My laptop appears to power on: the power button and keyboard lights come on, but the screen remains completely black. There are no startup sounds, and I don't currently have an external monitor available. I also don't think the brightness setting is the cause. What troubleshooting steps can help determine whether this is a display problem or a more serious hardware failure?
3 Answers
If your laptop has a function-key shortcut for switching displays, try pressing that combination once or twice. It may have been set to send video to an external output. Testing with an external monitor or TV would also help determine whether the built-in screen is the problem.
Check whether the laptop is responding even though the screen is blank. Press Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock and see whether the indicator light changes. If it does, the computer may have started successfully and the issue is probably related to the display, backlight, cable, or graphics hardware. If the lights don’t respond, it may not be completing its startup hardware checks, which could point to RAM, storage, the motherboard, or another internal component.
Try shining a strong flashlight at the screen from a shallow angle while the laptop is on. If you can barely see the desktop or startup image, the display is working but its backlight may have failed. Move the light slowly across the panel because the image can be difficult to spot.
I don’t have an external monitor available, and there are no startup sounds. I’ll try checking the keyboard indicator lights and using a flashlight on the screen.