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CompTIA

220-1002 · Question #829

A computer's power light is on, but the screen is completely black. The user is unable to wake the computer and then contacts a technician. The technician asks the user to inspect the display cable…

The correct answer is C. Perform a hard restart. When a computer is powered on (power light is on) but the screen is black and the system is unresponsive, and the display cable has already been verified as secure, the next logical troubleshooting step is a hard restart. A hard restart (holding the power button until the…

Hardware and network troubleshooting

Question

A computer’s power light is on, but the screen is completely black. The user is unable to wake the computer and then contacts a technician. The technician asks the user to inspect the display cable, but it is securely connected at each end. Which of the following steps should the technician ask the user to take NEXT?

Options

  • ARoll back the Windows updates
  • BPerform a startup recovery
  • CPerform a hard restart
  • DBoot from the last known-good configuration

How the community answered

(46 responses)
  • A
    9% (4)
  • B
    2% (1)
  • C
    87% (40)
  • D
    2% (1)

Explanation

When a computer is powered on (power light is on) but the screen is black and the system is unresponsive, and the display cable has already been verified as secure, the next logical troubleshooting step is a hard restart. A hard restart (holding the power button until the machine shuts off, then powering it back on) clears the current system state and forces a fresh boot. This addresses the possibility that the system is frozen or stuck mid-boot. Options A and D (rolling back updates and using last-known-good configuration) require the OS to at least partially load, which isn't possible if the screen is black and the system is unresponsive. Option B (startup recovery) is a more advanced step that should be attempted only after a simple restart has been tried and failed.

Topics

#display troubleshooting#hard restart#black screen#boot problems

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