Monitor Randomly Goes Black

[ashawley]

Hello all, first post. I searched but couldn't find this issue.

I've been experiencing a problem where my monitor will randomly go black for no reason at all.

The light on the monitor will stay green, and if I turn the monitor off and on, all will be back to normal.

But then seemingly randomly it will happen again. This can happen while the PC is in use, or even if it's just sitting there (no one's working on it).

I've switched out the Monitor and the Video Card, to no avail.

Here's my setup:

Windows XP Home (SP1--all the latest updates)
ASUS P4P800 Deluxe MB
P4 2.8GHZ
1 Gig or Corsair RAM
ASUS ATI Radeon 9600XT Video Card
2 200GB SATA Drives set up in a 400GB RAID0 Array

I recently reinstalled windows - didn't fix it. I've also made sure all the drivers are up to date. No conflicts in Device Manager.

Oh, one thing: this whole problem happened when I installed the SATA RAID array (using the Intel Application Accelerator). But since I also reinstalled the OS at the same time, I think some driver issue could also be causing it.

Looking for some assistance...thanks.

Adam

[TripleRLtd]

Welcome to WD ash.
It seems you've tried everything and have come to a conclusion of your own: drivers.
First off: are you sure about the temp replacement video card and monitor, because they would normally be the first things to check?
But, since it started with the intro of the new card, I would suspect IRQ conflicts. Try swapping the card into other available slots: the PCI shuffle? Then let us know.

[clauded]

my bet would be the monitor itself,pretty sonn it will just start staing black all the time,if it is still on a waranty exchange if not and it is not too old,get it fixed i shouldn`t cost you much

[ashawley]

Thanks folks. Yeah, I'm sure it's not the card or the monitor because I swapped both of them out (separately) with different hardware and had the same problem. I even used a different brand of video card to make sure I was using different drivers.

As far as switching slots, well, I can't do that because it's an AGP card and I only have one AGP slot.

Well, any other thoughts are welcome...

Could it be a power issue? I read something about that elsewhere. Just wondering if adding the 2 SATA drives has something to do with this.

Thanks again for your ideas.

Adam

[Archer]

Just a thought but we`re not talking about the blank screen saver here are we?

[ashawley]

Nope Archer, it's not that. I've got no screen saver selected and this will happen in the middle of working (sometimes repeatedly--like every 3 seconds) and then it will stop for hours.

Very annoying!

Thanks though....

Adam

[jitBob]

Posssible defective motherboard. Bad AGP bus.

[TripleRLtd]

Thanks folks. Yeah, I'm sure it's not the card or the monitor because I swapped both of them out (separately) with different hardware and had the same problem. I even used a different brand of video card to make sure I was using different drivers.

As far as switching slots, well, I can't do that because it's an AGP card and I only have one AGP slot.

Well, any other thoughts are welcome...

Could it be a power issue? I read something about that elsewhere. Just wondering if adding the 2 SATA drives has something to do with this.

Thanks again for your ideas.

Adam
Naw, I meant the PCI cards even though your SATA is onboard; but it's only a guess.
PSU: now that's a thought. Do you have asus probe running? Have you checked the power fluctuations?
What kind (name) of PSU do you have?

[ashawley]

Ah, hadn't thought of that TripleLTD. I only have one PCI card in, an Adaptec Firewire card. I'll move it around and see what happens.

I've got ASUS probe running. But I haven't recorded history or anything. Another good idea to try. My PSU is an Antec 350W Smartpower. The whole kit is only about 3 months old.

I kind of doubt it's a defective MB because things were working fine until I added the SATA drives (and the subsequent reinstall of the OS).

Thanks all for the continued help!

Adam

[TripleRLtd]

And, that is one of the best PSU's on the market, but hey, ya never know.

[peterpam]

Well, starting by the fact that the problems started with the instalation of sata drives, one good reason for your problem appears it could bee the BIOS power options.
You see, the Bios also have a kind of screen saver (blank monitor) that usualy dont give problems, but if the bios is detecting hard drive activity badly or none at all, it would start desactivating monitor image, thinking you were not working.
To eliminate the doubts, you should go to power management and disable any power saving options. If the problem disapear, fine, just upgrade your bios and it should't happen again.
Just an idea!

Greetings from the country of Sun

[Murdoch123]

I am having the same problem on two different computers. The only thing that is the same on both machines is the ATI Graphics card. I am using the latest ATI Drivers and Windows XP is up to date on all its updates.

The strange thing is - When the screen go black and the power light stays green even rebooting does not help get the picture back. The power light will cycle from green to yellow during the reboot, but does not even show the bios info. - totally black screen. I just wait for it to magically reappear which can take minutes to hours.

I thought it might be the monitors - but two different monitors going bad at the same time with the same symtoms. I went out and bought a new one anyway and still the same problem.

These are (well..... were) stable older machines (PIII 1G, 1G Ram) and no new hardware has been added in awhile. The only new things would be windows updates and drivers...... My guess would something to do with the ATI Graphic Card's drivers....

Any thoughts......

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Murdoch

I have seen this occasionally, especially where a dvi/dsub adapter is used. The connection is not quite making. Check that the monitor cable is connected firmly.

Have you tried rolling back the drivers or downloading an older version to test your theory?

[Thag]

350W seems kinda small for the hardware you're running. Do you have access to a good quality 450W (or bigger) you can test with?

Also, a lot of newer video cards are real power hogs - does yours have a 4-pin molex power connector on it? May need extra power to operate properly.

[Thag]

Also, make sure the video card's cooling fan is running, is clean, and has plenty of air space around it.

[Obaba]

This is my first post too! Yay!
Unfortunately, I am having the same issue.

The monitor runs fine till it blacks out, but is happily still "on" and apparently assuming there is a signal to be had.

The card I have is a Radeon 32bit that is a little over a year old.
But since I moved in with a smoker, I cleaned it out and yes, it was dirty.
So now I am checking to see if newer drivers will work for the card, as they came with the oldest they had, and up to this point I was almost positive it was a monitor issue till I did the troubleshooting and research to figure out otherwise.

Was this issue ever solved?

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers obaba

Right click on the desktop - properties, screensavers, power button - check that the monitor is not set to shut off to save power.

[Obaba]

Testing performance on a borrowed monitor, as the power management and monitor settings have been toyed with to those specifications.

There is now the possiblitiy it is the monitor (for me at least), and I and checking it out.

Thanks!