I have a Samsung Notebook NP900X5J that will charge, do the initial boot with the Samsung logo, and then the screen blacks out. The laptop's blue led battery indicator light turns on, but again the screen is not reactive. I made sure to boot without any media plugged into the lap like USB devices, but no change. The laptop functioned fine before and just started doing this when I tried to use it the other day. Any help with this would be much appreciated.
If your screen is only blank when on battery power, disable Panel Self Refresh.
In some cases, some Intel drivers may install from Windows Update which allows the Panel Self Refresh function on devices that do not actually support the feature. So when the feature is turned on, the panel is blank.
To turn off the feature, right click the desktop, and then click Intel Graphics Settings > Power > Battery, and change the Panel Self Refresh option to Disable. Click Apply to confirm the setting.
Disconnect external display devices or docks.
Depending on your settings, any external devices or docks may be configured to make the main screen blank when in use. Disconnect them to confirm if this is the case.
Connect to an external display, if possible.
If you have an external display, and you've proved that the external display or dock is not causing the main screen to blank, it's okay to plug it back in. Then, if the external display works, use it to check for any updates available for the PC.
Check if the PC is overheating.
Listen for the fans on the computer and feel around the fans and other areas on the computer where heat emits. If the computer feels hotter than usual, it may not have proper airflow. Place the computer somewhere cooler and turn it off for 15 minutes.
If the computer continues to overheat even when it has good airflow around it and is in a cool environment, this will require service
Reset the video driver.
Press Ctrl + Win + Shift + B. The screen may flicker as the video driver is reset.
Force a shutdown.
Press and hold the power button until all the power and activity lights are off. Keep holding the button until the PC starts to boot. You may have to hold in the button for 30 seconds or more.
If the issue occurred immediately after a recent update, use Windows Recovery to roll back to before the update.
Windows Recovery can be accessed by failing to boot into Windows three times in a row. As Windows is booting, press and hold the power button until the PC turns off, then turn it back on again. If it does not go into Windows Recovery, repeat the process (up to three times) until it does.
Once in Windows Recovery, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Advanced Startup Options > Startup Settings > Restart. After restarting, select 5 or press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
Once in Safe Mode, remove any recent updates or programs that may have caused the issue, then restart to attempt to boot normally.
If the troubleshooting steps did not help above then you have a couple of options based on your warranty.
- If your unit was recently purchased, you can check with your retailer on their return/exchange processes.
- If you have an extended warranty you can reach out to them to have service set up.
- If you're within the one year warranty, you can Private message me or one of our moderators with your full model and serial number to have service setup
- If you're OUT of warranty, you can use this link below to find a service center in your area.
If your screen is only blank when on battery power, disable Panel Self Refresh.
In some cases, some Intel drivers may install from Windows Update which allows the Panel Self Refresh function on devices that do not actually support the feature. So when the feature is turned on, the panel is blank.
To turn off the feature, right click the desktop, and then click Intel Graphics Settings > Power > Battery, and change the Panel Self Refresh option to Disable. Click Apply to confirm the setting.
Disconnect external display devices or docks.
Depending on your settings, any external devices or docks may be configured to make the main screen blank when in use. Disconnect them to confirm if this is the case.
Connect to an external display, if possible.
If you have an external display, and you've proved that the external display or dock is not causing the main screen to blank, it's okay to plug it back in. Then, if the external display works, use it to check for any updates available for the PC.
Check if the PC is overheating.
Listen for the fans on the computer and feel around the fans and other areas on the computer where heat emits. If the computer feels hotter than usual, it may not have proper airflow. Place the computer somewhere cooler and turn it off for 15 minutes.
If the computer continues to overheat even when it has good airflow around it and is in a cool environment, this will require service
Reset the video driver.
Press Ctrl + Win + Shift + B. The screen may flicker as the video driver is reset.
Force a shutdown.
Press and hold the power button until all the power and activity lights are off. Keep holding the button until the PC starts to boot. You may have to hold in the button for 30 seconds or more.
If the issue occurred immediately after a recent update, use Windows Recovery to roll back to before the update.
Windows Recovery can be accessed by failing to boot into Windows three times in a row. As Windows is booting, press and hold the power button until the PC turns off, then turn it back on again. If it does not go into Windows Recovery, repeat the process (up to three times) until it does.
Once in Windows Recovery, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Advanced Startup Options > Startup Settings > Restart. After restarting, select 5 or press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
Once in Safe Mode, remove any recent updates or programs that may have caused the issue, then restart to attempt to boot normally.
If the troubleshooting steps did not help above then you have a couple of options based on your warranty.
- If your unit was recently purchased, you can check with your retailer on their return/exchange processes.
- If you have an extended warranty you can reach out to them to have service set up.
- If you're within the one year warranty, you can Private message me or one of our moderators with your full model and serial number to have service setup
- If you're OUT of warranty, you can use this link below to find a service center in your area.
Thank you, @SamsungCaleb! I went from the first link you had about the PC not turning on at all and forced it to boot by turning it on and off three times. That actually brought up the windows update screen that kept going in a loop. I then pressed F8 until it popped up a message that it was rolling back the updates. From there I turned off the Intel Graphics Panel Self Refresh option. It seems to be working fine now, so glad it was an easy fix. Thanks so much for your help in keeping my family of Samsung devices working! Thanks!
