Blank screen on resume from sleep mode - Windows 7 Ultimate
Lately...last week or so...I've been getting a blank screen when I attempt toresume my Windows 7 Ultimate pc from sleep mode. I have to force a shutdown twice, then it gives me a choice to delete the restoration and proceed to bootloader or something like that. Known issue? Any fix yet? (64-bit version of 7 ultimate). Running an Nvidia 9500GT with latest drivers installed about a week ago, so maybe a compatibility issue with the graphic driver? Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
December 4th, 2009 5:35pm

Take a look at this KB. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;977307&sd=rss&spid=14481 Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com
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December 4th, 2009 6:05pm

Take a look at this KB. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;977307&sd=rss&spid=14481 Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com
December 4th, 2009 6:05pm

ok...checking it out...don't think many will be able to find that fix though under it's title of "You cannot make a computer that is running Windows 7 shut down or sleep"...I already ran a fix from Prevx with a tool they offer here...http://www.prevx.com/blog/140/Black-Screen-woes-could-affect-millions-on-Windows--Vista-and-XP.htmlso don't know if i should run the MS one now too? Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
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December 4th, 2009 6:21pm

I would try applying that hotfix if you're still having the issue. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com
December 4th, 2009 6:28pm

I would try applying that hotfix if you're still having the issue. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com
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December 4th, 2009 6:28pm

i just did the requiredrestart after running the prevx tool and it didn't go to black screen this time so maybe it's fixed...for now? I wonder if the prevx tool does the same thing the MS fix does for the issue? I hope MS issues an update on windows update that gets it all fixed soon...seems to be a widespread issue from the little bit I've been researching it on the net.Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
December 4th, 2009 6:42pm

I'm fighting the same problem on a new PC. Asus P5 based mobo, Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) and Nvidia 9600GT adapter. When I first built the PC coming out of sleep would give the black screen 50% of the time. PC was not operational, fans spinning at 100% on the video card. It was initially resolved by updating the BIOS to the latest version. After that, no more problems, until I returned from vacation after Thanksgiving to having sleep fail 100% of the time. I've tried the Prevx tool, turning off hibernate, etc. The last change I made was to set the ACPI sleep mode from AUTO to S3. I also enabled hybrid sleep for the heck of it. So far two resumes have worked properly. With all the kerfluffle surrounding Prevx, recent black screen issues after patch Tuesday, I'm not convinced the problem is fixed, but wanted to add my results. Hopefully it might be of help to someone else.
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December 8th, 2009 1:27am

Gavin and bigdintx, There is another forum thread talking about a similar card. See http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/6f2083e0-81ca-4da2-a8c2-fcfcc0586eb2I'm wondering if this is related to the video card. I don't expect the Prevx tool to do much for either of you here. Does the video card have the latest BIOS installed? Have you tried the latest drivers? Do you by chance have another video card you can try? Just to test and see if the behavior goes away when you change cards?
December 10th, 2009 11:56am

This issue is different that the one you linked to. I've had Windows 7 installed and running no problem for months where this person had trouble during the initial installation. I also have the latest video card driver installed as I mentioned in the first post. As I noted above, the Prevx tool seems to have fixed the problem for me as I have not had the black/blank screen since I ran the tool.Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
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December 10th, 2009 8:11pm

Nope...thought it was gone, but it happened again just now. I tried to resume my Windows 7 pc from sleep mode, and just got black/blank screen....forced a shutdown and started back up...got past motherboard prompts then to black/blank screen with white cursor blinking in upper left. Forced another shutdown, and greeted with notice that resume failed and 2 choices of resume or delete restoration and proceed to load windows (or something like that). I deleted the restoration and it then booted into windows.Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
December 24th, 2009 2:18am

I had to google around for awhile to find someone that was having the SAME exact problem that I am. It sounds like it is pretty widespread, but other descriptions left a lot to be desired.I recently bought my gf a Samsung N120 and it was working great after the windows install (though it did seem to 'shutdown' instead of sleep), and the last thing I did was install windows live messenger so that her hotmail would save multiple e-mail addresses. I shut the netbook and take off for two weeks, she comes home, opens it, and black screen of death. When she called me, I thought she was joking. Exactly as you described it, flashing cursor, the two options... first doesn't work, second eventually let the system boot. Given how widespread this is (I'm running a netbook) maybe microsoft will come up with a fix. Is there anyways to bring this to a technician's specific attention? Sleep mode is absolutely vital for my gf's netbook and I can't believe I just dropped the $$$ and time I did for windows 7 to have it malfunction like this. Good luck thebigdint, haha maybe we'll get this worked out. I had my gf install the new BIOS (one thing I didn't do) and it hasn't happened since then, but it only happened that one time anyways. I just bought the same netbook and will be installing windows 7, so maybe I can figure it out. There has to be a way for microsoft to fix this.
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December 26th, 2009 8:23am

Thought I would add some specs: Samsung N120 N270 AtomIntel 945GSE GraphicsWindows 7 ProfessionalClean install of Windows 7:Installed programs (Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, Itunes, MSN Live Messenger, Samsung Easy Display Manager, Samsung Easy Battery Extender)Drivers: Updated everything I could either via device manager or downloading from samsungOnly thing I can think of: I updated the processor chipset via device manager, and then downloaded the samsung supplied drivers. Did that near the beginning and it didn't cause problems as far as I could tell.
December 26th, 2009 8:33am

