PC Black Screen

Software & Operating Systems Windows
1

So, I’ve never had this happen before. :thinking:

I’ve been having a few issues with an HTPC my daughters and I built a few years ago. So, I decided I was just going to do a clean install of Windows and see if that remedied the problems.

However, when trying to reboot and go to the UEFI I guess it wasn’t detecting my wireless keyboard in time, and would just end up launching Windows. Instead of going to get a cable, I decided to just try having Windows reboot into UEFI. I remember Jay mentioning it in a video recently, so I Googled how to do this and followed those steps.

Afterwards, it reboots to nothing. Black screen. So, I power off the PC and turn it back on again. No post screen of any sort, just a black screen until it landed in Windows again.

Confused and frustrated at this point, not trying to spend my whole Sunday trouble shooting, I decided to just launch the Windows installer from within Windows [installer was on USB stick]. Went through the steps and the install was progressing. It had said it may reboot a few times during install. Well, eventually it does reboot to a black screen. 15-20 mins later… still just a black screen.

I’ve tried powering the machine on and off a few times. Unplugging all peripherals, ethernet, etc. Unplugged CMOS battery for a few minutes. Power it off and unplugged the power for a minute or two. No luck. Just a black screen. Never see post. Never see Windows.

I am at a loss. Anyone had this experience before?

Specs are as follows: Gigabyte H170N GA-270N-Wifi itx motherboard, Intel i5-7600k, 2x4gb budget G-Skill ram, 500gb Samsung 960 or 970 EVO nvme drive, and a nVidia GTX-1060 6GB from EVGA.

2

Well… does anyone want to guess how what all I tried before I tried a different HDMI cable?

This build is in an NFC S4 Mini Classic. Not the most fun to build in… Primarily because of the HDPlex power supply placement makes it difficult to get the cables plugged into it and the motherboard. But alas, I opened it up and tried reseating the GPU. I tried each stick of ram in each slot. I even took this opportunity to remove the motherboard so I could swap out the 960 EVO 500gb for the 2tb Intel 660p I bought over a year ago (m2 slot is on the under side of the mobo). No luck.

I didn’t think the HDMI was the issue because it had been working fine until now, was a fairly new cable, and when I unplug it from the GPU the TV would say no signal. Plugging it back in that No Signal message would go away.

Anyways… I had an unopened HDMI cable that came with my TV mount that I just tried and immediately I have a message on the TV to Reboot and select proper boot device. So, that’s a good sign. :+1:

3

Plot twist. Maybe I spoke too soon.

Stay tuned.

-edit-

Might as well keep this log going.

When testing ram sticks, swapping them in and out didn’t seem to do anything. So, while I had the one stick installed with no signal, I swapped HDMI cables and had signal.

Continued on from this point and installed a fresh copy of Windows, nVidia drivers, and Steam. With a reboot or two during this entire process. No problems.

At this point I realized I forgot to install the 2nd stick of ram. So, I installed the ram, put the cover back on the case, got everything hooked up again… and then no signal. Removed the stick of ram and now I have signal again.

On the bright side, I was planning to upgrade to 16gb on this machine anyways.

4

Ok your issue is that the pc is registering a configuration change at the uefi boot and needs you to press F1 to continue booting. However you can’t see this as your TV only gets a signal once windows has booted into a high Res signal.

The simplest option to fix this is to install the ram and wait a moment after boot, then mash F1 a couple of times. That should work.

Ideally you would be plugging into a proper pc monitor though which would display straight away.

You will likely not be able to get into the uefi on your TV as the pc is not recognising it as a primary display (windows is using it as a secondary screen). It may be possible to change settings on the TV to pass through the pc signal better. This is commonly referred to as “game mode”. Try that, or plug it into a pc monitor if you can for these setup steps.

Had this issue many times with htpcs. Hopefully this is the issue and can solve it. Good luck

5

my pc does this if i have 2 screens attached but with different connectors…
vga and dvi.
the vga is always given the primary display adapter at boot time by the gpu. apparently theirs nothing i can do about it.
im basically stuck till the machine boots past the eufi and into the o.s. before the second screen comes on, says its primary and turns the other vga screen off, if i dont have them expanded in windows.
in cali the second screen doesnt come on until the login screen. and the o.s doesnt put the second screen to sleep.(at least not that i can find)
but both o.s’s decide after they boot which screen will be primary if you use 2 or more display adapters from the gpu.