The Xbox One may be a polished game console, but it’s not completely flawless. Unfortunately, many players boot up their system only to be greeted by a black screen. This issue is often called the black screen of death, but it doesn’t affect every system in the same way. Some players report that the black screen appears, but the menu still comes up. What does this mean, and how can you fix it? Read on to find out.
Xbox One shows black screen but menu still comes up
If your Xbox One displays a black screen but the menu still comes up, good news: Your console isn’t broken. As long as you’re still seeing images on your TV or monitor, you should be able fix the black screen bug with a full system reset.
This issue has been kicking around for years. Luckily, that’s given players and support representatives alike the time to figure out several working solutions. And while most seem like quick tricks, the most consistent fix is to completely power cycle the console.
Here’s what we know so far. By all accounts, the black screen error — closely related to the black screen of death — is the result of a glitch in the Xbox dashboard. It’s possible (though not exactly proven) that this glitch occurs when the system fails to properly load the dashboard after booting up from rest mode or closing a game.
The catch is, no one’s sure what causes that process to fail. Network outages could do it, since reports of the black screen of death appearing closely coincide with Xbox Live outages. Otherwise, it seems to happen at random during startup.
Thankfully, the solution is still the same. To fix the black screen on your Xbox One, do a hard reset of the system. Here are the steps to take:
- Eject any disc inside the console, if necessary
- Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds until the Xbox One turns off
- Unplug the system from the wall, and leave it unplugged for 30 to 60 seconds
- This step seems a little silly, but dozens of players swear that unplugging the console from the wall was key to fixing the black screen. Your mileage may vary
- Reconnect the power cable, then turn the Xbox One back on
With luck, this will fix the black screen error on your Xbox One. If it doesn’t, you should try disabling the console’s WiFi, then try to reload the dashboard to rule out any network problems. Otherwise, if the issue persists, we recommend you get into contact with Xbox support.
