, are you able to recover your data; photos, music, documents, tax information etc?
Black screen can occur for many reasons, however most of the time it is not good. Buy black screen I mean you can hear your computer running, maybe even starting up and having a slight light on the screen, but you can’t see any action.
Before “Black Screens” another type of problem was the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). BSOD’s usually meant something had gone wrong at the physical level. It would also happen when software and drivers were having problems but most of the time it inferred physical damage.
But with Black Screens it can mean a whole lot of different things. The good news is, most of the time, data can be saved or repaired. Whether we are able to get your computer back up and running again, or recover your precious data to an external USB hard drive, most of the time we get a good result.
Below I have listed the most common reasons Black Screens occur on both Laptop and Desktop computers.
Monitor Turned Off or Not Connected
Just because this is the first on the list doesn’t mean its the most common reason but it does happen and obviously this is the most easiest and cheapest repair.
It does happen. People forget to turn their monitor screen on, or while moving things around it has become unplugged from the computer or power source.
Monitors do not need to be installed on your computer at the software level.
Simply plugging your monitor back in will fix this. If it doesn’t it means you have other issues to consider, probably included on the list below.
Software Changes
Software changes on your laptop or computer can encompass a whole range of issues.
Anything from the wrong drivers being installed for something like a video graphics card, to software which has done damage to your operating system or startup process can cause your computer to go black screen mid use, or during start up.
Most of the time this is an easy fix due to Windows System Restore points on your computer where you are able to rollback to an earlier point in time.
When this doesn’t work is usually due to corruption is so severe it damages the operating system and restore points simply cant be accessed.
If this is the case your operating system (Windows 7, 8, 10 OSX, Linux etc) might need a total reinstall. Before doing this we can take the hard drive out, and try and recover the files off it first so they do not get wiped or written over.
Windows Updates
Windows Updates are suppose to protect and enhance our computing experience; and in most cases they.
However, sometimes they do the exact opposite. It is not unheard of for your computer to not start or to black screen after doing a Windows Update.
This is not always because of the update itself. Sometimes your computer gets the wrong update, other times the updates conflict with other software and hardware dependencies already existing on your computer.
Also if you have unstable internet which is prone to outages or data restrictions and stop during an update, your computer is suppose to roll back and not move forwards. It doesn’t always work that what though, resulting in a black screen
This sort of Black Screen problem is a little trial and error. Sometimes its easy to fix and other times its impossible. The good news is, if that was the only problem on your computer, recovering the data usually isn’t too hard to do.
Computer Suddenly Stopping
You wouldn’t think so, but one of the worst things which can happen to your computer is it stopping, loosing power or being bumped suddenly.
When this happens the computer does not have the opportunity to go through the process of turning itself off properly. Further more, the sudden stop can do damage to the hard drive physically and logically.
The most common problem is your partition or data turning RAW and unreadable.
This is a very common reason for your computer displaying a black screen or no screen at all. You might also get a hard drive error when turning your computer on.
Its not the worse thing which can happen to your data but its definitely entering the realms of not being able to recover your data.
Its not like your data is lost, as much as it has become all gobbledegook.
Townsville Nerds offer a 100% free diagnostic to see the state of your data, if its recoverable, what is recoverable and how much for corrupted RAW data.
Bad Video Card
In both laptops and desktops, bad video cards which are either old, used or faulty can cause your computer to black screen.
In desktop computers this isn’t a big deal and can be quickly replaced. However, when it comes to laptops it usually not so clear cut.
As laptops do not have as much room they do not have the expansion replaceable slots like desktop computers do. In a lot of cases the graphics card is physically part of the motherboard.
This can be a lot more expensive and if your laptop is old, it might be a sign of things to come as it slowly starts to fail.
This is usually a decision for the customer to device if they want to keep spending money on the computer or put it towards a new laptop, which I usually advise.
Computer Virus
The old computer virus gets blamed for everything and yes it certainly can cause a black screen.
If you have a computer virus which results in a black screen it is most likely not by design but of a result of.
Most computer viruses come in the form of achieving an objective these days. That is, lets spy on this user and get back account information to profit from. Its kind of hard to profit form a computer which is not working unless they are accessing your machine and putting up a black so you can see what they are doing.
Other times, viruses can can destabilise your system such as antivirus working over time or disabling basic functionality resulting in a black screen.
Townsville Nerds can Help
Most of the times, Townsville computer repair Nerds are successful in recovering your data off a computer which has black screened.
The chances are very good, specially if your computer is still powering up and you can hear it starting with Windows chimes or specific software running on the background.
We also offer a 100% free no obligation quote.
