Why does the screen turn black when I run a show from the lap top through a HDMI cable to the big screen? It takes a while then starts and then increases its pace. It stays black for about 5 seconds then the picture comes back. Its just the tvs picture going, the laptops picture remains constant. If I plug and unplug it a few times it does end up stabilising.

You will have to check your display
By pressing F4 you will get the display bar and then choose whether to black one screen or to keep them both on
Hope this helped

You will have to check your display
by pressing F4 you will get the display bar and then choose wether to black one screen or to keep them both on
hope this helped

OK, I tried F4 to no avail, it doesn't do anything. The problem isn't having one or both screens on at once, its keeping the TV screen on. Once the black out starts it increases in frequency until unplug and replug the HDMI cable, then its good.

Try another cable or maybe update video driver.