No image appears on your TV or monitor when you use your Xbox 360 console

This article describes things that you can try if you cannot see an image on your television or monitor when you try to use your Xbox 360 console.

Your television screen or monitor may remain blank or black when you start your Xbox 360 console.

This problem may occur with or without a game disc in the disc tray. Your Xbox 360 console appears to be on because the green power light is illuminated.

Typically, you experience this problem if the audio/video (AV) cable is not connected correctly, or if the AV cable is faulty. If the screen remains blank or black for more than 10 seconds, see the "Things to Try" section for more information.

1. Make sure that your television is set to the correct input for your Xbox 360 console. If suspect that your television may not be configured correctly, check your television’s manual to see how to configure the video inputs, or try to use the Xbox 360 console on a different television.
2. If you experience a black screen only when playing movies over an HDMI connection, your TV or display monitor may not support High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). If your HDMI port does not support HDCP, you may hear sound but not see any picture when you play movies.
   For more information about how to troubleshoot your HDMI connection, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   937898  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937898/ ) When using your Xbox 360 console with an HDMI cable, the display quality is poor, distorted, or discolored
3. Examine the Ring of Light. If four red lights flash on the Ring of Light, the AV cable may not be connected to your Xbox 360 console correctly. Disconnect the cable, reconnect the cable, and then start your Xbox 360 console again. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   906652  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906652/ ) Four lights flash red on the front of your Xbox 360 console
4. Use the following diagrams to make sure that your AV cable is connected correctly between your Xbox 360 console and your TV set or monitor. If you are using the Xbox 360 HD Component HD AV Cable that is included with many Xbox 360 consoles, make sure that the TV/HDTV switch is set appropriately for your television type.
   
   Xbox 360 Standard AV Cable (composite) connected to a TV by a composite AV input
   
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   Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable connected to a TV by an RGB input
   
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   Note If you have an audio receiver with an optical audio input, connect your optical audio cable (by using a ToSLink connector).
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   Xbox 360 S-Video AV Cable connected a TV by an S-Video input
   
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   Xbox 360 VGA Cable connected a TV by a VGA video input
   
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   Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable connected a TV by a composite video input
   
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   Note If you have an audio receiver with an optical audio input, connect your optical audio cable (by using a ToSLink connector).
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   Xbox 360 HDMI Cable connected to a TV by an HDMI input
   
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   Note If you have an audio receiver with an optical audio input, connect your optical audio cable to the HDMI Audio adapter (by using a ToSLink connector).
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   Note If you have an audio receiver with analog audio input, connect your audio cable.
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   The HDMI Audio adapter is included together with the official Xbox 360 HDMI AV Kit.
5. Turn off your Xbox 360 console, wait 10 seconds, and then turn on your console again without a disc in the disc tray. If this resolves the problem, try another game.
6. Reset your Xbox 360’s display settings:
   
   Start the console by pressing the guide button on your controller (First make sure no disc is in the drive.)
   1. Press and hold the right trigger and the Y button on the controller.
   2. This action causes the console to reset its display settings to the factory default settings, and restarts the console.
7. If your Xbox 360 console does not work when any game is loading, remove the game disc, turn off your Xbox 360 console, and then unplug all the cables and accessories that are attached to your Xbox 360 console. Wait 30 seconds, and then reattach the power supply cord and the AV cable. Make sure that you insert the AV cable very firmly.
   
   Note Sometimes, you can insert the AV cable far enough to prevent any red lights from flashing on the Ring of Light but not far enough for your Xbox 360 console to transmit images or sounds to the screen.
   
   After you reconnect the AV cable and the power supply cord, restart your Xbox 360 console.
8. If steps 1 through 7 do not resolve the problem, your AV cable may be faulty or damaged, and it may have to be replaced.
9. If a replacement cable does not resolve this problem, the Xbox 360 console may be faulty. Microsoft may have to service the console. See the "Additional Support" section for more information.
10. If you continue to experience this problem, please contact Xbox Customer Support. For more information about how to contact Xbox Customer Support, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
    http://www.xbox.com/support/ (http://www.xbox.com/support/)

The HDMI Audio adapter is included with the official Xbox 360 HDMI AV Kit.

Additional support

If the steps in the previous section did not resolve your issue, your console may have to be repaired. For more information about how to start the online repair process, please visit one of the following Web Page links: For more information about how to contact Xbox Customer Support directly, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: