Does my laptop screen turn black all by itself when I play games?
Does my laptop screen turn black all by itself when I play games?
I bought this gaming laptop about a year ago so I can play all the games on my list. But whenever I play in fullscreen, it acts weird. The game gets frozen for a few seconds then the whole screen goes black for a few seconds before coming back. I use an Xbox controller and sometimes the mouse cursor shows up or disappears, making me have to tab around a lot or restart the game to fix it. On some games, they get minimized or the game changes from fullscreen to windowed mode. This happens maybe 2 to 4 times in three hours, and it can start happening just after I turn on the laptop for about ten minutes or an hour.
I tried thinking it was because of the screen speed (360Hz) but Fallout 4 needs 60Hz to work properly and the problem is still there. I also thought it might be too hot, but this happens even in less intense games like Katana Zero where the laptop doesn't get that hot. Whenever this error shows up, the Event Viewer says Error Event 1000 for Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe). I used Windows Focus Logger to see if another program was taking control of the screen, but it didn't show anything.
The laptop is always plugged in when I use it and it stays stationary on a table. Windows 11 is up to date and I keep my Nvidia drivers updated too. I've been trying to find a solution for months by searching online but only found other black screen issues that don't seem to apply to me right now.
Thanks for your tips @helpstar Sorry I was too busy to reply sooner. I can't believe I finally figured it out after months of hunting: [SOLVED] - Xbox Series controller acting weird on my computer (black screen, maybe graphics card problem). It's a bit strange though. Every time I play games with the Series controller plugged in (bluetooth makes laggy), both my monitors flash black and come back on. This sometimes happens to Steam and Discord windows too, so that even... forums. Seems like if you use an Xbox One/Series controller with a wire and have this issue, try updating your controller's firmware. I've been gaming ever since then and the problem never came up. So strange of a controller would cause a graphics glitch, and one from Microsoft no less!