Lenovo Y50-70 stuck in black screen

So my friend gave me his old Lenovo Y50-70 (i7 4710HQ + GTX 860M + 8GB RAM + 1TB HDD) for troubleshooting which wasn't booting up initially & just shutting down.

Draining residual charge from mobo & reconnecting battery made it show Win10 boot screen but it was turning off within seconds. Wasn't able to reinstall Windows. Apparently it was overheating, so repasted CPU & GPU & then reinstalled Win10 20H2. It was working well but wasn't able to install Intel HD graphics (latest available for that CPU), display was using Microsoft Basic adapter. Nvidia drivers were installing though but games weren't using GTX 860M.

Then I tried an old Win10 iso from 2015. When I installed Intel driver or it tried to get it via Windows update (presumably), the display will reset (as it happens when updating GPU driver) & stay in black screen (backlight is present). Tried this Win10 version multiple times, same end result, black screen with display turned on.

Tried Win 8.1 Pro latest version. If I install Intel HD driver manually or leave it for Windows update, the screen gets black & only solution is to reset Windows.

I left it running for few hours w/o internet or manually installing Intel HD driver, it runs fine with Microsoft's fallback driver but Nvidia GPU isn't getting used (both on Win 8.1 & 10). I have tried keeping CMOS battery disconnected for 30min or so & reconnecting, switching between switchable graphics & UWP (i guess integrated) from BIOS, but nothing helps in long run.

TLDR: If I install Intel HD driver manually or leave it for Windows update, the screen gets black & only solution is to reset Windows 8.1/10.

So need some ideas on what I can do solve the issue. In its initial condition, my friend gave it to some local laptop repair guy & he claimed mobo fault, but he didn't even solve overheating or corrupted Win10 boot. Is it possible that Intel integrated graphics is somehow corrupted on hardware level?

Any help is appreciated.

Edit: HDD's status is warning in CrystalDiskInfo. My friend is willing to invest in a 240GB SSD, if the laptop is working properly.

@SaiyanGoku any ideas?

1) I may be off track, but trying a memtest? If RAM is faulty it would cause trouble with the integrated graphics also.

(Also according to their manual RAM is user replaceable, but you'll have to remove the laptop back to do so).

2) Rather than just disconnecting from net, uninstall display drivers with DDU, then block the windows update completely with something like WPD, and try installing the drivers from Lenovo's page? They provide drivers for Win 7 and Win 10 for that model at

*pcsupport.lenovo.com/in/en/product...ist/component?name=Display and Video Graphics

If this is the same model.

Just my thoughts....

A

Not a solution ..... but FYI you can download the official windows 10 iso from mobile site though

Try installing chipset drivers and use the ssd instead of the hdd. Use older version of intel gpu driver from lenovo's site first. I observed optimus related issues on my laptop. So I first used old driver before updating to latest one from intel site.

maheshn said:
1) I may be off track, but trying a memtest? If RAM is faulty it would cause trouble with the integrated graphics also.

(Also according to their manual RAM is user replaceable, but you'll have to remove the laptop back to do so).

2) Rather than just disconnecting from net, uninstall display drivers with DDU, then block the windows update completely with something like WPD, and try installing the drivers from Lenovo's page? They provide drivers for Win 7 and Win 10 for that model at

*pcsupport.lenovo.com/in/en/product...ist/component?name=Display and Video Graphics

If this is the same model.

Just my thoughts....

I have tried changing RAM slots, cleaned RAM pins.

I have tried drivers from both Lenovo & Intel actually. Didn't use DDU, can give that a try.

Pranay Mokida said:
Not a solution ..... but FYI you can download the official windows 10 iso from mobile site though

Finding official Win10 iso is not an issue for me, I can get other versions as well but a 2015 iso & a 2020 iso seemed good for testing to me. The laptop was actually running Win10 before starting to show issues.

SaiyanGoku said:
Try installing chipset drivers and use the ssd instead of the hdd. Use older version of intel gpu driver from lenovo's site first. I observed optimus related issues on my laptop. So I first used old driver before updating to latest one from intel site.

I think I tried chipset drivers for Win10, not for Win8.1. Will give it a try again & report.

When I was running Win10 20H2, the Intel driver from Lenovo didn't even install. When I used the 2015 version of Win10, installing Lenovo provided Intel driver caused the black screen during installation.

Update: On Win 8.1, tried using DDU, installed Intel chipset driver as well but when installing Intel HD driver, the screen goes black as usual (backlight on). I used the drivers from Lenovo.

Did you try forcing the games to run on GTX860M from Nvidia Control panel?

TheSloth said:
Did you try forcing the games to run on GTX860M from Nvidia Control panel?

Yes. But it runs on Intel GPU based on fps. I think for Nvidia Optimus to work, you need both Intel & Nvidia drivers. Right now Intel drivers aren't installing, be it ones from Lenovo or Intel.

This is how the laptop display looks during Intel GPU driver installation. As usual it starts normally, but when the display turns off & on (as is the case with video driver installation), it does turn back on but I don't get display anymore (except the cursor). I do get the audio cue of some device being connected (as it usually happens).

If I force restart it, I get the Lenovo boot logo with circles rotating below it but not get the login page, instead get this black display.

If display driver was bad, I would assume mouse cursor also will not appear. Try connecting to some external display and check.
Press Windows Key+P and make sure "PC screen only" selected

You mentioned the Intel display chip could have malfunctioned at hardware level, so just to be sure, may be you can try Linux and check if the built-in intel driver in Linux behaves similarly like Windows.

The display chip is fine, problem is with driver. In windows, the explorer is responsible for controlling desktop,taskbar, and start menu. As the mouse is still visible, it means there is no problem in gfx chip. It is the driver which is causing conflict with the explorer program. Either the driver is buggy, or it is killing the explorer.exe task again and again. There is also a chance that it is conflicting with power management plan.

