The PC displays a black screen during startup for games.
The PC displays a black screen during startup for games.
I recently attempted to start a game on Steam (such as New World, War Thunder, Sea of Thieves), but encountered a black screen across all my screens. The audio still plays, though occasionally interrupted by Windows notifications. My PC overheats noticeably during this process. Other tasks like watching videos or using Discord work without issues. I tried reinstalling the graphics driver and even disabled Windows Game Mode, but nothing resolved the problem. During a driver reinstall, Windows Security flagged a potential trojan, which I removed despite not understanding why. One update mentioned an issue with a NVIDIA file, so I adjusted my power plan to high and turned off Windows Game Mode and State power management. After resetting RAM, CPU, and GPU, the fix was temporary. My external SSD drive occasionally restarts itself when I power cycle the PC, which seems to help. I’m considering a full reset but need guidance on next steps.
The temperatures before shutting down were normal for both the CPU and GPU.
From your external hard drive it seems the system isn't recognizing it, meaning it might not be detected. It could also be that the Windows alert is about a graphics driver issue. Try launching games in windowed mode—it sometimes resolves crashes.
The issue might be related to the operating system or a malware affecting driver installation. The black screen could indicate a GPU failure or a display problem, not necessarily a GPU sending no data. The cursor staying visible suggests partial functionality remains.
I removed the graphics drivers and reinstalled them. I was talking about the Windows updates. When the screen goes black, I can't even see a cursor.
By a bit of luck I managed it, and it ran smoothly without any crashes (though I didn’t hang around long). Before starting a game: GPU at 300 MHz, memory at 405 MHz, temperature around 38°C. While playing: GPU jumped to 1920 MHz, memory hit 4001 MHz, temp rose to 52°C. Update: When trying to restart via the Windows logo button, my PC started beeping with a red light—first four beeps, then another four before stopping after six or seven attempts. That’s a strong sign of something wrong.