How to Fix a Black Screen After the Windows Logo Appears: Learn how to fix a Windows black screen after the boot logo appears by reinstalling or resetting your graphics card drivers in Safe Mode.
Question: Help! My Windows PC shows the Windows boot logo, then the screen goes black and nothing else displays. I tried another monitor thinking that might be the issue, but the same thing happens. I have not performed any hardware or software upgrades, but I recently used System Restore due to other problems. My PC boots fine in Safe Mode. How can I fix this?
Answer: Since your system boots normally in Safe Mode, it's very likely that your video card drivers are corrupted or incorrect. This issue commonly causes Windows to display a black screen after the logo. You can usually fix this by reinstalling or resetting your display drivers.
Fixing the Windows Black Screen After Boot
- Boot into Safe Mode
Restart your computer and repeatedly press F8 (on older systems) or hold Shift while selecting Restart from the power menu. Choose Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. - Reset Your Display Adapter
Once in Safe Mode, open Device Manager → expand Display adapters → right-click your graphics card and choose Uninstall device. Restart your computer. Windows will load using basic VGA drivers. - Install the Correct Graphics Drivers
After successfully booting into normal Windows mode, download and install the latest drivers for your graphics card from the manufacturer’s website (e.g., NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel). Reboot once more to complete the installation.
Additional Tips
- If you recently used System Restore, your video driver may have rolled back to an older version. Reinstalling the latest one usually resolves the problem.
- Check for Windows Updates after reinstalling drivers—they often include stability fixes for display issues.
- If you use a desktop PC with both onboard and dedicated graphics, try connecting your monitor to the other video output temporarily.
Summary
A black screen after the Windows logo typically means a driver or display initialization issue. Safe Mode works because it loads basic VGA drivers. Reinstalling your video driver or updating it to the correct version almost always resolves this problem.