How to Fix It When a Lenovo Laptop Has a Black Screen

If you turn your laptop on and hear the computer working, but the screen is black, don't panic. There could be a way to fix the Lenovo laptop's black screen without replacing it or the computer.

Causes of a Lenovo Black Screen

There are a variety of reasons your laptop screen won't come on. They include:

• Hardware errors: If the hardware components or peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and cables are worn out, they could cause display issues.
• A faulty display: If there is something wrong with the display, it could cause it to stop showing the picture.
• A faulty battery: If the battery on your laptop is very low or dead, it could create a problem with your display.
• Software errors: Windows and other software applications can impact your laptop display as well.

Try These Lenovo Black Screen Fixes

Below are the best things to try when your Lenovo laptop has a black screen. Try these solutions in order until you find one that works for you.

1. Restart the graphics driver by pressing Win+Ctrl+Shift+B. This refreshes the display connection and could be all that's needed to fix the black screen.

2. Restart your computer. It's a wonder how much a simple restart can fix on a computer. Restart your computer without any peripherals connected (a mouse, USB hub, etc.). If your issue resolves, the attached peripheral was likely causing the screen not to turn on correctly.

3. Turn your Lenovo laptop off, unplug it from any power, and remove the battery. Disconnect any peripherals and let everything sit for 30 seconds to a minute.

   Then, press and hold the power button for 60 seconds, put the battery back in, and connect the power cord. Then turn your computer on to see if it powers up properly and the display comes back on.

4. Connect to an external monitor. To test your LCD and LCD cables, connect your laptop to an external monitor with a VGA cable or connect to a TV as an external display using an HDMI cable, depending on the connections available on your system. Then restart your computer.

   The display should appear on the external monitor or TV. If not, you may need to press F4 on your keyboard (or another key with a rectangle box with vertical lines on the left and right—meant to indicate a monitor).

   If the computer displays on the external monitor, the LCD or internal LCD cable could be faulty. Replace the LCD cable. If that doesn't work, the LCD screen needs to be replaced and should probably go to the repair shop since replacing the monitor can be delicate. Do follow the steps below before taking on this repair to be sure it's not anything else.

5. Update your graphics drivers. If your graphics driver is corrupted or out of date, it could cause the display to not work correctly. Try updating the driver and then restarting the computer to see if your display turns on.

   This step, and the others below, clearly won't work if you can't see your screen. See if booting into Safe Mode works instead. Or, if using a second monitor works, use that screen to update the driver.

6. Update Windows. There could be a display-related bug that an update patches, or something else that's needed from Windows in order for the screen to work. You'll find this out if there are updates to install.

7. Restart exporer.exe. This process manages several essential parts of your computer, and it was accidentally closed, it could your screen to go black. Here's how to restart it:

   1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
   2. Open the Processes tab.
   3. Right-click Windows Explorer and choose Restart.

8. Scan your computer for viruses. Malware can do lots of damage to a computer, so deleting an infection, if you have one, is a smart thing to try before the next step.

9. Factory reset your computer. This is a nuclear option because when you reset your computer, it'll be set back to how it was straight out of the box, meaning you might lose all your files.

10. If you've tried everything above and the screen on your Lenovo laptop still isn't working, there's likely a deeper issue at play. Unless you're well-versed in repairing computers, it might be time to call a professional. Just remember, if your computer is still under warranty, reach out to Lenovo first.