Need help: lost the display driver on my desktop; cannot see what I'm doing

Palinurus

The Living Force
Today was Windows Update day. One of the updates concerned the display driver. As these are usually not the most recent (coming from Microsoft) my Intel Driver Support Assistant signaled a better update immediately after installing Windows Updates and restarting my machine (MSI Creator P 100; Windows 10, x64 system; external display monitor unit).

So far nothing out of the ordinary as I had this happen before. The Intel update - which BTW I had already installed yesterday without any problems before Windows Update made it undone today - caused some unforeseen problem during the first try installing it. That has also happened before. The normal procedure is, to cancel the process and start anew with the same download which then usually works as a charm.

Today however, during the second try one of my anti-virus programs intervened, supposedly because of a Trojan (Generic, I believe), and aborted the process prematurely subsequently blocking all other processes, while the display driver was already deactivated/removed but not yet replaced with the new one.

Logically, my display monitor went black and I'm now unable to get it back up. My desktop is starting normally and I can even blindly put in my PIN-number to activate the welcoming screen but I cannot see it. The display monitor just stays black and shuts down after a while because of no signal.

I'm at a loss as to how to tackle this problem or where to find the proper information allowing me to make some inroads into a solution.

I would welcome each and any suggestion from anybody especially from those who have specifically encountered this problem or something similar before.

This really sucks (pardon my French).
 
Try the following from this page to start your PC in safe mode: Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10
Before you enter safe mode, you need to enter the Windows Recovery Environment (winRE). To do this, you will repeatedly turn your device off, then on:

  1. Hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
  2. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
  3. On the first sign that Windows has started (for example, some devices show the manufacturer’s logo when restarting) hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
  5. When Windows restarts, hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.
  6. Press the power button again to turn on your device.
  7. Allow your device to fully restart. You will enter winRE.
Now that you are in winRE, you will follow these steps to take you to safe mode:

  1. On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
  2. After your device restarts, you'll see a list of options. Select option 5 from the list or press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
This should hopefully resolve the drive error automatically, otherwise we'll need to do more research. If you have another type of display plug at the back of your PC you can try move the monitor there and see if it re-detects, or you can borrow a GFX card to use to get into desktop to try fix it in device manager....
 
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Thank you for your prompt answer. I'm going to try this procedure and will report back when I'm done.

I take it I would be able to use a restore point to roll back to before Windows Update of today, and then have automatically re-instated the previous driver from yesterday.
 
I tried the procedure several times but wasn't able to ascertain whether it worked or not because I cannot see anything. If Win-RE is activated (and it seemed that it did, from the sounds I heard) it doesn't show so; therefore I cannot choose any option which I cannot locate on screen.
 
Thank you for your kind suggestions, Ellipse. I've been trying several different things in the meantime, such as accessing safe mode via other means, starting the bios menu via hot keys, and such. All without avail. No display screen available. Nevertheless, I indeed read somewhere that Windows 10 should revert to some sort of default display mode when the normal drivers aren't working, but that's not happening either.

I was just reading about the CMOS battery removal procedure to reset the bios to its default state while you posted, but I'm not quite ready to open up my desktop to do that. On an older model of another manufacturer I have done so repeatedly but with my current fairly new desktop I'm not sure what I will encounter on the inside, and how easy or difficult its accessibility will turn out to be. So, I'm postponing that remedy for the moment until it appears absolutely necessary.

I've thought of the possibility of downloading the proper driver on a USB stick and making it boot-able and then install the driver that way but the problem is that it should be a fully automated self-starting and terminating procedure as I cannot activate the stick manually because of no display. Don't know where to click for the proper start-up. I'm not sure I could pull this one off anyway as it is quite an elaborate job to manufacture such a stick.
 
IT is weird that your display doesn't work even outside of windows, this might mean something else is wrong. Have you tried a different monitor? If it was the display driver, the monitor should work in BIOS and outside windows....
 
