Question Windows 10 update black screen issue (original post other forum Oct. 18th)

Oct 31, 2020
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Hello there. I have an Inspiron 15 3000 Series laptop. It's the default system, no added anything else.

I got a notification from MS saying that my current OS would not be supported in the future, please update to the latest OS to be supported in the future. When I did this it had a very short update period and started up fine. Later on, it insisted I wasn't fully updated, please restart/update again. Doing this it finally went into a long period of actually updating the OS.

That one does actually seem to have done something, but when I tried to actually interact after it updated I constantly get a black screen. I tried some of the support options for this, hitting the f8 button when starting up does nothing. I think it's to do with the laptop settings for this one. F12 is the only button that does anything when you're starting up. It gives me the options of:

UEFI BOOT:

Windows Boot Manager

Other Options:

BIOS Setup

BIOS Flash Update

Diagnostics

SupportAssist OS Recovery

Change Boot Mode Settings

I haven't investigated all of these options, but a lot of them claim before you use to 'really know what you are doing' before selecting them or relate to just clearing the hdd entirely. I'm not quite at that point to decide it really needs this or that to be done, just guesses.

My best guess so far is that maybe it's a graphics issue and that there might be a way to get an update and put it on a thumb drive and switch the startup process to start through the thumb drive. I think I've done that with my desktop previously, but I don't know how to do it for this laptop.

When I do let the computer progress past the Dell start-up options bit of it it does get to the Windows 10 login and automatically logs in (I have it set to do that). The time that it spends on the screen to allow me to do anything varies a bit, but most of the time it isn't very long at all.

I've tried doing some recommendations around that time. Opening explorer.exe through the find menu on the task manager I'm not sure what happened as directly I did that the screen went to black. I also tried to go to processes and restarting explorer. Sometimes explorer would show up and sometimes it wouldn't. The only option it gave me was to end the process, not restart it.

I also tried the recommendation to try to shut down directly as the computer reached the login screen for Windows and to do that three times in a row. Either it's very exacting for the time to do that in or I did it and nothing happened to allow me access to Safe Mode.

That would be the overall goal for now with that, being able to get to safe mode with networking so I can update drivers or try other methods, etc.

One time I just let my laptop sit for a long period of time after it had gotten past the Windows login part and was already on the black screen. When this happened I had assumed that the issue was fixed to find out that after I shutdown and tried to restart today that the issue had never gone away. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Update 1: Ok...so letting my laptop sit for...maybe an hour or more? It seems to eventually get out of the black screen phase. Definitely not ideal and it would be nice to find out what's going on. So still asking for advice on the issue. Thanks again

Update 2: I got to the device manager after several tries (it didn't want me to for some reason on the laptop). I checked the updates for the Display Adapter and it says that the 'best drivers' for my device are already installed. The card is the Intel(R) HD Graphics 620. I've tried searching for new drivers not via Windows before and don't always come out the other end with much success.

Update 3: My guess is that this might be a problem that the update from MS itself has caused? And might be remedied with a future update to Windows 10?

There IS an update for Windows 10 currently available: 2020-10 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64-based Systems (KB4580364)

Not sure if I should try to use this update to 'fix the issue' or not
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
UEFI BOOT:
Windows Boot Manager
Other Options:
BIOS Setup
BIOS Flash Update
Diagnostics
SupportAssist OS Recovery
Change Boot Mode Settings

that is the bios, you best of leaving that alone

So it takes 1 hour to boot...
I don't think its graphics if after the one hour nothingness it loads fine.

what parts are inside laptop? What CPU as there are a few? does it have an ssd or hdd? the dell website doesn't seem to know those details - https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-15-3000-laptop/spd/inspiron-15-3585-laptop
 
Oct 31, 2020
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that is the bios, you best of leaving that alone

So it takes 1 hour to boot...
I don't think its graphics if after the one hour nothingness it loads fine.

what parts are inside laptop? What CPU as there are a few? does it have an ssd or hdd? the dell website doesn't seem to know those details - https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-15-3000-laptop/spd/inspiron-15-3585-laptop

It's the Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7100U CPU @ 2.40 GHz, 8GB Memory @ 2133MHz, 1TB HDD, definitely not a SSD or 932GB after format, Intel(R) HD Graphics 620. Hopefully that helps.

