Blank Screen Problem and Solution
I have been using Windows 10 for some time but a few days ago while the computer was sitting on but unused, there was a beep and the screen blanked. Moved the mouse and the cursor appeared, but the screen remained otherwise black. No amount of keyboard tapping or moise clicking would bring the screen to life, other than the mouse cursor.
Power down, power up, sleep mode, wake up, nothing worked. So I ended up pulling the power lead and the battery pack while the computer was on.
Held down the shift key while pressing the power button and the computer appeared to boot normally. A quick check on the internet suggested that it was a graphics fault, so I disabled the graphics accelerator card. The computer screen stayed on for hours without any problems.
Further reading suggested that although Windows 10 and the graphics card manufacturers supplied driver programs for various graphics cards, these programs were of a generic type that worked okay for most cards, most of the time. Individual computer manufacturers are responsible for supplying specific driver programs to work with the computers they manufacture.
So I went into settings and deleted the driver and other programs associated with my graphics accelerator card. The next step was to log onto my computer manufacturers site (Hewlett Packard) using the support program supplied with the computer and request that the computer download the latest driver programs.
Once that was done, I reactivated the graphics accelerator card and everything seems to be back to normal.
The only fly in the ointment is that a pop up message appears from the graphics card manufacturer suggesting that a newer improved driver program is available that will enhance my graphics experience. That is where all the problems started. Do not download drivers direct from graphics card manufacturers, only use the ones supplied by your computer manufacturer (assembler). They have worked out all the bugs and customised the driver to work with their machine and all the other bits cobbled together to make the computer work. I have managed to shut down the graphics card manufacturers upgrade message by instructing the computer never to check.
So if you find yourself with a blank screen and just a mouse cursor visible, or perhaps just a blank screen and everything else seems to be running, it may be a problem with the computer getting conflicting instructions from two different graphics devices. A bog standard display driver is usually included on all computer motherboards, but this isn't great for playing games or watching high definition movies. So a second graphics accelerator card is fitted that does all the donkey work when high quality graphics are required. The two different graphics systems need to play nicely with one another otherwise you end up with a blank screen. The computer manufacturer makes sure this happens. Microsoft and the graphics card manufacturers have no idea what combination of other components you may have in your system. So go to your computer manufacturer for updates as the first port of call when, or if, you have any sort of problems. This applies to just about any devices you have fitted to your computer.
Over all Windows 10 has proved to be quite a lot better than Windows 8 if you can overlook all the stuff it wants to send back to Microsoft. If you are running Windows 7, I suggest you stick with that.