How to hard reset pc without display

Can’t log in to Windows 10 as the user profile failed the logon or you forgot the admin password? How can I do a factory reset without logging in? Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough on resetting Windows 10 laptop, PC or tablet without logging in.

How to Reset Windows 10 Laptop, PC or Tablet without Logging in

If you can at least reach the login screen, click on Power icon on lower right corner, then hold down the SHIFT key and then select Restart.

How to hard reset pc without display

Windows 10 will reboot and ask you to select an option. Click Troubleshoot.

How to hard reset pc without display

On the next screen, click the Reset this PC button.

How to hard reset pc without display

You’ll see two option: “Keep my files” and “Remove everything“. The former will keep all of your personal files but it requires you to provide current admin password later on. If you’ve forgotten your password, you have to pick the latter option to erase everything.

How to hard reset pc without display

Keep My Files

If you’ve selected the “Keep my files” option, the next screen will prompt you to choose an existing administrator account on your PC to continue.

How to hard reset pc without display

Next, enter your user password. If you can’t remember the password, you’ll have to go back to the previous step and choose “Remove everything”.

How to hard reset pc without display

Click on Reset. The computer will reboot itself several times and begin the factory reset process.

How to hard reset pc without display

Remove Everything

If you’ve selected the “Remove everything” option, you’ll next be asked if you want to wipe all the drives, or only the drive where Windows 10 is installed.

How to hard reset pc without display

Next, you’ll get another two options: “Just remove my files” and “Fully clean the drive“. If you are keeping this computer, select the former option which is faster. If you are recycling the computer, select the latter option to wipe the drives and make your files completely unrecoverable.

How to hard reset pc without display

Click on Reset and just wait for the factory reset process to complete. This might take an hour or more.

How to hard reset pc without display

That’s all there is to it.


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This post shows 8 solutions to fix the issue of having no display while the PC is turned on. It will also introduce an professional file recovery software to retrieve lost data - MiniTool Power Data Recovery. 

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PC Turns On but No Display

Q:My computer is turning on but the screen is staying black

My computer powers up all lights, fans, HDD and VGA fan… but nothing comes up on screen.... have checked all connections and monitor... was working fine... then left off for few months now nothing on screen... any suggestions will help...

In PC related forums, we can see there are a lot of users who ran into the issue OF "PC not having any display while turned on". However, not many people know quick and effective ways to fix this.

Windows's black screen of death is a common issue. Here, for a better troubleshooting guide you can see How Do I Solve Windows 10 Booting to a Black Screen with Easy.

What should you do if nothing comes up on the screen or there is a blank display after you push the power button?

Don't worry. In this post today, I will show you not one but a number of suggestions that may help you get rid of this annoying "computer turns on but no display on monitor or keyboard" issue. You can try each of them until you get rid of the error.

Part 1. How to Recover Data When PC Turns On but No Display

Data loss is a biggest worry for many users when the PC becomes unusable due to any issue. If data loss is also your biggest worry when your PC is unsable due to the black screen, you have come to the right place.

(If you're not worrying about data loss, you can directly move on to Part 2

This professional file recovery software offers MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable edition is designed to serve people who have trouble booting up Windows operating system. (Note: MiniTool Bootable Media Builder is only offered in the Personal and above versions.)

More importantly, this read-only tool offers wizard-like interfaces with simple operations, which can help users effectively recover lost data with no difficulty. Using it can help you easily and quickly retrieve as much data as possible when your computer runs into any problems.

Free Download

Let's see the detailed steps.

Get MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Edition. 

Install and launch it on a healthy computer that doesn't have any problems with booting.

Click Bootable Media icon at the top-right menu bar to create a bootable CD, DVD, or USB flash drive.

How to hard reset pc without display

Boot your computer from the MiniTool Bootable disk to get the following window.

How to hard reset pc without display

Select the target drive to scan, or click Devices tab to select the disk and click Scan to scan the entire device thoroughly for desired data.

If you just want to recover certain types of files like recover photos, you can click Scan Settings icon in the left menu bar and then only check the option "Graphics/Pictures" before scanning the drive.

Select all needed files in this interface, and click Save button to appoint a saving path.

Warning: Never save the selected files to the drive where you lost your data. Otherwise, the lost/deleted files will be overwritten.

How to hard reset pc without display

In this window, you can use the feature Preview to view pictures and txt. files before recovering.

If there are a lot of found files, you can use the Filter function configured in MiniTool Power Data Recovery to filter out needless files by file name, file extension, file size, and creation or modification date.

How to hard reset pc without display

Hi, I effectively and quickly recovered lost data when PC turns on but no display with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.Click to Tweet

With data safely transferred, you can begin to fix your computer starts but screen remains blank issue.

8 Solutions - Your PC Turns On But No Display

  1. Test your monitor.
  2. Make sure your computer has completely restarted.
  3. Verify that the power supply voltage switch is set correctly.
  4. Perform a hard reset.
  5. Clear the BIOS memory.
  6. Reseat the memory modules.
  7. Understand LED lights.
  8. Check Hardware.

Part 2. How to Fix Your PC Turns On but No Display

There are 8 solutions to help you fix the PC turns on but the screen remains black issue.

Method 1. Test your monitor.

If your computer starts but the screen is black, you should first make sure your monitor is working properly before you begin more complicated and time-consuming troubleshooting.

It's possible that your computer is working fine and your monitor is your only problem. If not, keep reading to find other solutions to fix this issue.

Method 2. Make sure your computer has completely restarted.

Ensure that your PC is coming from a completely powered-off state.

