Blank screen after waking from power save

After waking my computer from power save (monitor turns off after inactivity) all I get is a blank screen. Monitor turns back on but only shows black. System is still responsive (numlock/capslock still work and I can sometimes make it make sounds by pressing random keys).

After this happens, putting the system in sleep mode (with a shortcut on my keyboard), then waking it up from that restores normal operation. I tried hitting PrintScreen while on the blank screen and pasting it into paint afterwards, and it shows the desktop. So why is this happening?

Recently installed programs: java, speedfan, notepad++

Sounds like the Monitor may not be waking up fully. How about Hibernation? Does this happen when you hibernate the system too?

The Monitor turns on and shows the system during a regular boot?

In regards to the 3 programs you installed, It may be Speedfan. I just looked it up. Try disabling it temporarily and see if this still happens. As a matter of fact, this person has reported a bug similar to what you are experiencing:

0001096: Opening Speedfan causes Black Screen - Almico's Bug Tracker

So, if Speedfan is running right before you go into sleep mode, it may be causing this bug when it comes out of sleep mode. Is there a hot-key to pull up Speedfan? Try pressing it when the monitor is in this state.

I think hibernation is disabled on here, and I have no idea where in Win8 to turn it on. I just upgraded a week ago

During a regular boot or a wake from sleep, I get the lock screen as expected. The monitor is on, the power light is steady blue and the screen is dimly lit, like it is when it's receiving a signal, just an all-black signal.

Uninstalled speedfan. Next chance I get to reboot, I'll see if that fixes it. I also turned my screensaver off. At one point I accidentally installed some incompatible wifi card drivers, but I removed those earlier.

You may want to turn your Hibernation back on as well, Usually you can do this from Advanced Power Settings, it's in Control Panel. If it is not there, then it has to be turned on from elsewhere, I'll try to fond out how.

Ah OK, should be in the same place as Win7.

Control panel, PC settings... that's my main problem with Windows 8 is there are two of so many things now. Metro and the desktop feel way more separated than they should.

I always stay in the Desktop, you can use Start8 or Classic Shell to create a usable Program Menu. Start 8 will boot you right to Desktop.