I get the same problem on my new Asus 1201HA(B). When resuming from hibernation or sleep, I get about 5 seconds of normal screen video, then it goes black. The computer is still functional though, as I can still hear audio notifications of events. Only a reboot escapes the video loss problem. Specs: Asus 1201HAB netbook Windows 7 Ultimate Intel Graphics 500 1GB RAM Z520 Atom Processor BIOS Rev 0210 (latest) Installed Apps: Office 2007 Enterprise Visual Studio 2008 w/ SP1 (I know that's pushing a netbook) All Asus supported apps for Win7 Microsoft Security Essentials All MS updates (OS, Office, VS2008) To make a clear distinction, the laptop came with Windows XP, and Hibernate/Sleep/Resume worked fine. So I know the hardware is not defective. In fact, before I did the MS updates for Win7, it worked fine too. But I'm not about to go through uninstalling the dozens of updates to find out which one is the culprit. It took hours just to get them on. I'm happy to provide the list of updates though if someone knows what to look for. I've heard of Security Essentials causing problems with Black Screen of Death, but it's possible it's only one of many triggers for a deeper problem. I'll uninstall that and see if the problem resolves itself.
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December 31st, 2009 8:47pm

Well I think we can rule out Security Essentials. Removing it changed nothing. I also increased my pagefile to 2GB. No change. Disabled advanced power features of the Intel Graphics card. No change. This makes Windows 7 on a netbook absolutely worthless.
December 31st, 2009 9:23pm

It happed again yesterday...or day before...can't remember exactly..been busy. I just updated my BIOS today from F4 to F6 which is latest for my motherboard listed below in my signature. Don't know if that would make any difference, but I updated regardless.Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
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January 1st, 2010 2:42am

I'm seeing a similar issue with Win 7 Ultimate on a Rock Xtreme CTX Pro laptop. It used to run Vista Business and I had no issues. When I first installed Win 7, screen was always blank after sleep/hibernate. The machine is still active and I can remote desktop in fine and no errors appear to show apart from the warning mentioned below. First thing I tried was increasing the page file size to > physical RAM. I actually increased it to several times to see if this made a difference. The problem changed ... First sleep is now fine and screen restores correctly. Second and subsequent sleeps fail to turn display on. I get these info messages in the System log on wakeup - but not necessarily every time the problem occurs (but most of the time): The speed of processor 1 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 6 seconds since the last report. I get one of these for each of the 2 processor cores. There's no cooling problems on the laptop causing these. I've restored the pagefile settings back to system-managed - and the problem's stayed the same! It always occurs on the second & subsequent sleep, not the first. I've tried everything I can think of. All BIOS/GPU drivers are up to date, I've gone through all the drivers to make sure, graphics driver (Nvidia GeForce GO 7950GTX) drivers are up to date - though I've tried older (including much older) ones as well - ones I knew worked on Vista, and even VGA mode. It does it in safe mode and in Clean Boot with non-Microsoft services disabled. Absolutely everything points to a Win 7 problem or some sort of ACPI corruption issue or a mixture of the two. I've tried turning off stuff in BIOS (Phoenix Trustedcore NB) to see if that makes a difference (e.g legacy USB support etc.), no difference.
January 2nd, 2010 10:27pm

I got same problem with my HP laptop. Every time windows tries to restore from hibernation file I got black screen and nothing happens. Looking forward for the hotfix....Specs:HP Compaq 6715bWindows 7 Corporate x86AMD Turion X23 Gb RAMATI Radeon X1200All MS updates (OS, Office) installed.
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January 3rd, 2010 3:57pm

Happened again this morning. Seems to occur after being in sleep mode overnight, so maybe when in hibernation?Desktop: New one: Antec 300, Intel Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, PNY 4GB PC6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 512MB DDR2, 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 16MB cache, 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Antec Earthwatts 500 Watt PSU, Samsung SyncMaster 906BW 19" Widescreen LCD display. Old one: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz, 2GB DDR Ram, Nvidia 7600GS - AGP type. Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2Ghz, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
January 4th, 2010 9:38pm

I get problems every time. In my case (which sounds different to everyone else!) I either: * Blank screen on first resume from sleep or hibernate * First resume appears fine, but blank screen on second. On investigation it doesn't appear the system is fully resumed on the second case. After resume the first system log entries I tend to see in addition to the processor throttling messages (not always) are netbios service starting, then it receives a stop signal and netbios stops. That's pretty much the last log entry til I have to force a shutdown. It *could* be drivers but I'm currently running all the Win7-friendly latest versions of most things I can find. Only one driver is in Vista compatibility mode and that's the camera (on a laptop). I've uninstalled/reinstallde virtually every driver and disabled the non-system critical ones. no joy.
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January 4th, 2010 9:46pm

