Upon restarting my system after doing the standard mass of Windows 8 updates, I came across a strange blank/black screen (after seeing the Bios/Windows 8 splash). I assumed it was stuck, so pressed the power off button and the laptop went to sleep. On waking the laptop it loads to the laptop monitor and the account is 'locked' I click to log-in and everything is normal.

If I plug in an external monitor on HDMI when the laptop monitor is blank it displays the desktop on there, ignoring the inbuilt laptop monitor. Nothing I do in the settings makes it identify the laptop monitor from that point.

This is what the black screen looks like (lights off for clarity):



I have installed all the Windows Updates and all the drivers I could find from both Medion and Intel.

Please can someone help? I've searched the internet but struggle to understand the seemingly random fixes that are suggested!

Medion Akoya E6221
Intel Core i3 2350M
8GB RAM
256GB SAMSUNG 840 PRO SSD
15.6" Blu-ray Notebook

I've had this problem too on 8.1 I figured as I am running boot camp on my Imac with a dual monitor set up (like you my 2nd monitor is displays the desktop) ... and this only happens when I return to my computer after a long period of time.

Sorry I don't have a useful fix as all I do is reset my computer.

Maybe going to a Computer forum with a windows based section may give you better results. I'll try and search for the problem and see if I can find any fixes for you.

Also does this happen every time you boot the laptop?

My quick fix would be to fiddle around with the energy saving settings ... sleep mode etc... and try to turn them off if possible.

Are any of the Medion/Intel drivers for Windows 7? If they are, I would try replacing them with the default windows 8 drivers that come with windows 8. You have to realize with relatively new operating systems that not every hardware manufacturer supports that new os right away. I imagine that isn't the case anymore with Windows 8 but you just never know...

I originally had Windows 8.1 installed on my desktop. Some of the drivers that came with the system were Windows 7 drivers. The devices that used the windows 7 drivers never worked (they worked perfectly after downgrading the os to Windows 7 though).