Installing it to previous windows is of no use, as if the PC came with windows 10 pre-installed, the drivers will work with only win 10.(Happened to me, as i cannot use win8.1 on my PC, neither touchpad nor keyboard worked.) Any third party driver installer will also not help.

There can be a workaround to this.

1)Install that gfx driver
2) When black screen comes reboot to safe mode
3) in safe mode, uninstall the driver, and reinstall it there itself.
4)Now in safe mode go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Under the Balanced (recommended) option, select Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings, then expanding the 'Intel Graphics Settings > Intel Graphics Power Plan', set both On battery and Plugged in to "Maximum Performance" .

TheSloth said:
If display driver was bad, I would assume mouse cursor also will not appear. Try connecting to some external display and check.
Press Windows Key+P and make sure "PC screen only" selected

You mentioned the Intel display chip could have malfunctioned at hardware level, so just to be sure, may be you can try Linux and check if the built-in intel driver in Linux behaves similarly like Windows.

Didn't try Linux, but have tried ext. monitor. No output goes to ext monitor. There are Lenovo hotkeys for the same tried it, nothing.

BTW mouse pointer doesn't show after boot logo, just during Intel driver installation. After boot logo, its just black screen (lit up).

RumbaMon19 said:
The display chip is fine, problem is with driver. In windows, the explorer is responsible for controlling desktop,taskbar, and start menu. As the mouse is still visible, it means there is no problem in gfx chip. It is the driver which is causing conflict with the explorer program. Either the driver is buggy, or it is killing the explorer.exe task again and again. There is also a chance that it is conflicting with power management plan.

Installing it to previous windows is of no use, as if the PC came with windows 10 pre-installed, the drivers will work with only win 10.(Happened to me, as i cannot use win8.1 on my PC, neither touchpad nor keyboard worked.) Any third party driver installer will also not help.

There can be a workaround to this.

1)Install that gfx driver
2) When black screen comes reboot to safe mode
3) in safe mode, uninstall the driver, and reinstall it there itself.
4)Now in safe mode go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Under the Balanced (recommended) option, select Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings, then expanding the 'Intel Graphics Settings > Intel Graphics Power Plan', set both On battery and Plugged in to "Maximum Performance" .

The laptop came with Win8.1, I think & was soon updated to Win10. Drivers are available for both & it was running Win10 before it started giving issues to my friend.

In the meantime, I installed Win10 20H2 again. Will try the safe mode stuff, just encountered the black screen on Win10 again when trying to install Intel HD driver (did install chipset driver earlier). Have created restore points.

RumbaMon19 said:
The display chip is fine, problem is with driver. In windows, the explorer is responsible for controlling desktop,taskbar, and start menu. As the mouse is still visible, it means there is no problem in gfx chip. It is the driver which is causing conflict with the explorer program. Either the driver is buggy, or it is killing the explorer.exe task again and again. There is also a chance that it is conflicting with power management plan.

Installing it to previous windows is of no use, as if the PC came with windows 10 pre-installed, the drivers will work with only win 10.(Happened to me, as i cannot use win8.1 on my PC, neither touchpad nor keyboard worked.) Any third party driver installer will also not help.

There can be a workaround to this.

1)Install that gfx driver
2) When black screen comes reboot to safe mode
3) in safe mode, uninstall the driver, and reinstall it there itself.
4)Now in safe mode go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Under the Balanced (recommended) option, select Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings, then expanding the 'Intel Graphics Settings > Intel Graphics Power Plan', set both On battery and Plugged in to "Maximum Performance" .

Tried the safe mode stuff.

I can see Intel HD installed in safe mode, uninstalled it & booted back into safe mode to install it again, but normal Win10 boot gets stuck after the boot screen at log on screen (black screen instead of lock screen).

Note: After I uninstalled Intel driver, it did boot into desktop w/o issues as usual

omega44-xt said:
Tried the safe mode stuff.

I can see Intel HD installed in safe mode, uninstalled it & booted back into safe mode to install it again, but normal Win10 boot gets stuck after the boot screen at log on screen (black screen instead of lock screen).

Note: After I uninstalled Intel driver, it did boot into desktop w/o issues as usual

Did you try changing power plan in it after installing drivers in safe mode?

RumbaMon19 said:
Did you try changing power plan in it after installing drivers in safe mode?

Yes

So, after it was showing black screen instead of lock screen, I just let automatic startup repair do its thing & it did something & I booted into desktop. Now I can see Intel drivers installed in Control Panel but the display is handled by "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" when I check in Device Manager. Also no sign of Intel HD settings.

After the repair, I had to set the power plan settings again to have max performance for Intel.

For the past 1 day, Win10 20H2 has been working fine. After some repairs that was done post Intel driver installation, it didn't auto update the Intel driver & go into black screen. Sadly no gaming though.

I had an issue on an Nvidia Quadro M1000M and Intel HD Graphics. Optimus refused to work, no matter what I tried. It was all too sudden, The only way i got it resolved was a full windows reinstall.
All games always used Intel GPU even though nvidia drivers were installed.
Maybe your issue is similar ?

Nerevarine said:
I had an issue on an Nvidia Quadro M1000M and Intel HD Graphics. Optimus refused to work, no matter what I tried. It was all too sudden, The only way i got it resolved was a full windows reinstall.
All games always used Intel GPU even though nvidia drivers were installed.
Maybe your issue is similar ?

Its similar to some extent, I have already done several Windows clean reinstalls & tried different OSes (2 Win10 versions & Win8.1). Main issue is that Intel HD drivers aren't installing properly & causing the screen to go black whenever I try to install it. Nvidia driver alone doesn't work & display is stuck using Microsoft VGA drivers.