Why my computer monitor shows no display or black screen
Often, people face the problem of getting a blank screen or no display on their computer monitor. There might be multiple causes to this, but it all lies around the software and the hardware part of your computer. Most of the times, there are minor issues such as loose cables or the plug remains unplugged that can be fixed quickly, but in the worst scenario, the problem resides in the hardware part of your computer such as the monitor, video card, RAM, etc.
If you are facing a blank screen on your computer due to this hardware stuff, it might make you replace that entire hardware. Therefore, if you are facing this problem, we will discuss all its root causes and how to fix them in the following section.
1) Check your power supply
Often, while dealing with problems, we humans neglect small factors which sometimes might be the possible cause of it. So, whenever you are facing this problem, first of all, make sure that you have properly connected your computer to the power supply. This is the first step to be focused on because usually due to hurry we might forget to connect our computer to the power supply.
If you have rechecked and connected your computer to the power supply, then at this moment, you will be able to see power on LED lights on your computer's monitor, which may be a green, orange, or blue colour. If you are unable to see the power on LED lights on your monitor, just try to press the power button and after a few seconds, if the same problem resides, then consider looking to our alternative solutions provided below.
2) Asleep State
When the computer is currently not in a working mode, then in order to save the power, the computer tends to go into an asleep mode by stopping all its action and making the monitor to display a blank screen. So, to check either if this might be the possible reason for your problem, just try to move the cursor of your computer with your mouse and look at your monitor's display. If you continue to find a blank display on your monitor, proceed to our next section.
3) Properly attach your cables
Next, it is very important to ensure that the cables that connect your monitor to your computer system are properly attached. Often people face these problems due to loosely connected cables or attaching their cables to the wrong port.
There exist different types of cables, such as HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, and DVI, which are typically used to connect your monitor to the computer. These data cables are the main source to transfer the data from your computer to the monitor. So, it is very essential to have firm connections between them. You need to be extra careful while connecting the cable to the video card, as a high chance of improper connections is possible if you have multiple video cards.
Also, those users having dedicated graphics cards must connect this card to the monitor. Many users connect the dedicated graphics card to the motherboard video connection, and this might result in the chance of a blank display.
If you have properly checked and attached the cables to the correct video ports and still end up getting a blank display on your monitor, proceed to our next alternative discussed below.
4) Replace your cables
If the blank screen issue still persists, there might be an issue with your cables. To make sure about it, connect your computer with the same cables to some alternate monitor. If you get to see no display out here, replace your bad cables with the newer ones. Now with this new cable, try connecting your computer and monitor again and see the result. If the problem still resides, move to the next section.
5) Check Brightness and Contrast
Sometimes by, accidentally, it might be possible that you have set the brightness and contrast of the monitor to very low that it appears to be black or blank. Therefore, if you are able to see partial enough the monitor's screen menu, that means you need to increase the brightness and contrast of your monitor's screen.
6) Check screen resolution
Every Windows Operating System supports some specific screen resolution, and sometimes mistakenly, the screen resolution gets set to the resolution higher than what it actually supports, then the computer monitor goes out to be blank. So, first of all, users need to fix this by restarting their Windows operating system in a “safe mode”.
Then on Windows right, click on the desktop, and you will be able to see a list of options. Here choose Properties and then select the Settings tab. Out here in the setting tab, you will be able to see a section showing Screen Resolution.
Make sure to slide the slide bar shown in the Screen Resolution section completely to the left, and this will automatically make your Windows set to the correct Screen Resolution that it supports.
While in Windows 7, choose the resolution and select the Advanced setting link or Advanced button and click on the Monitor tab. Under the Monitor settings, choose the lower value of the refresh rate that will be applied to your Windows. In Windows, always make sure to select the Apply option after you change any of your screen settings. After selecting the Apply option, a dialog box appears on your screen asking you whether you want to keep the screen settings you have just changed. Click on yes, and you will be able to see the changes.
Another way to change your screen resolution is by connecting your computer to some another monitor that supports high resolution. After connecting, log in to your Windows Operating System and set the screen resolution to low. By doing this, you will be able to set the screen resolution to the original one that it supports.
Now, after successfully setting the screen resolution of your monitor, if you are able to see the normal display of your monitor, it's well, and good or else look for the other solutions provided below.
7) Restart your computer
Often when the computer is working, there might occur some technical issue that wants your computer to restart. So, if you got to see the blank display of your monitor's screen when the computer was on, it's better that you reboot your computer once. To reboot your computer, simply press and hold the power button gently for a few seconds and when you get to see the power on lights of your computer being turned off then, just wait for a while and turn on your computer.
8) Reset BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
When you initially find your computer starting and get to see your screen, and suddenly after that, the screen goes blank, then your computer might be facing an issue regarding POST (Power on Self-Test), which is performed by BIOS.
The BIOS is basically a program where a set of instructions are specified that is to be implemented when your computer is starting.
The POST is the process that the BIOS performs to ensure all the hardware components of your computer are ready and completely functional in order to work.
While performing POST, a series of hardware are checked, and if it completely goes fine, only then the computer starts. But if POST does not get passed, you will be able to see a blank screen and might hear some beeping sound from your computer.
If this is so, Resetting the BIOS of your computer would be a better option in order to make your system work.
9) Check Hardware
If nothing of the above-mentioned troubleshoot steps for the problem works, at the end, check the entire hardware of your computer. First of all, check the port connectors connecting your monitor and your computer. It might be possible that the video port on your computer is bent or the gold and silver connectors present inside it goes damaged, which hampers the working of it.
After checking the video ports, if you find nothing seems to be fine, then at last check the hardware of the computer such as hard drives, keyboard, mouse, motherboard, monitor, printer, etc. If any one of the hardware of your computer is damaged, then it may make your monitor's screen go blank or black. That’s why, if you find a damaged piece of hardware on your computer system, make sure to replace it with a new one in order to solve the problem.