I may have found something... I was reading on another site that Windows uses a different registry setting for the Resume function than the OS Boot for video. Essentially, video Device0 is correctly identified and labeled in the bootup registry settings, but something about the Resume registry setting either is pointing to the wrong device, or no device at all. So Booting up runs properly configures the video, while power-saving or Resume or Video registry settings may be missing key information to properly recognize the right device for resuming continuous power after Resume. Is this making any sense?Anyway, I removed all video drivers from my computer so that I'm back to a crappy resolution. But now Hibernation and Sleep both RESUME CORRECTLY WITHOUT BLACKING OUT THE SCREEN.I don't know a great deal about these particular resume and video registry settings, so I'll keep digging. Next step is an MSI Diff when I install the video driver again. I should get some info. But if the manufacturer forgot to add the registry settings for the Resume to video, I won't get too far off that. If I've spawned any "aha moments" in anyone, please help out. If I'm off base, let me know.FYI - I've tried the LCDoff by Kev009.com to no avail, and Windows6.0-KB977675-v2-x86 which plain didn't work at all. Tried the manual PageFile increase with no luck, etc. etc. etc. Removing the manufacturer's video drivers is the only partial fix I've found so far.
January 6th, 2010 9:26am

I put the latest video drivers back into the netbook, upped the RAM to 2GB, got a new BIOS version (0213) and still had no luck, so I decided to move on for a bit. For a separate project I went into my BIOS and changed the "Max CPUID Value Limit" to "Enabled" then installed VMware Workstation 7. Lo and behold, accidentally I find that the black screen is no longer happening. I'm a bit suprised that it was suddenly fixed. Even with VMware turned off it still works, so I'm doubting that did it. If others can try Enabling the Max CPUID and see if that change fixed it, that'd be good to know. For the record, I had to enable the CPUID twice. For some reason the first time it didn't take.
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January 11th, 2010 7:44pm

OK, I was another victim of the exact issue everyone is reporting. My computer went black and when i tried resetting it, it came to that same message.I tried letting Windows do the Resume. It took me to the black screen with a cursor. I really REALLy had the urge to reboot, but I waited. The CPU wasn't blinking at all, only the cursor was blinking.I waited about 10 minutes all in all....trust me it is ____ seeing the CPU not do anything during this wait, lots of reboot urges! Suddenly screen went blue...Then I got a bluescreen referencing a driver error. It said that windows had shutdown to prevent more critical problems.Then it rebooted by itself, and bingo, no more problem.Hope this might work for you guys. My solution was lots of patience on letting the Windows Resume do its thing.
January 13th, 2010 11:36am

No cursor for me. I believe if you see a cursor then that may be what some people are referring to as the 'black screen of death' (?!). I'm not getting anything - it's like the laptop monitor's not even getting a signal. Even on the few occasions it does seem to resume correctly, not all services have been started and it's partially resumed. I've tried all the BIOS settings (Phoenix Trustedcore doesn't have too many settings and no CPUID values) and nothing's fixing mine. I'll try installing VMware - you never know it may just do it!
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January 13th, 2010 11:45am

It happens to me as well (Toshiba nb205) I can make it sleep (shutting lid as I've set it to do) however if it times out (15 minute sleep timer) and tries to go to sleep, it stays on with a blank screen (power light never turns off on the power button, not the normal sleep glow icon, just fyi) This isn't the normal sleep mode, obviously and I've no idea how to fix it. It is rather annoying especially since I have to do a hard shutdown and I'm not keep on doing that when I often have work still up that may or may not have autosaved when this occurs.
January 20th, 2010 6:18pm

I suffer the same problem since Windows 7 on Rock Xtreme CTX Pro. Although I do not have a solution, I noticed something that may help to find the root of the problem. The blank screen on resume is actually not blank - if I plug in an external monitor when the laptop monitor is blank, the screen appears on the external monitor! However, even after the resume complete, the laptop scren is not recognized, and I found no way so far to restore the normal display settings other than rebooting the laptop. I reckon it is something to do with Windows 7, and not the video driver.
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March 24th, 2010 1:54pm

Interesting! An external monitor didn't work with my Xtreme CTX Pro... I'm still pretty convinced its Windows 7 as well, purely because I've tried changing just about everything else and nothing worked. Sadly my beloved Xtreme CTX Pro has died (faulty processor) just as it came out of warranty so this isn't an issue for me any more :(
April 15th, 2010 12:22pm

Same issue running Win7 Pro. I get a failed Resume about 10% of the time. Happened a heck of a lot more under the RC1 version of Win7. And for some reason I get no cursor in this textbox, but that's probably because MS likes to pretend IE is the only browser around. Anyway, I'll try updating my video driver. I wouldn't install the hotfix mentioned because I don't have that kind of computer. My vid card is an MSI NVIDIA 9800 GT. Newegg page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127406
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April 24th, 2010 7:22pm

Same issue running Win7 Pro. I get a failed Resume about 10% of the time. Happened a heck of a lot more under the RC1 version of Win7. And for some reason I get no cursor in this textbox, but that's probably because MS likes to pretend IE is the only browser around. Anyway, I'll try updating my video driver. I wouldn't install the hotfix mentioned because I don't have that kind of computer. My vid card is an MSI NVIDIA 9800 GT. Newegg page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127406
April 24th, 2010 7:22pm

