Best way to Fix Xbox One Black Screen of Death

If you turn on your Xbox One and notice that it’s nothing but a blank screen, you may be experiencing the notorious ‘Black Screen of Death.’ You may be asking yourself many questions, like “is my console broken?” or “what should I do now?” Well, we’ve compiled a few possible ways to help you deal with this issue.

What is Xbox One Black Screen of Death

The black screen that appears on your monitor is a glitch in the software and has been plaguing numerous Xbox One users. The console’s dashboard will either continuously flash to nothingness or remain completely blank.

When this appears, your dashboard mobility becomes limited. Although you can access some menus, most of the monitor is blacked out and makes it difficult to operate anything on the dashboard. This can leave you feeling incredibly frustrated.

How to Fix Xbox One Black Screen of Death

Fortunately, there seems to be more than one way available on how to fix this problem. There are a few steps you can take to try and resolve the issue, and hopefully, one of them will succeed. 

RT + Y

It’s the easiest method, so you can try it first. According to Reddit users, using RT and Y helped their consoles gain mobility again. You need to start up your Xbox One as usual, and once the pins begin to move on startup, you should simultaneously press RT and Y. This method will only take a few seconds of your time, so it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

Switching Tabs

Another possible fix would be to switch tabs and then quickly return so that the home screen may reload. All you’ve got to do is select the home button, quickly navigate to another tab, and then return to the dashboard.

The Xbox Store

Some users have mentioned that visiting the Xbox store managed to restore their screen. Firstly, you need to head over to the store. Then you instantly press A on the ad that shows up. You can then return to your dashboard, and hopefully, this will restore it.

A Hard Reset

This one is a bit more extreme than the others, but sometimes a hard reset can be the quickest way to fix it. First, you’re going to press down on the power button for 10 seconds until the console turns off. You will then turn the console back on, and it will reboot. It may not be the best permanent fix, as users have mentioned the black screen reappearing.

Offline Mode

Since the blank monitor seems to be a Live issue that appears when trying to connect to the online servers, simply ignoring them could solve the issue. To enter offline mode, you need to disconnect via your Wi-Fi settings. This will disconnect you from any online features, and hopefully, return your dashboard to normal.  

Xbox One Black Screen on Startup

When you turn on your console, you expect to see the typical green Xbox animation. During this time, your Xbox conducts a full system check and validates the components. If the system fails to complete this check three times in a row, the console is automatically set to “do not run.” This stops the green image from showing up, and in its place, you see the Black Screen of Death.

Leave the display this way for about ten minutes. If it doesn’t resolve by then, there are a few steps you can take. You should remove any disc from the console, then turn it off and unplug the power cable. After five minutes, reconnect the cable and hold the Xbox and eject button at once until it beeps. Don’t let go just yet; a second beep will ring after a few seconds. Your Xbox will reboot, and hopefully, fix the startup issue.

Black Screen When Loading Game

Some users may experience the issue when loading games. When trying to play a game, the monitor may turn black and won’t allow you to load your game. It’s important that you first ensure that you’ve installed the game you’re trying to load. Then, try opening an app to see if the issue persists.

If you’re still having this problem, there are some steps you can take to resolve it. First, turn off the console. Then unplug the console from the wall entirely. Leave it this way for about a minute and then plug the console back into the wall and turn it on. Your game should be able to load now.

Conclusion

Black Screen of Death errors are never fun, but luckily, there are a few ways to resolve them. Try out some of our methods, and this issue should be a thing of the past.

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