How To Fix The Surface Black Screen Or Blank Screen Issues (2022)

Do these troubleshooting steps to fix the Surface black screen or blank screen issues quickly.

A black screen or blank screen can happen to your Surface Pro or laptop without any symptoms in advance. This error can appear randomly: after booting your device, before signing in to Windows, or after signing in to Windows.

What causes a black screen or blank screen on your Surface Pro and laptop?

Here are several reasons why you get a black screen or blank screen on your Surface Pro or laptop:

The display adapter driver is outdated or corrupted.
Hardware malfunction.
Problems with the installation or system updates

Before we proceed to the methods, you need to know when exactly the black screen appears on your Surface Pro or laptop because it will decide which troubleshooting steps you should go through.

Let’s dive right in!

Contents

How to Fix the Surface Pro Black Screen or Blank Screen Issues

Issue 1: Black Screen happens after restarting Surface Pro or laptop

When you have just restarted your Surface and there are dots moving on a small circle on your screen, please stay calm. It means that your operating system is updating.

All you need to do is wait patiently until the update is complete.

However, if it happens too long, your graphics cards or drivers may have a problem. Follow the steps below to fix this black screen error:

Step 1: Disconnect all accessories

External devices that connect to your Surface can cause problems. Hence, try to disconnect all accessories from your device.

Step 2: Restart Surface

If your Surface’s screen keeps blank after you unplug all the external devices, try to restart your Surface laptop.

Press and hold the power button for 15 seconds until it’s off. Release the power button and hit it again to turn it back on.

Issue 2: Before Signing in to Windows

If the blank screen appears on your Surface Pro or laptop before you sign in to Windows, you can try the following steps:

Step 1: Wake the screen

Press CapsLock or NumLock and see the status light on the button.

If the status light is on:

For the Surface tablet: press the volume-up and volume-down buttons at the same time three times within two seconds.
For Surface laptop: press Windows button + Ctrl + Shift + B simultaneously.

If it’s working, you will hear a short beep and the screen will dim. It means Windows is trying to refresh the screen.

If the status light is off:

Press and hold the power button for 15 seconds to shut it down. Then, disconnect the charger and wait for 30 seconds. Plug the charger back and turn on your device.

Step 2: Check the screen connection

If you are using a Surface dock, try to disconnect it temporarily.

If an external monitor is connected, make sure that it is turned on and connected properly. Also, try to press the Windows key + P and select a display option, then hit Enter.

Check the cable and connector and make sure that they are in a good condition. Try to change the cable if you have a spare.

Using your keyboard, increase the brightness level of your screen.

Step 3: Revert the Graphics card driver

If your Surface has a black screen after you perform a display driver update, it could be that the driver is corrupted and it leads to the screen issue. To solve this issue, you can revert the Graphics card driver to the previous version.

To do this, you will need to go to Safe Mode in Windows. Check the section From a black or blank screen to learn the steps.

1. Go to the search box on the taskbar and insert device manager.

2. Select Display adapters and expand it.

3. Right-click the option under it and choose Properties.

4. Select the Driver tab > Roll Back Driver > Yes.

5. Reboot your device.

Step 4: Uninstall antivirus software

In some cases, antivirus causes problem to the Windows system and a black screen or blank screen is one of them. Thus, you can try to remove antivirus software from your laptop and install it again once your Surface is working properly.

1. Boot into the Safe Mode

2. Go to Start > Settings > Apps (or System) > Apps & features.

3. Find the antivirus and click Uninstall.

4. Restart your device.

Issue 3: After signing in to Windows

If your Surface’s screen went black or blank just after you sign in to Windows, here’s what to do:

Step 1: Wake up the screen

For the Surface tablet: press the volume-up and volume-down buttons at the same time three times within two seconds.
For Surface laptop: press Windows button + Ctrl + Shift + B simultaneously.

If it’s working, you will hear a short beep and the screen will dim. It means Windows is trying to refresh the screen.

Step 2: Restart Windows Explorer

If your black screen has content, try to open the Task Manager to restart the Windows Explorer.

1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del at the same time and click Task Manager. If it doesn’t work, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously to open Task Manager.

2. Click the Processes tab and find Windows Explorer. Right-click Windows Explorer and choose Restart.

3. If it failed, click File > Run new task. Type explorer.exe and click OK.

Step 3: Revert the Graphics card driver

To do this, you will need to go to Safe Mode in Windows. Check the section From a black or blank screen to learn the steps.

1. Go to the search box on the taskbar and insert device manager.

2. Select Display adapters and expand it.

3. Right-click the option under it and choose Properties.

4. Select the Driver tab > Roll Back Driver > Yes.

5. Reboot your device.

Step 4: Uninstall antivirus software

1. Boot into the Safe Mode

2. Go to Start > Settings > Apps (or System) > Apps & features.

3. Find the antivirus and click Uninstall.

4. Restart your device.

Step 5: Uninstall the Graphics card driver

1 Boot Windows in Safe Mode.

2 Go to the search box, and type Device Manager.

3 Find Display adapters and expand it.

4 Right-click the item under it and click Properties.

5 Click the Driver tab and click Uninstall Device.

6 Click OK.

7 Reboot your Surface.

Step 6: Use System Restore

If you have enabled the System Restore, you can use it to roll back your system to an earlier restore point. No personal files might be affected when you restore the system. However, the newest installed apps, updates, and drivers might be removed.

System Restore is quite powerful in backing up your system, settings, and apps. When it’s enabled, it will create a restore point automatically whenever you install a new app, driver, or update. Or, you can also create a system restore point manually.

Once you have created restore points, you can revert to the earlier state whenever you encounter a problem after updating or installing new apps. The only drawback is that it takes a lot of space to create a restore point.

Step 7: Uninstall recent updates

If the black screen on your Surface Pro or laptop happens after you install an update, try to uninstall it. Most of the time, this method works.

1 Boot Windows to safe mode.

2 Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update ( > Advanced options for older versions) > View update history > Uninstall updates.

3 Select the update you want to delete and click Uninstall.

Those were how to fix Surface’s black screen or a blank screen. We hope you won’t have the same problem in the future.

For queries, don’t hesitate to contact Support.

Read Other Surface Tips:

How to Fix the Surface Black Screen or Blank Screen Issues (2022)

How to Fix the Surface Pro Black Screen or Blank Screen Issues