I was able to correct this issue by enabling hardware assisted virtualization in the bios setup options as mentioned by scampcat. I had to flash the bios on the particular laptop to the newest version in order to show these options, so that may be worth looking into. I wouldn't suggest flashing if you have a battery that doesn't hold a charge and a flakey power connector but otherwise this isn't as daunting of a task as it used to be. I'd likely check your BIOS setup options first to see if a flash isn't necessary and you'll have to check your laptop's manufacturer's website for the newest version and please ensure it's developed for your exact model of laptop or motherboard. If there's an autodetection web app the manufacturer provides, it's probably not a bad idea. Please be very cautious, this can cause your system to become inoperable if you select an incorrect flash or the flash process is interrupted Good luck, Kris
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May 7th, 2010 6:07pm

My core 7 does the same thing the screen blanks and wont come back on. Work around is: Hit CTRL ALT Delete then hit enter Enter She wakes up. In my bios I found a seetting for resuming video S3 was off so i turned it on had no effect on windows. Im guessing here maybe MS wants you to get a windows 7 keyboard
May 9th, 2010 11:33pm

I'm having the same problem as everyone else. I'm running an HP p6101f (AMD Athlon 7550 dual-core) with an Nvidia GeForce 9800GT on Window 7 Home Premium 64-bit. When this PC is in sleep mode, the power switch light is amber -- when resuming, the power light turns blue (normal state). When in the failed resume state, I see the blue power LED (not Amber for sleep mode). The Caps-lock/Num-lock/Scroll-lock keys on the keyboard do not enabled/disable their respective LEDs -- though the num-lock light is on. Mouse is getting power (red-laser visible). The monitor is getting a signal (based on monitor LED color), but the screen is black. Have to force a hard power-off. During the reboot after the power-off, the machine immediately enters into the failed-resume state I described above. After another hard power-off, I see a boot prompt where I can select "Start Windows Normally", which results in the system finally booting correctly. This problem happens _daily_ and is very frustrating. This problem started happening within the past month or so after no changes (other than MS-pushed updates) from my side. The system worked beautifully since I installed Win7 back in mid-December -- so it is something fairly recent that is causing this (at least for me).
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July 2nd, 2010 7:30pm

Wow - this thread started in December and there are now 2 posts in July, 2010. Same issue here. Dell Dimension E520 Desktop PC, Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. This has been happening for about 1 month. The description above by coreDump was very good - I also noticed today that the Caps-loc/Num-lock lights on the keyboard do not light up. Ctrl-Alt-Delete doesn't seem to help. Here's my description: - I tap the mouse to wake up the PC. - the monitor power button led changes from amber to blue. I can tell the screen is lit, but it's black. - After trying start button, ctrl-alt-del, etc., I eventually hit the power button to kill it. - after a few seconds I hit the power button again to turn it back on. - I get a Resuming Windows screen and it resumes it to that same black screen I had before. - I hit the power button again to kill it for the 2nd time - I hit the power button again to wake it up - This time it has a message asking if I want to do something (?) or start Windows normally. - I start windows normally and everything works. I tried the option other than Start Windows Normally once before. It does a checkdisk that takes about 10 minutes, but doesn't find anything. This happens for me once or twice a week despite that we put the computer to sleep and wake it up several times a day. I'll start looking for a bios update from Dell...
July 6th, 2010 1:29am

I have been experiencing the black screen problem since April 2010. Same symptoms as above, resumes from sleep, black screen with white DOS cursor flashing in left corner of the black screen. I reset the computer and windows gives me 2 options, delete restoration data or star normally. At this point my usb devices no longer function and I have to use a ps2 keyboard to make my selection from the options Windows gives me. Computer was working flawlessly since Oct 31 2009. Very frustrating when your young kids are trying to use the computer and you hear them shout, "Dad the computer isn't working"
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July 18th, 2010 10:06pm

I have been having the same problem in the last month. This thread was hard to find as it said sleep mode instead of standby. I have Dell laptop with Core i7, and ATI 4570 video card, I have windows 7 ultimate x64 installed and have installed the 10.6 ATI driver, and I think I have only experienced the problem after the 10.6 drivers update, so am in the process of downloading the new 10.7 drivers and see if that will fix it. Other than that I can only think of having windows updates installed. I too installed Win7 back in mid-December, and no problems until recently (last month or so).
August 1st, 2010 9:54pm

Same is happening to me, and it started in the past month so I think probably one of the Windows updates messed up the system. The screen remains blank upon resuming from sleep mode. Sometimes I'll get the picture back by continuously and simultaneously clicking the mouse button and turning the monitor on and off several times. This was never a problem for years with this computer and the only updates to anything system related (drivers etc) was from the Windows updates so I am pretty sure that something slipped through the Microsoft testing.
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August 9th, 2010 1:45am

I recently built my brother a computer; Asrock 770 Extreame3 G.SKILL DDR3 2x2GB Ripjaws EVGA 9800GTX+ He's having this issue.. I sent him the hotfix I'll post back if it works or not.
August 31st, 2010 4:10am

I recently started to experience this on my netbook too... it's a real pain as I usually use sleep mode a lot (replacement for shutdown for me). I have a funny feeling that a Windows Update from the 11th or 12th September may have broken it as nothing else has changed on my machine since then.
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September 15th, 2010 4:18pm

