3 Ways to Fix Monitor Goes Black While Watching Netflix

Quick Tips

• If your monitor is not HDCP-compliant, you will face issues such as a black screen or no audio.
• Hardware Acceleration aims to improve the visual output of a browser by assigning graphics-intensive tasks to your system’s GPU instead of the CPU.
• Open Device Manager > Display adapters > right-click on Graphic Card name > Update drivers.

Basic Fixes

• Disable G-SYNC in NVIDIA Control Panel: If your monitor is flickering or the screen goes black, disable G-SYNC in NVIDIA Control Panel. Open the Control Panel > Set Up G-SYNC > Turn Off.
• Disconnect your HDMI splitter: When you use an HDMI Splitter, Netflix will start thinking that you are pirating its content via a capture card. Hence, you will notice the black screen issues on your monitor.
• Disable VPN: You can use a VPN service to watch Netflix content unavailable in your country. However, this can sometimes cause disruptions while watching that particular show or movie.
• Check and remove browser extensions: Remove those browser extensions that you don’t need anymore or don’t receive updates.
• Update or reinstall browser: You can install the latest version of your web browser to fix bugs and glitches during Netflix playback.

Fix 2: Check HDCP Compliance of Your Monitor

HDCP, or High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, helps content streaming platforms like Netflix prevent the possible copying of audio and video content. The content on the streaming platform must be encrypted before reaching the presentation device, which, in your case, is your monitor.

If your monitor is not HDCP compliant, you will face such issues as a black screen or no audio. This is known as the HDCP Handshake problem. To avoid this, ensure that your monitor has HDCP-compliant ports. If you have a 4K monitor, we recommend using HDCP 2.2-compliant cables.

Fix 2: Turn off Browser Hardware Acceleration

The next solution is to turn off the Hardware Acceleration of your browser. Hardware Acceleration aims to improve the visual output of a browser by assigning graphics-intensive tasks to your system’s GPU instead of the CPU. However, this can crash an application and harm video streaming by turning off the monitor screen.

Follow these steps to turn off Hardware Acceleration. We have provided the steps for three popular browsers.

For Microsoft Edge

Step 1: Open Microsoft Edge on your Windows System > go to Settings.

Step 2: Go to System and Performance from the left menu.

Step 3: Turn off the toggle for Use Hardware Acceleration when available.

For Google Chrome

Open Chrome > Settings > System > disable Use hardware acceleration when available.

For Firefox

Step 1: Open Firefox > Settings > Uncheck the option for Use recommended performance settings.

Step 2: Check the box for Use Hardware Acceleration when available to disable it.

Fix 3: Update the GPU Drivers

If you still face the issue, we recommend updating the GPU driver of your Windows PC. This will ensure the hardware works properly with the latest or the newest tested software version. Such drivers are updated automatically. But you can also manually check for GPU driver updates and install them. Follow these steps, which are the same for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users.

Step 1: Open Device Manager on your Windows PC and choose Display adapters.

Step 2: Right-click on the name of your Graphics Card.

Step 3: Click on Update Driver from the list of options.

Step 4: Click on Search Automatically for Updates.

If nothing works, we suggest downloading the official Netflix desktop app from the Microsoft Store. After downloading it, sign in with your Netflix account and see if it works.

Tip: Check out our post on the best computer monitors, which includes Full HD and 4K options. Then, choose a model according to your budget and viewing preferences.