I'm starting a new college year and need to get my desktop working reliably. At seemingly random times—mostly while using a web browser—both monitors suddenly go black. The computer stays powered on, but the mouse and keyboard stop responding, so I have to force a restart.
There's also a boot problem. Every time I turn the PC on, it displays "An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system. Press any key to restart." However, pressing a key immediately lets me access the computer, so I'm not sure why the warning appears. What should I check first, and could these two problems be related?
4 Answers
Start by shutting the PC down and disconnecting any external drives, USB sticks, and other unnecessary USB devices. A computer can try to boot from a removable drive that doesn’t contain an operating system. Also check that the internal system drive is detected in the BIOS and that it’s first in the boot order. If the warning continues, the drive or its connection may be unreliable.
Back up your important files immediately before doing anything else. The boot warning could indicate that the system drive is beginning to fail, and reinstalling Windows won’t fix a dying drive. If diagnostics confirm a failing drive, replace it and reinstall or restore Windows on the new one.
Clean the inside of the desktop carefully and make sure the fans and vents aren’t clogged. Overheating can cause freezes and display failures, although the recurring operating-system warning makes me especially suspicious of the storage drive. Run the manufacturer’s hardware tests for the drive and RAM before spending time on software troubleshooting.
The browser crashes may be related to graphics acceleration. Try disabling hardware acceleration in the browser settings, then update Windows, the browser, and your graphics drivers. If that doesn’t help, reinstall the browser. A faulty graphics card or unstable system memory could also cause both monitors to go black, so hardware diagnostics are worth running.
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