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Geek Culture / monitor keeps blacking out

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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 04:35
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For awhile now (maybe the past year or two), my monitor will randomly go black for about a second or two then come back. Never pinpointed any single event on the computer that caused it, whether watching movies or gaming or what. Late last year I got a new graphics card, problem persisted. Some time this year, I bought a new monitor and the problem has persisted.

Sometimes, it won't do it for days at a time. But I was just watching a movie on VLC and happened quite a few times, and it's never been that frequent before. But I think it's safe to assume it's not the monitor nor the gfx card. Any suggestions? (that doesn't involve reinstalling windows)


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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 08:17
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It could be the computer switching display devices (onboard vs dedicated gpu), which I think is an issue a friend of mine had on their laptop, caused by a power saving option. I don't remember the specifics unfortunately, but hopefully that gives you a clue.

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Ortu
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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 08:21
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when it goes black does the power light stay steady? If it flicks on and off with the screen, might be a power source issue though I'm thinking that's unlikely.

I assume when you switched monitors you also switched cables, and swapping both card and screen rules out the ports.

How old is the PC?

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Clonkex
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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 10:04
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That problem is frequently caused by the graphics driver crashing and restarting. Have you updated your graphics drivers recently?

Although Windows normally tells you when it's restarted the graphics driver, so unless you've just missed the balloon every time...


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BatVink
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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 10:52
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Do you ever blink for longer than is normal? Perhaps a 1-2 second blink?

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Clonkex
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Posted: 10th Aug 2015 12:33
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rofl BatVink you're probably right!


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Phaelax
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Posted: 13th Aug 2015 03:20
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Old monitor used an HDMI-DVI cable. This one uses a normal HDMI cable.

Hasn't done it in the past two days, like I said it's random. I'll try a graphics update, but doubt that's it considered I updated when I replaced the card.


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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 13th Aug 2015 03:51 Edited at: 13th Aug 2015 03:56
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Perhaps an issue with the power supply as Ortu suggested? Another thought that crossed my mind, perhaps an issue with the motherboard's or PSU's power supply to the graphics card?

Faulty motherboards can cause a variety of issues in my experience. My first and only computer build had a crappy ASRock motherboard, and at completely random times, the screen would shut off and the graphics card's cooling fan would ramp up to full speed. The computer would remain in that state, unresponsive to input, until it was powered off and back on. Upon a power on, Windows would generally indicate an unsuccessful shutdown, thereby indicating that the CPU and such had also stopped operating.

Of course, it seems your issue isn't nearly as severe. Do you notice anything with the graphics card's fan speed when this happens? I ask because, in my case, I presume the card went into some sort of protection mode (including full rate thermal shedding - high fan speed) when it detected a faulty power supply from the motherboard.
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Van B
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Posted: 13th Aug 2015 15:32
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Wondering if your using that NVidia Experience program to manage your display driver?

I've had some issues with that, screen going black, driver crashes etc.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 13th Aug 2015 23:55
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Nothing with fan speeds, and you'd barely hear the fan even when gaming. Main design around how I built the pc, quiet.

Nvidia Experience is installed, downloading drivers now. Kept getting an error last night that wouldn't let me download them, but seems to be working now.


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