Laptop - Screen goes black randomly, but laptop keeps working

[kirdra]

Hi all,

I've been having issues with my laptop's screen - they first started appearing a few months ago, then went away for a while, but seem to have come back with a vengeance!

The screen at times, randomly goes black while everything else keeps working (keyboard remains lit up, music keeps playing). This happens during a range of activities, from just browsing the web to playing full-screen video. I've found two ways of fixing the issue - either I can put it to sleep and immediately wake the laptop up again, and I'll be presented with the Windows log-in screen, or I can press the Windows key + P twice, and try and make it connect to a projector, after which it will either switch the display to a lower resolution or give me an error telling me there is no other screen connected (still can't figure out what causes what response), but at least the screen is working again.

After using these options, the screen either stays working or more often goes back to black after a few seconds and I have to start over again. The screen never seems to go to black during the Windows login screen - but can not rule out that maybe I have not spent enough time on that screen yet to notice. Similarly, hooking up an external screen I have not noticed the feed going black yet, however, this could again be due to a limited sample size?

The laptop itself is a MSI, I think a GS60 Ghost, which has a Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M and an Intel HD Graphics 4600 integrated GPU. I have switched all the power settings I can think of off, but I don't think they would have this kind of effect on a laptop anyway? I also have already attempted to reinstall Windows, and when trying to update the drivers for the Nvidia card, the device management pages tell me there are no upgraded drivers.

Does anyone have any experience with this or a similar issue? I've found a couple of threads on websites talking about similar problems with MSI laptops but none really seemed to have resolutions that worked for my issue.

 

[webworkings]

It may well be the display is starting to go, the cable that connects the display is loose, getting pinched, etc., or the GPU is starting to go.

If it is under warranty, contact the manufacturer. If it isn't, first I would try turning it off, connect an external display and turn it on. If it works just fine on the external display, never going black, then it is not the GPU.

Then, you would need to open it up and check the cable, however if you don't feel comfortable doing so, you would need to take it to a local tech.

 

[cjs7366]

Late to the party here!
Had the same problem and have been all around the net fault-finding. In my particular case I missed an obvious cure that I should have caught by checking more thoroughly in the first place.
I had made up my mind the problem revolved around over-heating, I checked everything including making sure the cooling fan was running. On my cursery check it was spinning but coming back to this later showed that sometimes in didn't come on when needed, allowing the over-heat shutdown to take place.
I replaced the fan and thus far all has been well (1 week later). Applying voltage to the old fan directly did bring it on but it spun more loosely than the replacement that had the reassuring stutter action if turned very slowly. (The heatsink and compartment were clear of all but the tiniest amount of dust.)

Another problem I've encountered with a friend's sister model was that the plastic insulating ridge-tip on the power adapter DC plug was damaged and the laptop was reporting an "unrecognised power supply, this may cause reduced power and for your machine to run slower...." at switch on. Changed the DC plug and problem solved.