Hello... It seems I'm haing the same issue; a HTPC computer selfmade, with a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 / Core i5 750 (running full stock speed) / 2x2GB DDR3 Corsair / PSU Corsair HX620 / nVidia 6800XT. Windows 7 Home premium, 64bit; 90% of use it's Media Center. Since 3 monthes, I'm randomly experiencing the same issue: the first boot is OK; then after time the system enters standby; and when it has to resume, only powerled, fans... and black screen. The only solution : disconnect Power supply for few seconds, and then plug it again. The message I have after boot is the classical "It appears Windows has not been shut down properly, blah-blahblah". It drives me mad. i have enother computer (Q5500 / 4GB DDR2), same OS, none of these problems. I'll try the offical fix tonight, and report if it changes anything.
October 14th, 2010 1:45pm

any issue with the system which comes after or during the message resuming windows can be fixed by this >> as soon as u see the message resuming windows quickly press ctrl+alt+del key together.you will get 2 option on the dos screen.select the second option :: Delete restoration data and continue ...and hit enter on that... iss resolved.. n u r good to go.. try shutting down your system normally instead of putting it in to sleep or hibernate
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November 6th, 2010 4:06pm

Wow! This thread started in December and there's still not a real solution? So I have the same problem on my HP dv6 laptop with an ATI Radeon 5650 video card. After putting the system to sleep, 10-15% of the time, the screen is blank. I have noticed that if there's good enough lighting in the room, you can see that the screen is not exactly blank, but the backlight is off. So my guess is that windows during a sleep/hibernation resume sometimes "forgets" to turn on the blacklight.
November 17th, 2010 11:43am

I can't believe Microsoft leaves users fishing in the dark like this, it's plain ridiculous!!! I am experiencing the same problem in Windows 7 Home Premium. With the computer docked at my office and external display plugged in (DVI), I put it in hibernation mode. Then I undock it to bring it back home. But when I switch it on, this this time laptop alone with no external screen, the screen stays blank although the system is obviously on, with the notification sounds and all peripherals working. Windows 7 obviously fails to identify that the external display is not present anymore and doesn't switch to display on the laptop's screen. Microsoft, any help?!!! System: Sony Vaio VGN-SZ583N, 2.4Ghz, 2Gb Ram, Windows 7 Home Premium, Office 2010 Home & Business, Sunbelt Vipre Antivirus & Firewall
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November 20th, 2010 10:51pm

For me when i put it to sleep mode first, it resumes fine, but if i try it again, the screen wont turn on! sometimes it helps if type in the password blind and it fades in to me desktop like normally! so it's not a driver issue... Windows 7 Ultimate 64
December 6th, 2010 4:17pm

Sure wish someone at Microsoft would read this thread. Just like Arthetzki, I am running Windows 7 X64 and am fairly knowledgeable tech. This system has been stable as a rock for over a year and I have made no hardware changes whatsoever, have never changed the sleep settings since first setting up the system long ago. The only thing that has changed was that on December 2nd I installed a number of Microsoft updates, most related to Office 2003 but a few security patches for Win7. Roughly since that time I have now the problem of unpredictable behaviour attempting to wake from sleep. That function had been flawless until recently [frankly, to my surprise]. Sleep is invoked at 5 hours of non-activity. The main issue seems to be the display function - the disk seems to be responding to normal wake, and I get no errors related to the wake function, in fact nothing in the log whatsoever about the wake function. The system seems to restore everything without an error, except that the display is blanked. The display IS getting a signal [this particular monitor will post a message if it has "no signal"]. Its blacked-out. I can hit the power button [the physical button] and shut the system down, and on the first attempt to "Resuming Windows" it will go right back to the same state again [I get video from POST, but afterward it is blacked again]. Failing that, I do a hard power cycle which Windows 7 does not like. Chkdsk and all that stuff, and finally I get the system back again. Microsoft changed something but it is not obvious from a plain reading of the KB's lately shoved down the pipe. My system is a HP DC7600, 4GB, 250GB drive, nvidia graphics.
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December 10th, 2010 8:02am

I don't know if I should be happy or sad that others have the same problem as me, just about, but not when it has been going on for almost a year. I recently, actually yesterday, purchased the new ATI Radeon 6970 2GB, upgrading from a Geforce 8800 GTS 320mb. In the past, I've had times when I would have a black screen (no white cursor) and be forced to restart, to which everything would be alright. I threw in my new 6970 yesterday, getting ready to get online and get its' latest drivers but my screen wouldn't turn on. The GPU's fan is running 100% (this is how I know something is wrong), all other devices are normal and the screen's power button is amber. I even heard that single beep that indicates 'everythings alright'... YEAH RIGHT! My mate and I fiddled with it yesterday, he took out the CMOS battery, pulled out the RAM, pulled out the GPU and put back in, nothing was really working. Suddenly, he pulls out the monitor cord and put it into the second DVI port (it was in the first) and screen turns on and we go through all the BIOS stuff cos we reset it. I think it was just coincidental timing, that that wasn't actually the solution. I wake up today, wake my computer up from sleep mode... I hear that dreaded loud sound of my fans going 100% and my screen is black... I was reluctant to turn my computer off, but did so... I'm hear now on my sisster's laptop trying to find a solution to my problem. It seems everyone gets there screen back after restarting but me. I don't get my screen back at all, unless I randomly fiddle around with the hardware, not knowing what I did to fix my problem when the screen suddenly comes on... I've read through this entire thread and suprised and outraged no Microsoft employee hasn't come here and said something. It has been a YEAR!
December 30th, 2010 11:51pm

Figured I'd add my experience to this list; hopefully Microsoft will put this on their "to do" list. I built a computer 1-2 months ago. Everything went together beautifully and the computer worked perfect for the first week or so. I'm guessing at a certain point after the first couple weeks, I must have downloaded whatever update corrupted the OS, because the computer started getting this black screen after "waking up" from sleep mode. I'll wake up the computer, for a split second I can see my desktop, and then it goes black. It looks like it's shutting off power to USB ports and everything also. I shut down the computer, wait till it says restoring, shut it down again, tell it to delete restoration data, and then its fine. It has now started to occur every time the computer sleeps. I've checked the motherboard, ram, power supply; and it all checks out. I narrowed it down between the OS and the hard drive, until I saw this thread. I'm pretty convinced that whatever is causing this issue is directly related with Windows 7 in some way. Hopefully we can get a patch sometime soon, but I'm not going to hold my breath, as the first post was made in 2009, and it is now 2011. Computer Specs (model numbers) Operating System = Win7 Home Premium 64bit Hard drive = WD1002FAEX RAM = F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM Processor = HDZ965FBGMBOX Power Supply = EA-380D Green
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January 3rd, 2011 4:01pm

I have a very different issue, but I think it falls within the same category. I own an Acer AspireOne D255 netbook with 2GB ram installed. After upgrading to Windows 7 Ultimate, I am unable to put the computer into sleep (or standby) mode while there is any Flash video cached in my browser. It's a quite tricky scenario, and I'm wondering if it's the fault of the video driver, the chipset driver, or the OS. With all the posts above, I'm inclined to believe it's the fault of the OS. I can put the computer to sleep just fine as long as my browser is not (or has not) cached any Flash video (like from YouTube, for example). (I just now closed the lid, the computer went to sleep, and then woke back up and I am continuing to write from the same session). If I close my computer lid with a Flash video paused, the computer refuses to go into sleep mode, and locks up entirely. No amber light is elicited to indicate sleep, but instead the blue light indicating my screen is still active remains lit. This forces a hard reboot. All of my drivers are up to date, and Acer is washing their hands of this bug as far as my experience with their tech support goes. I have not tested the RAM yet, but I would be surprised to find if there were any errors. I will go ahead and do the test anyway, but any other suggestions are much appreciated!
January 3rd, 2011 8:33pm

This is MOST DEFINITELY something that came with some of the recent MS updates. My HP Pavilion running on Windows 7 Ultimate was working perfectly up until 2 weeks ago. The only thing I remember doing was to do the 'Automatic Updates' following which I rebooted my laptop. Ever since, I've had this 'Blank Screen on Resume' problem. It's so so ANNOYING !!! :-(
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January 11th, 2011 5:58am

I have had this problem for many months now. I have not been able to determine the root cause but I have discovered a workaround. First the situation: My original installation of Win7 on my old Dell D630 decided to ____ out after a hotfix in October. All attempts to reinitialize the installation failed and I moved on to reinstall Win7 32-bit Ultimate (MSDN). While closing up that evening on a fresh installation of Win7 Ultimate I decided to allow Windows to update as it shut down. Booted the next morning no prob, put it to sleep and...nothing. Black screen. The fact that I was updating Windows and drivers on my new build makes me believe it has everything to do with the an update that possibly conflicts with a driver on the D630. Attempts to reinitialize fail. Start over rebuilding. I rebuild the original and don't even get all the way through the build when Windows Update reboots and on testing the system gets a black screen out of sleep. One curious thing: This time I notice that I get a "good" cursor but otherwise black empty screen. The "good" cursor -- a high resolution cursor, not a an 800x600 ugly pixelated cursor -- makes me think the video driver has initialized but Explorer is not coming up. Event logs show the system initialized properly with no real errors other than some HW drivers I didn't install. I'm forced to move on and get a Dell E6410. I install Win7 Ultimate 64-bit retail that I had lying around. I get through the entire installation and I think I may have it licked after a few days then *BLAM!* Black Screen on my brand new system. Considering I was already limping by with my old D630 and a broken Win7 D630 I decided to figure root cause. This story is long enough so I'll cut to the chase. I tested: WLAN switch - on/off during sleep; Mobile broadband on/off/disabled, physically removed; docked/undocked/hot-undocked; various iterations drivers WLAN/Mobro; I even tested printer driver involvement. I could never consistently recreate the issue. Some tests I would like to do won't have time for: MSFT provided video driver vs. nVidia; MSFT Mobro driver vs Dell provided. The workaround: At the black screen with a "good" cursor I force a cold boot, hit F8 on the to boot. Select Safe Mode and reinstall my video driver. Reboot to normal mode. Voila. Working again. No more rebuilds, thank God.
January 19th, 2011 11:10am

