My Dell Computer Screen Black! How Can I Fix It?

Why does Dell computer screen black?

One often found problem in Windows 10 is black screens. Based on its symptoms, time, and computer brands, it is classified into numerous types: Windows 10 black screen with cursor; Windows 10 black screen after login; HP laptop black screen; Dell laptop black screen issue described in this post. Why does black screen happen on Dell computer? First, let’s see some possible reasons for this issue.

1. Power Issues: If the battery or the power supply is not functioning properly, the laptop might not power on. A laptop without power will show a black screen.

2. Display Problems: Physical damage to the screen or internal components like the LCD panel or cables can result in a black screen.

3. Graphics Driver Issues: If the graphics drivers become corrupted, outdated, or incompatible with the operating system, it can cause a black screen when the system boots.

4. Faulty or Missing Boot Files: If the bootloader becomes corrupted or missing, the computer may fail to boot and show a black screen.

5. Corrupted or Failed Storage Device: If the storage device (HDD/SSD) where the operating system resides is faulty or corrupted, the system might fail to load the OS, resulting in a black screen.

How to fix Dell computer screen black

After we learnt why your Dell computer screen go black, now, let’s check how to fix this problem!

Solution 1. Force shutdown Dell computer

Force shutdown is the first fix for Dell laptop black screen on startup since you cannot restart the Dell computer usually and are stuck on the black screen. This will enable you to cause a temporary or mandatory restart of the device.

Step 1. Keep pressing the Power button on your Dell laptop until the Power light turns dark.

Step 2. After turning off the device, remove or disconnect the AC adapter/power cord/battery from the power source.

Step 3. Then, keep holding the Power button again to run out of the remaining power in the computer (about 60 seconds).

Step 4. Disconnect all the external devices or peripherals connected to the computer like U disk, media cards, USB flash drives, and so on.

Step 5. Place the battery back and plug in the power cord/AC adapter again.

Step 6. Now, turn on the Dell computer to see if it persists on the black screen.

Solution 2. Reboot Dell computer in Safe Mode to fix black screen

Safe Mode allows only the necessary system programs and services to operate. As a result, booting your Dell computer into Safe Mode can reduce the likelihood of you encountering the black screen Dell laptop issue. It also helps you figure out why the screen is black.

Step 1. Turn off your Dell laptop.

Step 2. Turn on it by holding the Power button. Before the Windows logo appears, keep pressing the Shift + F8 keys to get the Recovery Mode menu. If you don’t enter the Recovery Mode, try the above steps again.

Step 3. After entering the Recovery Mode menu, choose See Advanced Repair Options> Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Windows Startup Settings > Restart.

1. Reboot Graphics Drivers

If your Dell laptop displays a black screen at starting, the connection between the graphics drivers and the system is likely inadequate. You can use a hotkey combination to restart your graphics drivers.

Step 1. Press the Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B keys at the same time.

Step 2. Now you must wait patiently till the restart process is completed. In most circumstances, the Dell black screen error can be resolved by restarting. However, it will not always be resolved. If so, you should take additional actions to resolve the problem.

Step 3. If your Dell laptop turns black but continues to run, you need upgrade your graphics driver.

Step 4. To update the graphics driver, you should open the Device Manager via Run window.

Hold the Win plus R keys to open the Run window. Type msc and click on the OK button.

Step 5. After double clicking the Display adapters option in the Device Manager window, right click on the graphics driver and choose Update driver from the pop-up menu.

Step 6. In the next window, click on the Search automatically for updated driver software option and then follow the on-screen instruction to finish the update operation.

2. Restart the Explorer.exe Process

Explorer.exe manages various processes on a Dell laptop, including the desktop, taskbar, and so on. If it does not function properly, the Dell computer screen may become black. Under these conditions, you must restart it to resolve the problem.

Step 1. Open the Task Manager by right-clicking the Windows icon on the desktop and choosing the Task Manager option from the elevated menu.

Step 2. In the new window, scroll down the process list to find explorer.exe. Then, right-click on it and select the End task option.

Step 3. Restart your computer to check if the Dell computer black screen has disappeared.

Solution 3. Perform boot repair to fix Dell computer black screen at startup

For most users, boot repair is difficult because it usually requires complicated commands or operations. Is there an easier way to repair boot issues?

Of course, AOMEI Partition Assistant is a professional partition manager that includes the Boot Repair feature to automatically identify and resolve various boot problems on Windows without any manual effort. With just a few quick clicks, you can restore your malfunctioning device to normal.

Additionally, AOMEI Partition Assistant offers specialized data recovery services and technical support, safeguarding your data integrity throughout the repair process.

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Step 1. Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant on a working PC and connect a USB drive to it.

Step 2. Launch the software and select Recover > Boot Repair.

Step 3. Click the create a bootable disk option to create a WinPE boot repair drive.

Step 4. Connect the newly created drive to the faulty computer and set the USB drive as the primary boot device. This will enable your computer to boot and automatically load the Boot Repair tool to detect all boot issues.

Step 5. Select the repairable boot entries you want to repair and click the Repair button.

Step 6. Once the repair is complete, remove the bootable disk and restart the computer from the original system drive.

Solution 4. Replace the Current Display Panel with a New One

You can also try replacing the current display panel to repair Dell screen black. The following step-by-step guide tells you how to check if your current display panel functions properly and how to replace it.

Step 1. Carry out all the steps in Solution 1 and then turn on the Dell computer. During the startup process, you need to check if there is any indication of LED over the Power button.

Step 2. Once you find that the LED on the Power button or the Caps Lock is static, try connecting an external monitor to your Windows to check if it displays normally. If not, it indicates that the current display panel malfunctions and you should replace it with a new one.

Step 3. If the LED blinks on the Caps Lock key with some gaps, you need to perform a BIOS recovery. To execute the operation, you are required to turn off the computer and connect it to the power cord.

Step 4. Hold the Ctrl + Esc keys until the BIOS recovery page shows in front of you.

Step 5. After entering the page, choose the reset NVRAM option and hit Enter.

Step 6. To begin the recovery process, click Recover BIOS and press the Enter key.

Final lines

Hope one of the solutions listed above resolved your Dell computer screen black issue. Please leave us a comment if you have any queries or recommendations. Black screens that appear at random are typically the consequence of a more serious hardware issue that should be handled by a professional.

Besides the mentioned function, AOMEI Partition Assistant has many other helpful features like Disk Clone, MBR/GPT conversion, extending partition space... And there is the Server edition to help Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012 users to fix disk and partition issues.