My screen is blank

Symptoms and cause

Your television (TV) screen or monitor remains blank or black when you start your Xbox 360 console. The green power light on your console is lit, and you might hear sound. The circle of lights surrounding the power button might be flashing red

Typically, this problem occurs if the audio/video (A/V) cable is not connected correctly or is faulty.

Things to try

If you encounter problems, try the solutions below.

Solution 1: Connect the A/V Cable securely

If the A/V cable is not inserted far enough into the console, the console might not transmit images or sounds to the screen.

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 2

Make sure that the TV or monitor is set to the correct input for the console. Check the TV or monitor user manual to see how to configure the video inputs, or try to use the console on a different TV or monitor.

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 3: Switch the Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable to the correct setting

Make sure that the TV/HDTV switch on the cable is set correctly.

  • For standard-definition TVs with only the yellow connector plugged in, set the switch to TV.
  • For high-definition TVs or monitors with the red, blue, and green connectors plugged in, set the switch toHDTV.

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 4: Reset the display settings on the Xbox 360

  1. Make sure the disc tray is empty.
  2. Turn on the console.
  3. On the controller, press and hold the right trigger and Y.

    Press and hold the right trigger and the Y button

    The console resets the display settings to the factory default settings and then restarts automatically.

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 5: Connect the A/V cable correctly

There is a circle of lights around the power button on the Xbox 360 console. If four red lights flash, the A/V cable might not be connected to the console correctly.

Red lights flash around the power button

Disconnect the cable, reconnect the cable, and then restart the console.

Learn more about Flashing Red Lights

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 6: If you can hear a sound, but the screen is blank, the TV or monitor might not support HDCP

If you experience a blank screen only when playing movies over an HDMI connection, the TV or monitor might not support High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). If the HDMI port does not support HDCP, you might hear sound but not see any picture when you play movies or games. The HDMI Audio Adapter is included with the Xbox 360 HDMI AV Kit.

Learn more about troubleshooting the HDMI connection.

If the screen is still blank, try the next solution.

Solution 7: Repair the console

If the steps in the previous section did not resolve your problem, your console might have to be repaired. Start the online repair process

Note Online console repair service is currently not available in all countries and regions.