My monitor occasionally turns completely black while I'm playing games. It happens unpredictably, and I'm not sure whether the system is still running when it occurs. I checked Task Manager during gameplay, but GPU usage usually stays around 50%, so I'm wondering whether the graphics card is actually responsible and what diagnostics I should check.
1 Answer
GPU utilization being around 50% doesn’t rule out a graphics problem. A driver crash, overheating, unstable power, bad cable, monitor issue, or failing GPU can all cause a black screen without maxing out usage. Check Event Viewer immediately after rebooting and look under Windows Logs > System for display-driver, hardware, or power-related errors. Also try reinstalling the graphics driver, checking GPU and CPU temperatures, reseating the GPU and its power cables, and testing a different display cable or monitor.
I found an event mentioning that SCEP certificate enrollment for the local system failed. That certificate error is usually unrelated to a gaming black screen, so I’d focus on display-driver, hardware, and unexpected-shutdown events instead.