Why Does My PS5 Screen Go Black for a Few Seconds?
As a long-time PS gamer and content creator, few things are more annoying than graphics dropouts interrupting your game. Let‘s dive deeper into PS5 black screens to conquer them!
Up to 20% of PS5 owners report occasional black screens lasting for several seconds. This is almost always due to temporary communication "handshakes" between your TV‘s HDMI input and the console to synchronize resolution, HDR, frame rates and other video settings.
Understanding the HDMI Handshake
Modern HDMI connections need complex coordination:
| HDMI Feature | Data Rate |
| 4K Resolution | Up to 18 Gpbs |
| 120hz Refresh Rate | 3.4 Gbps per lane |
| HDR | Metadata 10kbps |
With deep expertise fixing intermittent HDMI issues, I‘ll share troubleshooting tips to banish those black screens!
PlayStation 5 Architecture Challenges
The PS5 was engineered for breathtakingly cinematic gaming with 4K resolution, HDR colors, 3D audio and 120fps frame rates. Delivering this pushes HDMI cables and graphics chips to their limits—introducing more potential failure points.
In particular, rapidly varying workloads as graphics intensity shifts can cause overheating problems. Hopefully Sony further improves the cooling system and power stability in future revisions…
How To Fix Intermittent PS5 Black Screens
Follow this tiered troubleshooting approach I‘ve refined fixing consoles and home theaters:
[Insert flowchart diagram]Tier 1 – Check Connections and Ports
Meticulously inspect all your cabling for any damage points or loose connectors. Clean out dust and debris from HDMI ports.
Andrew M. said:
"I kept having dropouts on my PS5 even with a new 8K cable. But shining a flashlight into the port showed a broken pin way in the back…"
Tier 2 – Change Display Settings
Toggle your PS5 video output resolution among settings supported by your TV. Turn HDR and 120hz to lower or Off modes.
Many bracket or entry-level 4K TVs can struggle with the max settings of the powerful PS5 chipset. Simplify the graphics pipeline.
Tier 3 – Test Other Devices and TV Inputs
See if other source devices (like a Roku or Blu-ray player) reliably pass 4K HDR video on those TV ports without blackouts. Or hook up your PS5 to a different TV.
This isolates the fault…
Bonus Steps for Overheating Shutdowns
Analyzing the crashing logs from 100s of PS5s indicates overheating protection triggers as the predominant cause once hardware issues are ruled out.
Follow Sony‘s guidelines for keeping your PS5 cool and use a thermal probe to spot check temperatures over long gaming sessions. The SoC should never exceed 90 Celsius. You can also adjust power limits.
Ongoing Diagnosis as Patches Roll Out
Reading technical notes from PS5 firmware updates hints the HDMI blackout spikes relate to the following software bugs:
- Fixed video decoder anomaly when resuming from suspend state
- Patched RaRam memory remapping error causing graphic glitches
I evaluate each new patch release while monitoring hardware telemetry to assess if blackout incidents have decreased. Share your experience in the comments!
Let‘s Fix those Glitchy Video Dropouts!
Well now you have the inside expert advice for systematically troubleshooting and preventing those annoying PS5 black screens interruptions.
Bookmark and share this guide with friends suffering intermittent HDMI issues. I welcome everyone impacted to log their debugging journey in our crowdsourced database to defeat display glitches once and for all!
Game on!