Yes, it's weird; I agree. However, the monitor is okay. I'm sure of that because it displays its factory logo while booting and then displays a pop-up window stating "no signal" before shutting itself down.
 
hmm strange, that seems like a screen not connected to the pc (logo then no signal) and/or defective screen/pc cable. Do you have any other cables to test which can be connected to your pc?
 
Yes, that would be a possibility. I'm now using a display-port cable which was new when I bought it together with the desktop and has never faltered so far. The monitor also has a HDMI connection, so I could try to switch to that type of cable to see whether it makes a difference.

However, please note that the display stopped working for a specific reason while I was installing a display driver update as I explained in my opening post. So a faulty cable seems unlikely but is not impossible, of course.
 
Are you sure your monitor is waiting the signal on the right source? I mean Analog instead of HDMI for example. Mine can easily be set to wait the signal on the wrong source. So yes, trying both cable is a good idea. And perhaps the default Windows driver only work with the analog signal.
 
The display was working fine while I updated the driver and did so too previously while applying Windows Updates and surfing other stuff. Before today, I never had a problem with it ever, so I don't think the connection is the problem but I will switch cables anyway tomorrow just to make sure. Now it's a bit late for that as I have to find a HDMI cable first. I don't have one lying around unused for grabs but have several of them in storage.
 
Note to all readers: I'm about to close off for tonight. Please feel free to post anything useful in the meantime. I will answer any further posts tomorrow from late afternoon or early evening (local time).

Thanks for reading.
 
Note to all readers: I'm about to close off for tonight. Please feel free to post anything useful in the meantime. I will answer any further posts tomorrow from late afternoon or early evening (local time).

Thanks for reading.
You seem to have gone through most of the steps, down to resetting the CMOS, that's great. I just think you might have skipped an intermediate step which might solve it independently.

When you reboot in safe mode, you deactivate the automatic driver re-install, and run a full DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller). Then you install the freshest graphics drivers without allowing windows to intervene and install nonspecific drivers - this minimizes conflicts and make sure the drivers are entirely up to date and consistent. There's many reasons you might want to wipe the drivers and get a clean install (changing graphic card generation or flipping between makers, hard-to-explain crashes or artifacts, etc. I think there's a high likelihood it'll solve your issue. Jayztwocents went over the process recently:
 
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A Microsoft Update during a Mercury Retrograde..! You're a brave soul.

So.., it sounds like you have a corrupted video driver thanks to anti-virus software being overly enthusiastic. That's an interesting problem. How do you fix a video problem when you need video to see? That's very 'Mercury Retrograde' in character.

Well.., here's a quick fix to try: (found here: Windows 10 Black Screen after Update: Resolve the Black Screen Problem)

Try a Windows Key Sequence to Wake the Screen:​


With this method, you will enable to computer to refresh the computer screen. It will detect any issue with the display adapter and fix it immediately. Follow the instructions below to perform the solution:
  • Once you see the black screen on the computer, do not restart it;
  • Please press the Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B simultaneously;
  • Once you do that, you will hear a short beep sound, and the screen will immediately start to dim down;
  • You will be able to see the desktop again in no time.
I like that whole, "It will detect any issue with the display adapter and fix it immediately" part. It seems too good to be true, but worth a try.

The way your video card got confused, having a driver install cancelled part way through by anti-viral software sounds like it might have created a problem which is a bit more difficult to solve. Hopefully your video card isn't 'bricked'. That would be miserable, (though it also seems like an extreme result of a regular update issue, so probably unlikely).

So basically, you need to drill down to a generic driver taking over so you can do all the fancy fixes from there.

It may end up being one of those problems where you just need a second computer and a computer geek friend with extra hardware (like a portable USB monitor) to come over and noodle for an afternoon, so you can swap parts, download drivers onto USB sticks and such. What a tiresome chore! (Though it is fun to have a friend over.)

Anyway, I just wanted to chime in with that quoted quick-fix in the hopes it would work.

Good luck!
 
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