Why Does My Monitor Keep Going Black? 5 Quick Fixes!

If you are wondering: “Why does my monitor keep going black?”, you are not alone, as many users report the same issue regularly.

Well, the cause may be something as simple as a loose connection that takes a second to fix to hidden and irreparable monitor damage.

Keep on reading as we tell you why your monitor goes black randomly and what to do when it happens!

Why Does My Monitor Keep Going Black?

You will most likely find the reason (and solution) for your monitor blacking out constantly in the sections below, as they cover most, if not all, eventualities involving this issue.

1. Damaged or Loose Connections

The most common causes of malfunctioning displays are improperly plugged-in cables and damaged connectors, which result in an intermittent or no signal getting through.

What’s the fix?

First, unplug, clean, and reconnect both the power cord and the display cable firmly. If that doesn’t do it, you must replace each cable with a working one to see if you can pinpoint the culprit. If the problem persists, you move onto checking the ports.

To check the power socket, simply plug in a different device. If everything works fine, plug your current monitor into a different port on your GPU or motherboard. If your monitor is still turning off at this point, we’ll try the solution below.

Note: if you’ve upgraded your monitor, ensure that your display cable supports your new monitor resolution and features, as older standards like DVI and VGA can’t support extremely high resolutions and refresh rates.

2. Wrong or Corrupt Drivers

To put it plainly, your graphics driver software tells your GPU hardware how to do its job, which involves rendering the corresponding visuals, graphics, pictures, and videos.

Therefore, if your GPU uses old, wrong, or corrupt drivers, your hardware will essentially misbehave. That said, you should always keep your device drivers up to date, especially your GPU ones, since they are extra finicky.

What’s the fix?

The solution is simple: install the latest GPU drivers. However, to ensure you have picked the right drivers, you should find and download them manually via your card manufacturer’s official site instead of relying on Windows or any third-party update service.

However, before doing so, you must first uninstall your old drivers to avoid any conflicts between each driver’s software instructions. If you are unsure as to the exact steps of the process, check our thorough article on resetting your GPU.

Note: You can make things easier by downloading your brand’s official Graphics Control Panel app, as all of them provide you with a download link to the latest drivers.

3. Edit Your Power Plan

Another innocuous reason why your monitor may be turning off suddenly can be found under your power options. While these settings are not designed to turn off your display while you are actively using it, they may still malfunction, especially if you are on a laptop.

What’s the fix?

You simply need to access your ‘Power Options’, which are found in your ‘Control Panel’ utility, after which you can access and reset your current plan to default.

Also, you can try setting your display turn-off timer to ‘Never’, which will stop your monitor from turning off even if you walk away from your computer.

4. CPU or GPU Overclocking

Have you recently overclocked your CPU or maybe boosted your GPU performance? Well, these two procedures often introduce system instabilities that may result in your screen going dark or your PC to shut down, especially when gaming.

Such PC machines may not function properly if you don’t have high-performance coolers to deal with the excess heat produced by your overclocked components, which you are also running beyond the recommended manufacturer specs.

What’s the fix?

To check whether or not your overclocking ventures cause your monitor issues, you simply have to revert your device performance to default: open the programs you’ve been using and dial back all the knobs and toggles you’ve initially adjusted. 

Finally, restart your PC and try to replicate your dark screen issues.

5. Graphics-Heavy Software

Some games and applications are more resource-demanding than others, requiring the latest and most powerful GPUs, CPUs, and RAM to run properly.

For instance, a modern triple AAA game like Modern Warfare II introduces a host of graphics improvements to bring it closer to reality. However, such fidelity requires a lot of oomph to be seen in all its glory—something your hardware may be lacking.

What’s the fix?

There’s only one fix for this problem: upgrade your hardware, especially your GPU!

6. Faulty or Insufficient Power Supply

If all of the above solutions fail, consider your power supply as a source of your troubles since a faulty or cheap PSU may be incapable of providing clean and/or enough power to your components, especially your GPU, as it uses most of your wattage.

What’s the fix?

Before replacing your PSU, verify whether or not it’s the cause of your problems since power supplies are quite expensive, especially if you want a high-quality modular unit.

To do that, borrow a different, better, and more powerful PSU from a friend to see if your machine runs without any issues before spending money for a new one. 

If these solutions do not help and you still face the issue, you may seek professional help for your computer.

7. Irreparable Monitor Damage

Desktop monitors are complex and expensive units with several points of failure, and if you are incredibly unlucky, yours may fail due to any number of reasons, such as mechanical damage, power surges, dying pixels, and degradation of your electronics.

In such cases, fixing your device may prove too expensive, or it may not even be fixable at all, so you might as well get a better one.

What’s the fix?

You don’t like hearing it, but you will have to replace your monitor at this juncture.

Bottom Line

If your computer screen randomly goes black for a few seconds, minutes, or hours, you must eliminate several reasons, ranging from faulty connections to monitoring damage. That said, your chances of resolving the issue will depend on what causes it. For instance, improperly plugged-in cables can be easily fixed, but dead displays will most likely stay dead.