what is wrong here

I have a dell studio laptop with windows 8.1.Recently when the machine comes back from shutdown, it goes through the motions then the screen goes black and stays black. I resort to close the lid and open it. This seems to bring it to life.It is intermittent. I suspect a hardware problem. Any ideas please.

Had something similar on a pretty ancient work lappy (so things may not be the same today), and it was due to the fan not starting up. The boot process would check whether the fan was running, and if not, would not boot, due to the risk of overheating.

If the laptop was held at a certain angle, and given a smart slap on the chassis (this is not a recommendation, you understand...) the fan would (audibly) start, and the laptop then boot normally.

I lived with this ritual for months, before my employer eventually accepted it was embarrassing in front of customers, and I needed a replacement laptop!

T.

Is it Windows 8.1 Pro x64? This has been reported as booting very slowly on some computers: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-8-1-Pro-x64-B...

Is there a stuck microswitch?

Or is there a Hibernate/Sleep setting that needs changing and changing back?

How old is the machine? Why not call Dell directly and get their response?

Hi, what I had was a slow /not waking up. However, I have restored power options to default and touch wood have so far cured the problem. Many thanks for the replies.