My MSI gaming laptop started doing this weird thing where the display just goes completely black for like 10-30 seconds, but I can still hear it running and the keyboard lights are on. It happens maybe 2-3 times a day now, totally random. Is this a GPU issue or could it be the display cable acting up?
It's much more likely a display cable or connection issue than the GPU itself - if it were the GPU failing, you'd usually see artifacts, crashes, or the whole system freezing rather than just the screen going black while everything else keeps running fine. The fact that your keyboard lights stay on and you can hear it working is actually a good sign pointing away from a serious hardware failure. Try adjusting the screen brightness or toggling external display output (like HDMI) when it happens next to see if that brings the image back - if it does, that's pretty classic loose cable behavior. If neither of those does anything, you might need to reseat the display cable connection inside, which honestly can be finicky on gaming laptops, or get it checked by a tech if you're not comfortable opening it up!
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