Sometimes, your computer will appear to "not be on" when actually it's just having problems resuming from either the Standby/Sleep or Hibernate power saving mode in Windows, resulting in your computer being turned on but having no display on the monitor or keyboard.

Note: While in a power saving mode, you can hold the power button down for 3 to 5 seconds to completely power off this computer. After that, turn on this PC to check whether it can boot normally.

Method 3. Verify that the power supply voltage switch is set correctly.

If the input voltage for the power supply is not correct (based on your country), your computer turns on but no display on monitor or keyboard. (You might be interested in this post: What is a Power Supply Voltage Switch?)

If this switch is wrong, it is very possible that your PC wouldn't power on at all. Therefore, an incorrect power supply voltage might prevent your computer from starting properly.

Method 4. Perform a hard reset.

If your computer is still having no display even after checking the monitor and verifying that your PC has fully power cycled, you can try booting into safe mode and then repairing Windows either using System Restore/Automatic Repair or resetting your computer.

However, sometimes, Windows Automatic Repair not working issue will happen. (For more details about this issue, please check this post: How Do I Solve - Windows Automatic Repair Not Working.) Thus, most users will try resetting PC. Resetting is very often a "magic" fix to problems like PC turns on but no display.

Importance: Do you know how to perform a hard reset? What should you do if you find your data are missing after factory resetting? Here, you can know more information as long as you check our previous post: How Do You Recover Files After Factory Reset Laptop.

If the hard reset doesn't solve the problem, proceed to the following troubleshooting solutions.

Method 5. Clear the BIOS memory.

Your computer problems might sometimes be caused by some BIOS (an acronym for Basic Input/Output System) misconfigurations.

In this case, try clearing the BIOS memory on your motherboard, which will return the BIOS settings to their factory default levels.

Note: If this method solved your issue - computer starts but screen remains blank, make sure any future changes you make in BIOS are completed one at a time so that when the problem returns, you will know which change caused the issue.

Method 6. Reseat the memory modules.

If a memory module is loose, the computer might not display an image. In other words, your computer starts but the screen is black.

Now, you can try resetting the memory modules to fix the "PC turns on but no display" issue. Remove memory module from the memory slot, and then put it back into the slot to get a better connection so that the computer can recognize the memory.

Method 7. Understand LED lights.

If your computer makes one or two short beeps before starting, it is telling you that the BIOS startup was successful.

If your computer beeps and does not start, there might be a more serious hardware issue. Now, you'll probably need to seek professional help from a computer repair service or from your computer manufacturer's technical support.

Method 8. Check Hardware.

Take a look at the actual hardware.

Try disconnecting all devices and peripherals like the mouse, external hard drive, speakers, printers, scanners, etc from the computer. Then, try turning on your computer again.

If that doesn't work, you might need to check the actual port connectors on the computer and on the monitor for damage.

Sometimes, the video port on the computer could be damaged or bent if a cable connected to it wasn't properly taken out. Additionally, some people might try to connect a cable into a connection that doesn't match, which can also end up damaging the gold or silver connectors that you see inside the port.

In this case, you should take your computer to a repair shop in order to fix the bent or damaged ports.

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Bottom Line

If your PC turns on but no display, don't worry and try the solutions we have listed above to effectively fix your issue.

If you have any other good solutions for this "computer starts but the screen is black" issue, please comment them in the section below. Thank you!

Should you have any question regarding data recovery via using MiniTool Power Data Recovery, please send an email to [email protected]. We will solve it as soon as possible.

Computer Turns On But no Display FAQ

What do you do if the computer does not boot up after turning on?

  1. Check the Power Supply, Laptop Charger and Battery
  2. Disconnect All External Devices, Unplug All USB Devices
  3. Inspect Your Asus/HP/Acer/Dell/Lenovo Laptop Monitor
  4. Start Windows in Safe Mode
  5. Startup Repair
  6. Perform a System Restore
  7. Rebuild MBR
  8. Fix Boot Errors
  9. Check and Repair Computer Hard Drive Corruption
  10. Reinstall Windows

How do I fix a black screen on startup Windows 10?

  1. Check your connections.
  2. Remove or update third-party antivirus software.
  3. Perform a clean boot of your PC.
  4. Unplug & Remove external devices.
  5. Boot in Safe Mode to troubleshoot and fix a black screen problem.

How do I fix my monitor display?

  1. Check the Game Full-Screen Settings.
  2. Check the Display Settings.
  3. Update or Reinstall Your Display Adapter Driver.

How do I fix the Windows startup problem?

  1. Connect Windows bootable drive to your computer and boot from it.
  2. Select your language preferences, and click Next.
  3. Click Repair your computer.
  4. Choose Troubleshoot.
  5. Click Command Prompt.
  6. Type chkdsk /r and press Enter.
  7. Type exit and press Enter.
  8. Restart PC.

How do I force a hard Reset on my PC?

In Windows 10, click the Start menu and select the gear icon in the lower left to open up the Settings window. You can also select the Settings app from the app list. Under Settings, click Update & Security > Recovery, then select Get started under Reset this PC.

How do I reboot my computer without a monitor?

Most computers have a power button. Just hold it down until the computer shuts down. To restart push the button again.

How do I factory reset my broken computer?

Answer: Follow these simple steps below:.
Click on the ''Start'' button in Windows..
Press shift and click on ''Restart''..
The system will guide you through the troubleshooting section..
Click on ''Reset my PC''..
Click on ''Keep my files''..
The system will reboot itself, and factory settings are restored..

Is there a way to reset a PC without turning it on?

Our guide to using the BIOS shows how to reset your BIOS to default options, but you can't factory reset Windows itself through it. There's also no way to factory reset your laptop without turning it on; you need power to perform all the above operations.