How To Fix Black Screen When Playing Games

You’re just about to take your shot and win the round…. when suddenly you can’t see your target or your teammates — just a black screen. We’ve all been there. Usually, you can fix the problem without too much hassle and get back to playing.

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Why Did My Screen Go Black?

Your screen went black because of a hardware or software problem. There’s a wide variety of things that could have gone wrong. Luckily, it’s easy to narrow down the source of the issue.

Reasons for a black screen during a video game include:

Game errors
Connection problems
Driver incompatibility
Problems with the game settings
Compatibility issues
Privilege Permissions
Hardware problems
High temperatures

Hardware Problems

First, check whether you’re having a hardware issue. Hardware problems should be pretty easy to deduce. If your screen stays black and the game doesn’t close, it may be a problem with the whole system.

Restart your computer and see if the problem continues by using another game or program. Try to choose one that has similar requirements. For example, open a Battlefield game if you were playing Call of Duty.

If that works without any issues, it’s probably not a hardware problem. A hardware problem would persist across a variety of games and types of software.

High Temperatures

High temperatures can cause your computer to stop a game, so you don’t damage your hardware.

Open your temperature monitor. You should be looking for CPU or graphics card temperatures.
Check the temperatures. They should start updating as soon as you open your monitoring program. In Precision XOC, the temperature monitor from EVGA, you can see your GPU Temp, Power Temp, and Memory Temp.
If any temperatures are higher than 70-80 degrees celsius, adjust your fans to blow faster. In some programs, you can do that right by the monitor.
Adjust the fans in the BIOS if you can’t do it in the temperature monitor.

Temperature Check How to Fix Black Screen

If your computer is frequently overheating, it may be time to clean it out or apply new thermal paste to your hardware. You can also try moving it to a chillier spot in your room or lowering the room’s temperature.

Connection Problems

Sometimes a weak internet signal can cause you to lose connection to the game server and see a black screen. Go to a speed testing website and check your connection speed. Suppose it’s much slower than usual, and resetting your hardware doesn’t help. In that case, you may be experiencing network problems in your area.

Compatibility Errors

Some games aren’t meant to be run on the latest version of your OS. In Windows, you can run a game in compatibility mode to help it work better without downgrading to an older operating system. Check what OS the game is meant to be played on before changing your compatibility settings.

Right-click on the EXE file for your game.
Select “Properties.”
Select the “Compatibility” tab.
Run the Compatibility Troubleshooter if you aren’t sure for which version of Windows the game is optimized.
Click “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and then select the OS you want to try.
Click “OK” and try to play the game again.

You can always change your Compatibility settings back if it doesn’t run correctly after the change.

Privilege Permissions

Sometimes your game needs more privileges in your system than it’s getting. Run the program as an administrator to see if that improves your gaming experience.

Right-click the EXE file for your game.
Select “Run as Administrator.”
Click “Yes” when asked if Windows should make changes to your settings.

The game should run after you change the settings. Play and see whether the issue is resolved.

Driver Incompatibility

Your graphics card drivers or other drivers might not be compatible with the game that you’re playing. Try to check for new drivers and update them if they’re available.

Windows Updates

Click the Settings Wheel in the start menu to open Settings.
Scroll to “Update and Security.”
Click “Install Now” to get the newest updates.

NVIDIA Updates

Open the GeForce Experience
Click the “Drivers” tab.
Click “Check for Updates.”
Click “Download” and follow the prompts to install the updated drivers.

AMD Updates

Search “AMD Radeon Settings” in the Windows search bar.
Click on the program.
Click “Updates” and install any updated drivers that the program finds.

Make sure your game and other programs are closed when you update your drivers. Restart your computer and try the program again.

Problems with Game Settings

You may have your graphics and other settings too high for the game to run effectively. One thing to try is lowering your graphics settings, view distance, and other high-resource options in the video settings area of your game. Sometimes they will crash the game if your hardware can’t keep up with the demands of your software.

Some games have a feature that tests your computer and sets the recommended graphics. Other games offer low, medium, high, and ultra options. Play with your settings and see whether you can keep the game running more stably.

Game Errors

Unfortunately, sometimes games don’t work right. There have been so many times that I’ve been playing DayZ, and a game update bricks the whole software. Even if my friends can log in, I’m still stuck with errors — from black screens to total shutdowns — until the game decides to work properly.

Try verifying files through your game launcher to see if a missing file is an issue. If all else fails, try reinstalling the entire game on your hard drive. Sometimes a fresh installation — especially after an update — will make the whole thing run more smoothly.