Question Laptop screen stays blank (but with backlight) while booting

LillyCookie

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May 10, 2015
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So, this is a really interesting issue I have with my Acer Aspire VN7-592G Laptop. Sometimes when I turn it on, the screen stays blank but the backlight and the keyboard light turn on. The connected coolingpad and the lights in my mouse turn on too.

It has gotten more and more frequent over time and now, It does it all the time. I have to forcefully shut down my laptop (by pressing the power button for a few seconds) and try again.

Now I wonder, is this a driver or hardware issue? I've already tried updating all the drivers and it didn't seem to work. Unfortunately, the laptop is not under warranty anymore.
I hope you guys have a little bit more insight on what it might be, because when I try to google the issue, all results I find are from laptop screens that stay black completely.

Edit: after a small test I found out WHEN it happens: whenever my external SSD is plugged in during boot. But still I'd love to know exactly WHY that happens. (My external SSD doesn't contain any files or programs necessary to boot, only work files and the like)
 
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Even though your external drive is not a boot device, the mere fact that it's plugged in and detected during the boot process can cause boot or POST failure (the system "freezes" and will go no further).

One of my old desktop PCs would refuse to POST successfully if I left an external HDD connected.

So unplug external drive before turning on your laptop. Plug in your external drive (when needed) after Windows has loaded.