Regarding the blank screen on wake up from sleep issue, I have Windows 7 ultimate on a Lenovo T400, and finally found the graphics driver was causing the issue. See the following article: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-73641 Haven't seen the issue in the 2 weeks since I updated the driver.
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February 1st, 2011 8:29am

I found a solution: atleast for HP notebooks Install the driver from HP.com My back light fails to restart after a resume from sleep.This behavior started a few days ago after a windows update. This machine has been resuming after sleep just fine since 12/08/2010.When I start up my HP dv7 notebook after a sleep I can clearly see the windows 4 panel glowing logo - back light is clearly working. Then the back light goes out. The machine is running normally - I use it if I connect an external monitor. Shutting down and restarting clears this issue. I do not see this problem using hibernate. I have updated the ATI drivers. (Installing HP drivers seems to be the fix) This must be a software issue - windows is directing the back light to turn off.
February 6th, 2011 6:43pm

I found a solution (at-least for HP notebooks): Install/reinstall the driver from HP.com I see this thread is old - if you get this far down on this page this might be the anwser you are looking for. My problem: My back light fails to restart after a resume from sleep(closing the lid).This behavior started a few days ago after a windows update. This machine has been resuming after sleep just fine since 12/08/2010.When I start up my HP dv7 notebook after a sleep I can clearly see the windows 4 panel glowing logo - back light is clearly working. Then the back light goes out. The machine is running normally - I can use it if I connect an external monitor. Shutting down and restarting clears this issue. I do not see this problem using hibernate. I have updated the ATI drivers(update but this did not help). (Installing HP drivers seems to be the fix) This must be a software issue - windows is directing the back light to turn off/on.
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February 6th, 2011 6:48pm

I found a solution (at-least for HP notebooks): Install/reinstall the driver from HP.com I see this thread is old - if you get this far down on this page this might be the anwser you are looking for. My problem: My back light fails to restart after a resume from sleep(closing the lid).This behavior started a few days ago after a windows update. This machine has been resuming after sleep just fine since 12/08/2010.When I start up my HP dv7 notebook after a sleep I can clearly see the windows 4 panel glowing logo - back light is clearly working. Then the back light goes out. The machine is running normally - I can use it if I connect an external monitor. Shutting down and restarting clears this issue. I do not see this problem using hibernate. I have updated the ATI drivers(update but this did not help). (Installing HP drivers seems to be the fix) This must be a software issue - windows is directing the back light to turn off/on. UPDATE: 2011-feb-02 The driver update to not work. I still am seeing the backlight fail on Sleep (slapping the shut). What I have discovered is if I re-close the lid, repeat plugging the power in and removing it seval times, then opening the lid the back light activates. Is it hardware? I don't think so.
February 7th, 2011 2:45am

Hi all, I have a newish Win7 Home Premium 64 bit setup - Gigabyte P55A-UD3 mb, Gigabyte GT240 card, 8Gb RAM. Been working just fine. Since the past weekend every resume from sleep has gone badly. Never had that happen before. Three things of interest happened last Thurs/Friday (last activity prior to first resume problem): - a batch of Microsoft updates came down and were installed. - I attached a new Samsung Story USB3 2Tb drive to the system. - A sparkie turned off my mains power for 30 mins while the system was in sleep. Since then the resume from sleep usually goes like this: - Main power led comes on, CD ROM flashes. - USB ports for the keyboard and mouse transceivers light up (maybe only one, or sometimes both), and then after a few seconds go dark again. - all the fans in the case seem to be whirring - the system sounds like its operating. - the monitor "activity" led (bottom right corner - blue when active, yellow I think when no activity) usually stays off. Sometimes it comes on but the screen stays black. Disco'ing the USB3 drive doesn't help. Forcing a hard power-off and restart doesn't help. Turning off the power to the case doesn't help. The one time it sprang to life was when I unplugged the two transceivers and used an old Dell USB keyboard straight into one of the ports on the front of the case (instead of the wireless devices via a USB hub on my workspace). The system was hung as usual, then a few seconds after I plugged in the Dell kb it came to life. Prompted me to nuke the existing state info and startup, which it did. The NVidia drivers are fresh. Cheers, JD
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February 14th, 2011 7:20am

JD, Try pulling the video drivers from the manufacture of your computer. After your machine resumes from sleep with no backlight turned on, try putting it to sleep again (close the lid) unplug the external power, wait 30 seconds, open the lid - if your machine still does not have a backlight after resumeing - now plug the power in and if that fails unplug the power and plug it back in right away. I have tried a number of different combinations and there seems to be something about closing the lid and unplugging the power before sleep is complete. I am convinced it is something Microsoft did in a recent update - just do not know what or when. Good luck Don Smith
February 14th, 2011 7:24pm

Hi Don, Thanks for the suggestion. Was useful in a certain way. The machine is a desktop with no onboard video if I recall the mb spec. In hindsight that (choosing mb without native video) was a mistake on my part. Did try disco'ing the power and letting it sit for a few minutes before switching the power back on and booting. This time something different happened - the machine showed the basic bios boot screen for a couple of seconds and then Windows appeared and announced a resume from sleep - so far so good. But then the monitor goes black except for a flashing cursor in the top left corner for a couple of seconds and then everything dropped dead - fans stopped, usb ports lost power, etc. But the activity led on the monitor continued to glow blue as though it was receiving a signal. Wierd. I forced a restart (rather than power off) using the hard restart button on the front of the case and it booted perfectly - prompted me to kill the state and then proceeded normally. Yes, the MS updates that came down are feeling suspect. Perhaps this one - it's the only one that was installed last week that looks vaguely relevant: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2454826 This article describes an update for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2. This update contains the following new functionality, performance improvements, and solutions to issues: This update provides new functionality and performance improvement for the graphics platform. This update provides performance improvements when you print from XPS-based applications to GDI-based print drivers. This update resolves some streaming issues that are related to Media Foundation. Cheers, JD
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February 15th, 2011 5:27am

Working through this checklist: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63567-power-options-sleep-mode-problems.html
February 19th, 2011 4:08am

I built a desktop for myself and one for my father, both with windows 7, but not all hardware was the same. I have never experienced the monitor not waking from sleep but my father does about once a week as described in most of the posts above. Today I discovered a BIOS setting that was different in the two machines. Under "Power Management Setup" "ACPI Suspend Type: [S3(STR)] "Run VGABIOS if S3 Resume" was set to "No" on my father's machine (choices were "yes" or "no"). My machine "Run VGABIOS if S3 Resume" was set to "Auto" (choices were "Auto", "yes", or "no"). I changed my father's machine to "yes" and his monitor seemed much more responsive coming out of sleep mode. Hope this helps!
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March 4th, 2011 7:30pm

I built a desktop for myself and one for my father, both with windows 7, but not all hardware was the same. I have never experienced the monitor not waking from sleep but my father does about once a week as described in most of the posts above. Today I discovered a BIOS setting that was different in the two machines. Under "Power Management Setup" "ACPI Suspend Type: [S3(STR)] "Run VGABIOS if S3 Resume" was set to "No" on my father's machine (choices were "yes" or "no"). My machine "Run VGABIOS if S3 Resume" was set to "Auto" (choices were "Auto", "yes", or "no"). I changed my father's machine to "yes" and his monitor seemed much more responsive coming out of sleep mode. Hope this helps!
March 4th, 2011 7:37pm

Same issue here. HP slimline s5310f with Sapphire Radeon 5450 (lower power) graphics card and 2 monitors. 64bit Win7 Home. When resuming from hibernation, I get 2 black screens and a solid cursor that can move between monitors, almost as if nothing's wrong. Same problem with a previous (high power) GeForce 8400 GS graphics card. The problem seems to occur more often when I bring the system up in the morning, vs. after a few hours' in power save.
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March 17th, 2011 10:45am

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March 20th, 2011 5:24pm

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March 20th, 2011 5:32pm

Don't know if anyone is still reading this but I have quite a saga which may be relevant, though I found no solution. It seems to burn out CPUs! I notice above somebody had a CPU go down. Trying to build a HTPC I bought an Asrock 880GMH USB3 and installed Win 7 home premium (german edition). I built it with a AMD ADX2400CK23Q and 4GB RAM and used the onboard video. From the beginning I had the problem that short term sleep worked fine, everything turned off, including fans, woke up just fine too, but after overnight I would find the fans running and the PC would not wake up or respond to input. At first power off/power on then it would "resume" from hard disk (I had the hybrid sleep activated). This went on for a few of days then the CPU died. One morning I found the fans running, but it would not resume or boot any more. I sent the CPU back under garantee, and temporarily fitted a AMD X2 5600. This had the same problem with waking up but did not die. Interestingly I tried this with a live linux from CD for a couple of days, and the sleep problem did not occur. Unfortunately I did not pursue this thread in the light of later experience. I got a refund on the ADX2400CK23Q and bought a ADX2600CK230GM and fitted it. This also died after a few days under exactly the same circumstances (and Win 7) Survived a few days then dead one morning. This time I sent both board and processor back, the board was tested OK and I got a replacement processor (ADX2600CK230GM). And the third processor died just the same way! I ran it for a couple of weeks first 24/7 with energy saving turned off, no problem. Then I reactivated energy saving and it ran a week or so with no problem, waking up properly even after overnight sleeping. Then one day it slept for 2 days, and after that it did not wake up, processor dead. This time no refund.... I ran the system for a couple of months with the X2 5600 24/7 with no problem, but energy saving was deactivated! But for the HTPC project I bought an Intel board, Sandy Bridge i3, fitted the same 4GB memory from before to it and installed the Win 7 home premium. Runs no problem (except some USB ports stop the energy saving and Intels video drivers don't support HDCP on HDMI repeaters, but that's another story). I then built up the Asrock board with another 2GB memory and the trusty old X2 5600 and installed Vista (Business Edition). And that works fine too! Goes to sleep properly, wakes up properly even after several days. Three processors dead after sleep mode is no coincidence. The last one ran for two weeks without pause but with many manual on/off cycles before sleep mode killed it. Since all the other hardware has been running without problem under different circumstances, I do not believe the hardware is basically faulty. As becomes pretty clear from this thread, I believe Win 7 has a problem with the sleep mode in some hardware configurations, putting the processor into some kind of undefined state. And I believe this state can kill the processor.
June 25th, 2011 6:56am

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