Black Screen With Restart Fixes Itself With A Cold Boot

Device Model: Dell Inspiron 15 3511
CPU: Intel Core i5
GPU: Intel UHD/Xe Graphics
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❗ Main Issue Summary

The internal display goes black (no backlight, no image) after any restart.

However, the internal display always works fine on cold boot (power off → wait → power on).

The laptop boots properly into Windows—this is confirmed by using an external monitor, where everything works fine.

The problem only affects the internal screen after a system restart (such as those triggered by Windows updates or BIOS updates).

This black screen issue prevents updates from installing correctly, as some require restarts.

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🔍 Observed Behavior

Action Result on Internal Display Result on External Display

Cold boot (from shutdown) ✅ Internal screen works ✅ External screen works
Restart (from Start menu or during updates) ❌ Internal screen black ✅ External screen works
Sign-in after failed restart Sometimes shows "sign-in option disabled" due to prior failed boots 
Safe Mode boot Works only with external display (internal stays black) 
BIOS and Diagnostics Internal screen works correctly (during boot and in diagnostics) 
EC reset Attempted, no improvement 
Driver reset (Ctrl + Shift + Win + B) Causes flickering or no effect on internal display 
Switching back from external to internal No signal on internal display even after unplugging external 

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🔧 Fixes Attempted (Step-by-Step)

1. External Monitor Verification

Confirmed that the system boots and functions properly using external display.

This rules out SSD, RAM, or Windows corruption.

2. Safe Mode & Driver Uninstall

Booted into Safe Mode using external monitor.

Uninstalled Intel Graphics Driver completely.

3. Reinstallation of Graphics Driver

Downloaded and installed the latest Intel Graphics Driver from Dell's official site.

Installation succeeded, but black screen persisted after reboot.

4. BIOS Update

Verified BIOS is already up to date using Dell SupportAssist and BIOS setup screen.

5. EC Reset (Power Drain Method)

Disconnected battery and AC, held power for 30 seconds, then rebooted.

No change in behavior.

6. Alt+Shift+Ctrl+B (Graphics Driver Reset)

Sometimes causes flickering, but does not restore the internal screen.

7. Windows Registry Fixes Attempted (Pending)

Planning to try disabling Intel PSR via registry to see if Panel Self Refresh is causing the problem.

8. Boot Configuration Review (Pending)

Planning to test BCD bootloader options to see if display initialization order can be forced.

9. Cold Boot Success Trick

Only reliable workaround is to shut down completely, wait, and power on. This is inconvenient and makes BIOS/Windows updates impossible to complete.

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📌 Conclusion / Request to Dell Support

The issue appears to be:

Related to the graphics initialization during warm reboots.

Possibly a driver-level or firmware-level issue related to Intel Graphics + Dell’s display pipeline.

This is not a hardware failure, since:

Internal display works on cold boot.

External display works at all times.

BIOS and diagnostics show display output correctly.

We request Dell technical support to:

Assist with firmware-level or driver-level fix.

Confirm if this is a known issue with Inspiron 15 3511 + Intel Xe graphics.

Suggest workaround or official patch.

Provide guidance for update-safe method without triggering internal display failure.