Fun fact: I was going through System Settings/About My PC and it seemed to stall out or auto-close each window I was opening up. So I found these details in the task manager. Could relate to the issue?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
When I do let the computer progress past the Dell start-up options bit of it it does get to the Windows 10 login and automatically logs in (I have it set to do that). The time that it spends on the screen to allow me to do anything varies a bit, but most of the time it isn't very long at all.

so its blank before the logon part? and fine afterwards? or still has problems

That would be the overall goal for now with that, being able to get to safe mode with networking so I can update drivers or try other methods, etc.
one small problem with trying to install drivers in safe mode, you can't. Its safe mode because it only lets windows drivers run. Booting into safe mode would at least test if its a driver problem

go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

wonder if its slow if you boot from a USB
you can try ubuntu live usb and see how it runs, would tell us if its just a windows problem or not - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

or

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB, and boot off it instead. You can't get to safe mode from the USB. But if you on 2004 still you could use installer for other things. like running some of its repair tools.
like start up repair
boot from installer

on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.

choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up repair - this will scan PC and maybe fix this - will ask for logon info
 
Oct 31, 2020
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so its blank before the logon part? and fine afterwards? or still has problems

That's not quite what I was trying to convey. I was saying that it was variable how much time you had to interact after logging in before it turned blank. It definitely still has problems currently.


one small problem with trying to install drivers in safe mode, you can't. Its safe mode because it only lets windows drivers run. Booting into safe mode would at least test if its a driver problem

go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.

I started it up in safe mode after trying the method you described. It turned on without having the waiting blank page for an hour+ thing. But of course, couldn't do too much after that without network activity. I also wasn't sure what to try after that that might help.

I did notice that when I was trying to search for stuff in the search bar for the computer it failed to do anything after letting it sit there for a good half an hour. So something seems wrong with that.

wonder if its slow if you boot from a USB
you can try ubuntu live usb and see how it runs, would tell us if its just a windows problem or not - https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-of-ubuntu-in-windows/

I did try this method for it. Found it was in the same advanced method on the blue screen you mentioned before. I had/still have the thumb drive in and told it where to check for the thumb drive. It immediately went to a black screen and took maybe even longer than the hour+ that it usually takes to start up and then it..went to Windows and loaded up like it normally would have? It didn't seem to load Ubuntu at all
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I edited your post as it was 1 big quote and until I looked closer I couldn't see your comments.

safe mode with no blank screen would seem to suggest its a driver problem

Can you download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

Can you take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.

upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

Dell Inspiron 15 3000 3567

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-au/product-support/product/inspiron-15-3567-laptop/drivers - have you visited this site to see if its got any updates?

run driver view after updating any drivers, if you still get the blank screens.
 
Oct 31, 2020
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Sorry about that, some websites I think auto-remove the quote part from your text. I'll just start anew here. So I checked that driver site and it lists 45 updates available. 6 of them are labeled urgent. BIOS, Bluetooth, Wifi, and a Dell Security update are on the urgent one for a few. I usually leave Windows to update the drivers it needs because I've updated drivers before with terrible results before.

And here are the screenshots you wanted. Really weird that Snipper didn't decide to load when I was trying to get screenshots.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kYW-rMloDl0xaBYDA1PmMW-MwnyifIrL/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RmnLZyzq-2JdMDira7EzhD8-rt_-d1ys/view?usp=sharing
 
Oct 31, 2020
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Well, I went ahead and updated Windows 10...as far as it's allowed me so far at least. I was looking up some news about a Windows 10 error specifically associated with the screens being black for externally attached monitors and Microsoft releasing a patch to fix the issue.

...No luck with that so far as I updated it as far as the Windows update page would let me. I did the same updates on my desktop computer as well and I waited a day I believe and suddenly new updates showed up. So it might have some updates show up later.