Starting two weeks ago, on my Lenovo IdeaPad Y500, about 1 in 10 times, the laptop's built-in LCD screen comes on normally when I power on or restart the laptop. The other 9 times, the screen remains completely black, no Lenovo logo, no Windows signon screen, no faint grey glow. I have no problems waking the computer from sleep; the screen comes on every time. Once the screen is on, it stays on and has no further problems until I shut down or restart.

The computer is not connected to an external display or docking station. I did not make any changes to hardware or software before this problem started. I have the most recent version of Windows (8.1) and the most recent version of the NVIDIA display drivers (331.58). I've also tried older drivers (307.64) with no success.

I have performed several troubleshooting steps:

1. I placed a sound file in my Windows startup folder. When I power on the computer, blindly enter my password when the screen is black, and wait a few seconds, I hear the sound, so Windows is starting up normally even when the screen is blank.

2. When the screen is black, about 1 out of 20 times, closing and opening the lid causes the screen to come on normally.

3. When the screen is black, about 19 out of 20 times, closing and opening the lid causes the screen to go from black to a faint grey glow, but nothing displays. Pressing FN-F2 repeatedly toggles the screen from black to grey and back to black.

4. If I connect an external display via the HDMI port when the laptop screen is working, the external display also works fine, and all 4 options work when pressing FN-F3.

5. If I connect an external display via the HDMI port when the laptop screen is not working and press FN-F3...If I choose "PC screen only," "Duplicate," or "Extend," the laptop display is blank and the external display works. If I choose "Second screen only," both displays are blank.

6. Removing the second video card from the UltraBay does not change the behavior.

Although I'd doubt this is related, around the same time the screen problem began occurring, I began having sporadic problems with both the trackpad and USB mouse where they seem to be miscalibrated. The position of the cursor on the screen is about an inch away from where the text appears if you begin typing. 

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you for the input, Jonas. I installed Windows 8.1 several months ago when the preview became available, and did not have any problems until two weeks ago. So, to answer your question, I did not have problems with Windows 8.0, but I also did not have problems with Windows 8.1 for the first few months. I tried to do three different system restores to a time before the problem, but all three failed. I'm trying to avoid reinstalling the OS, but I will do that if no other options work.

Reverted to Windows 8.0. Problem still exists.

I am having the same problem here..i close the lid and reopen it for N times but still not working ..it happend once a week ago.. the screen came back after i reopen the lid for N times.... this happened after i update the window..what is the real problem here...i have alot of works inside.. HDMI cable is nor working as well... pls reply ASAP....

I called Lenovo support and they determined it was a motherboard problem. I sent the laptop back (under warranty), and they fixed it for free.

Same problem and fix for me, but it failed immediately after receiving the laptop back from Lenovo. I am trying to find out how to get this fixed permanently.

I have been experiencing the same issue for several months. It is especially frustrating that before updating to windows 8.1, everything was working normally (SLI, and Display), and after I seem to have the SLI probelm resolved, but am stuck with computer that doesnt seem know that it has a display 4/5 times that it boots up. 

I might add; for me, closing the lid after a black display startup, and reopening, causes the display to come on and function normally 100% of the time.

See my experience and more details here: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-Z-and-P-series/Lenovo-Ideapad-Y500-Windows-8-1-and-SLI/m-p/1410849#M112454

Hi all,

I have the same problem - black screen after installing NVidia drivers. I'm using a single GT650M. The problem appears on Windows 7, windows 8 and windows 8.1 - all 64 bit. I have tried latest and some older drivers and the result is the same. 

Rarely the display works after sleep, and 1-2 times it worked until 3-4 reboots. 

The strange thing is that it was working fine for months, after replacing the touchpad. When the problems started a few monts ago simple uninstall and install of drivers helped. But not anymore. Now i'm stuck and can't find a solution.

Can anyone help please?