Screen fades to black

[cdhjba]

I have HP Pavillion g series G7-1281nr laptop (Windows 7) that I purchased on Black Friday of 2011. I haven't dropped it or spilled anything on it so it just has a little over a year of normal wear and tear.

Within the last week, it has started to do something that I worry may lead to some problems. Let me note that I did not change any settings and it does this when it has full battery, plugged in or not.

When the screen goes dark after inactivity and returns to the log-in screen, I just move my touch mouse and the screen comes back. I log in and then the screen goes black again. Then I move the mouse and the screen comes back but then the screen goes black again. Then I move the mouse and then the screen goes black again. It usually does this somewhere between 3-5 times.

I worry that it might have something to do with the screen going out or might escalate to the level of other computer posts I have seen where the screen goes out for longer lengths of time. I really hope someone can help me with this before that. Unfortunately, I am beyond my warranty so this feels like my best play.

Thank you for reading.

[DavidPK · Accepted solution]

Hi,

The first thing I'd suggest trying is to  use Recovery Manager to reinstall your original Graphics Driver - the procedure for using recovery manager to reinstall Software and Drivers is detailed in the document on the link below.

Recovery Manager - Windows 7

After the reinstallation has completed, restart the notebook and check if this has helped the issue.

Regards,

DP-K

[cdhjba]

I just went through the process, shut down my computer and turned it back on.

First time - the issue was gone.

Tried again to make sure - the issue was still gone.

Knocking on wood but I think you have resolved the issue.

Thank you so much DavidPK!

You've got skills.

[DavidPK]

Hi,

You're welcome and glad it helped

All the best,

DP-K

[cdhjba]

So the issue returned just a few days later and I reinstalled the graphics driver again and then the issue went away for a couple of days and then it came back so I reinstalled the graphics driver again. Now the issue has returned.

Are there any other awesome fixes out there besides reinstalling the graphics driver every couple of days?

Any ideas are appreciated.

[anthony82]

Hello cdhjba,

You might try to go to HP.com and update the graphics driver and also the BIOS.

Here is a link to the updates.

If the problem has not been happening for very long you might try to restore the system back to a point that everything was working correctly.

Here is link to a System Restore. This will correct the problem without affecting any of your files.

Let me know if this helps.