Help Needed: Black Screen After MSI Logo on Cold and Normal Boot

Hello @Dominique Claus Heinrich

We're September 15 and your topic is from July.

Did you find a solution to your issue?

If yes, could you please share?

If no, do you still have the issue?

What OS you have?

I'm asking because I'm in the same situation. I realized that if the boot is after a complete shutdown - it goes well. If it's a restart from the OS then it is when the black screen freeze occurs. And I say freeze since my keyboard Num Lock stays always on during these situations, regardless of pressing it.

In my case I'm on an MSI MB with Intel setup on Z790 chipset.

I did not found "Disabled Memory Context Restore" in my Bios.

Also the Bios has been updated top the latest version,

OS : Windows 10. Will try to move to Windows 11 after fising the issue.

@Ian-T any other solutions?

Thanks,

AC

Hello , Dominique Claus Heinrich

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Kudos to you for the excellent troubleshooting work and the detailed problem description. You clearly have a deep understanding of PC hardware. When you’ve already ruled out almost all usual suspects (GPU, drivers, OS, SSD) and the issue still persists, it can indeed be very frustrating.

Based on your description — black screen but not “no signal,” peripherals losing power, random failures during cold boot or restart, and a stable system once booted — all these clues strongly point to a core issue: a handshake failure during the hardware initialization phase, particularly involving memory training and platform power state transitions.

This often indicates that the BIOS firmware is not yet mature enough. Since you’ve already tried the standard steps, let’s dig deeper into BIOS settings and hardware diagnostics.

DDR5 Memory Training and Context Restore

On modern platforms, the motherboard must negotiate with the memory during each boot to determine optimal parameters — a process known as memory training. To reduce boot time, the BIOS tries to save and restore the last successful training result. If this restore process fails, it can cause the kind of “hang” you’re describing.

My recommendations:

1. Temporarily disable Fast Startup in Windows

Even though you’ve reinstalled Windows, Fast Startup is enabled by default. It relies on a deep hibernation state that can interfere with new hardware’s driver/firmware initialization.

Steps:

1. Open Control Panel (you can search for it in the Start menu).
2. Go to Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
3. Click “Choose what the power buttons do” on the left.
4. Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable.”
5. Uncheck “Turn on fast startup (recommended)”.
6. Save changes and fully shut down (not just restart), then perform a cold boot.
7. Adjust memory-related BIOS settings

Enter your MSI BIOS and look for the following (usually under Overclocking > DDR Memory Settings):

Memory Context Restore (MCR)

• Action: Set to Disabled
• Why: Disabling this forces the motherboard to perform full memory training on every boot. While it increases boot time by a few seconds (or even tens of seconds), it significantly improves stability if the firmware is not fully stable. If disabling MCR resolves the issue, it confirms that the problem is a BIOS bug related to memory context restoration.

Power Down Enable

• Action: Set to Disabled
• Why: This allows memory to enter a low-power state when idle. In some unstable configurations, waking from this state may fail, causing boot issues.

Manual Memory Frequency Setting

• Action: Disable EXPO/XMP, then manually set memory frequency to JEDEC standard (e.g., 4800MHz) and ensure voltage and primary timings are set to Auto or default values.
• Why: This helps determine whether the issue is caused by the EXPO/XMP profile being incompatible with the current BIOS version, even if the memory itself is fine. If 4800MHz is stable, you can try increasing frequency gradually.

3. Final Hardware Isolation Test: Single RAM Stick

You’ve tested RAM, but here’s a more targeted method:

1. Power off completely and unplug the power cable.
2. Install only one memory stick, placed in the recommended slot according to your motherboard manual.
3. Power on and check if the issue reoccurs.
4. If it does, swap in the other RAM stick in the same slot and try again.
5. If the issue disappears, one of the sticks may be faulty or there’s a dual-channel compatibility issue.

Of course, if conditions permit, you can also check the connections to different displays, including the living room TV.

Fully disable Fast Startup in Windows and do a cold boot test.If the issue persists, enter BIOS and disable Memory Context Restore and Power Down Enable.If still unresolved, perform a single RAM stick isolation test.In parallel, open an official support ticket with MSI to escalate the issue.

Let me know if you need help writing to MSI support or adjusting these settings in your BIOS.

Best wishes

Ian | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist