Blank screen at Windows 10 restart with login window visible only on external monitor

Question

Good day All

I have reviewed the proposed solution in the below link:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/win10itprogeneral/thread/4307619e-e867-461f-97ae-beee9c0908a5/

I have the same model of Laptop (Dell N5050 i5) with the exact problem as the user in the link above.
Laptop came with Windows 7 Home Premium Preinstalled but was upgraded to Windows 10 when the free upgrades were available from Microsoft.

The only difference is that I have never had an external monitor connected in the past but Windows 10 still outputs the display to an external monitor that is not connected.

When attaching an external monitor (VGA port), then I am able to use the external monitor as if it is the primary and shutdown the laptop. When trying to initiate the Project feature (Windows key + P) to switch the display back to the laptop, it just flickers on the external monitor once but does not switch to the laptop screen.
I have downloaded the available drivers from the Dell support site:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/in/en/indhs1/product-support/product/inspiron-15-intel-n5050/drivers/advanced.
I have even rolled back the installed drivers , but still no luck. The problem persists. The only instance from my experience when the laptop will output to the laptop screen on a restart is if I do a complete shutdown(drivers installed) or when all drivers are uninstalled and windows uses the basic video driver. If I try to initiate the displayswitch.exe app(Windows key + P) after uninstalling all drivers as a test, then windows reports that the correct driver needs to be installed in order to use the Project feature. So I do not think it is a driver issue, but rather a display configuration issue for the restart process.
To me it seems that during the restart process the Primary display (laptop screen) is being switched with the VGA port on the laptop during the restart process. I have searched elsewhere online but no one has a solution to this issue.

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

@Nirodh Sukhnandan
Hi,
Looks like Dell has said this laptop is not compatible with Win 10.
https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/Successfully-Installed-Windows-10-on-Inspiron-N5050-Except-for/m-p/4773836#M887712

I suggest you contact dell for further help.

Hope above information can help you.

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Answer 2

@Jenny Feng

Upgrading the BIOS sorted out the issue. Absolutely amazed that a simple upgrade to a mostly neglected component on a PC would be the culprit.

Thank you for your assistance, it is greatly appreciated. You saved me from reinstalling Windows 7.