MSI Laptop Black Screen

Before undertaking significant repairs on your device, try these basic troubleshooting steps:

• Is the device powered on and charged? Make sure the outlet and charging cable are functional. If your device's charging LED does not turn on, your laptop may not be charging. Instead, check out our MSI Laptop Not Charging page.
• Turn up screen brightness settings. A function key or buttons on the keyboard should control display brightness.
• Did the problem occur after liquid damage or previous repair? Damage to the motherboard is rare in most cases but can cause problems with the display if exposed to corrosion or damage during repairs.
• Test with an external monitor. Unplug any other device to ensure you're outputting to the monitor.
  • If no display appears on the monitor, ensure you're experiencing a black screen problem by checking for any signs of life. Some examples exist here.
    • If your device is showing signs of life, but the screen is still truly black (no logos or display at all), the most likely culprit is the motherboard.
    • If your device is not showing any signs of life, it's likely that it simply wasn't turning on to begin with. For help with your problem, move over to our MSI Laptop Won't Turn On page.
  • If a display appears, continue to the causes outlined below.

There are some cases where software faults can cause no display to appear on an otherwise powered-on laptop, but they are somewhat uncommon. If any of these cases apply to you, see the associated cause in the Additional Information section below:

• Is there a cursor on the screen that moves around with your mouse? If so, it's probably because your Explorer.exe process is not running correctly. See here for details on the fix.
• If the issue only popped after updating your operating system, the most likely culprit is that recent software update. See here for instructions on how to solve the problem.
• If the black screen appears on startup, is accompanied by loud fan noises/keyboard backlights/startup sounds, and shows a screen after 15-20 minutes of this behavior, the laptop is likely performing a set of startup tests that could result from some failure or corruption. Wait out the boot and try updating the BIOS with instructions found here.
• Although it's exceedingly rare, faulty display drivers can sometimes present as a completely black screen. If you have any reason to suspect this is the case, try addressing the issue with the solutions found in our faulty display driver section.

If your MSI Device works with an external display but with the main display, it suggests possible damage to the display. To check if the display might be faulty, follow these steps.

1. Power off your Laptop. Be sure to remove any peripherals or power sources.
2. Carefully inspect the internal display for physical damage. This includes any significant or small cracks or any liquid damage. Checking from different angles can help spot hairline cracks as they catch in the light.

If there is physical damage, consider MSI Laptop Screens.

If the external monitor works but the laptop screen remains black, the issue may be with the display cable itself.

• Verify that the display is correctly connected to the display cable. This will involve some dismantling. Ensure the display cable is securely plugged into the LCD panel and motherboard. If the cable appears loose, reconnect it carefully. After reconnection, test the display to see if the content displays correctly on the LCD panel.
• Perform a visual inspection of the display cable. If no visible damage is apparent, thoroughly examine the display cable connections. Check both the end of the display and the point where the display cable connects to the motherboard. Also, inspect the hinge area of the cable, where damage can occur from rubbing or pinching in the hinge mechanism. Look for any signs of damage, such as burns or indications of liquid damage. If any damage is found, try to replace the MSI Laptop Cables.

A faulty display can still cause a black screen despite not showing any signs of damage. However, there's no guarantee that you won't throw good parts at a bad motherboard if you can't identify any physical damage in the display components (cables and screen).

If you're set on performing the repair yourself, it's probably worth replacing the display while you've got the laptop open.

• Use a replacement guide for your model (or a similar one) to learn how to replace your display.

What if your MSI laptop still displays a black screen, even after following all the troubleshooting steps above? The process of elimination points toward a motherboard problem. Use the guide for your device (or a similar one) to disassemble your laptop to the point where you can inspect your motherboard.

1. Remove any accumulated dust or debris from your device's internal components. Dust or debris can cause short circuits, potentially causing issues with the operating system. Clean the internals of your device to ensure proper function.
2. Perform a thorough visual inspection of the circuit boards for any signs of burns or damaged components. Suppose you observe any visible damage, such as burns or parts that appear to be physically damaged. In that case, the board likely needs to be replaced, especially if it's the board carrying the display cable connector. You can find motherboard replacements for your MSI Laptop in our store.

You can check for the following signs of life to ensure that your device is powered on while displaying a black screen:

• Startup Sounds: Does the device make any noises during startup? Is it obvious it is turning off or on?
• Caps lock light: Does pressing the lock key turn on any indicator lights?
• Keyboard backlight - Is the keyboard lit up?
• Charging/battery Indicator: Are there other indicator lights on the device? Do lights appear while charging?
• Haptic Responses: Some devices vibrate with a haptic response when touched the keyboard or touchscreen. Do not confuse a mechanical vibration on the keyboard with a haptic motor response.
• Screen backlight: If a faint glow illuminates your black screen while the display is still a blank black box, this is a good indicator that something's functioning behind the scenes.

Is the screen black, save for your cursor? Well, the culprit might be that the Explorer.exe Process isn't running. Explorer.exe, or Windows Explorer, provides a graphical user interface for file management and desktops, including the taskbar, Start menu, and File Explorer.

1. To reset Explorer.exe, hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc to bring up Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab in the Task Manager window and find the Windows Explorer Process.
3. Right-click the process and click on Restart.

You can check to ensure your issue lies with the operating system by trying to boot from a bootable USB drive. You can learn to make one here. If you can successfully get an image from your bootable USB drive, the problem lies either in your display drivers or in a corrupted storage drive.

Faulty Display Drivers

To resolve this issue, boot the laptop in Safe Mode and reinstall the graphics driver. Follow these steps to enter Safe Mode:

1. Hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
2. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
3. On the first sign that Windows has started (for example, the MSI logo), hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
4. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
5. When Windows restarts, hold the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
6. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
7. Allow your device to restart into Automatic Repair, and select Advanced options to enter Windows Recovery Environment.
8. In winRE, follow these steps to enter Safe Mode: On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
9. After the device restarts, you will see a list of options. Select four or press F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode.

Once in Safe Mode, uninstall the current graphics driver and restart the laptop. Then, download and install your device's latest graphics drivers from the MSI support website.

When the laptop powers on but the screen remains black, it could be due to a corrupted or faulty graphics driver.

Faulty Storage Drive

If your laptop can't boot properly to Windows or load display drivers due to a bad storage drive, Windows may not have precise enough information (or any information) to display an image correctly.

• If your screen is black except for a white cursor on the top left, your device cannot find an operating system to boot to. Although this could mean only your boot sector is affected, and a rebuild will help, in a worst-case scenario, this could be caused by storage failure.
• If the test fails, replace the drive with a compatible one. Depending on the model, you may need to do a bit of research to get this right. With m.2 drives, note whether it is a PCIe or SATA-based drive; it is usually listed on the sticker.

If you've encountered this issue after updating your operating system, it might be caused by an incompatible update.

• Boot your device into Safe mode using the instructions in the Faulty Display Driver Section.
• Once you have booted into Safe Mode, Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history > Uninstall updates.
• This will open the Control Panel with all the recent updates installed on the PC. Select the most recent update, then click the Uninstall button above the list.

Outdated firmware can conflict with newer updates, leading to unexpected behavior, such as an incomplete boot or blank image. A damaged BIOS may mean startup directions are incomplete or incorrect, causing your machine to exhibit black screen symptoms.

• Reset your device's BIOS Settings. To reset your motherboard's BIOS settings, you can try uninstalling and then reinstalling the CMOS battery. By doing so, any stored settings or configurations that may have become corrupted will be cleared, and the system will start with default settings. This helps eliminate potential conflicts or misconfigurations that could be causing the issue you're experiencing.
• Update your BIOS. Updating your device's BIOS will depend on your specific type of MSI Laptop. Use this guide to update your device's BIOS or follow BIOS recovery. Download and install the latest BIOS update following the provided instructions.
• Recover your BIOS. If resetting or updating doesn't resolve the issue, you may need to recover the firmware. This will replace the current (possibly damaged) firmware with fresh firmware and provide your laptop with all the proper startup directions.