Thread: Monitor goes Black but computer still working

My computer has started exhibiting this peculiar behaviour: the monitor will suddenly go black. When it first happened I thought the system had crashed. But after rebooting several times I realised that it was just the display. When it goes black if you turn the Monitor power off and then on again the display reappears for a split second and then disappears again. I read somewhere that if the fan gets blocked it causes overheating and the graphics card can go doolally. So I opened the casing and removed **** loads of dust and checked the fan. However, it is still misbehaving.
Any suggestions??? would be gratefully received.

Have you installed a Graphics card in your computer or are using the one that came with the computer?


Here is a couple of things you can try:

Click Start/Control Panel .. select Power Options

Check that the "Turn off monitor is set to never"

OR

Right click on your Desktop and select "Properties"

Select "Settings/Advanced"

Check the monitor is set to 60 hertz

Then click on Monitor type - Properties and try trouble shoot.


If you did install a Graphics card in the Computer - Try booting into safe mode (Tapping the F8 key while computer boots) ... If the monitor work alright in Safe mode then it could be a driver problem or the card itself.

Thanks for your suggestions. Turn off monitor was set to 2 hours and is now set to Never. No the graphics card came with the computer. My suspicions are that that is the source of the problem, although I know next to nothing re: computer hardware. I was wondering whether the initial build up of dust coupled with the fact that Graphics cards run hot might have led to some damage. I forgot to say in my initial thread that when the prob first occurred it took several restarts to get it to stabilize with the monitor on.

It does seem as if it is either the graphic card or Monitor. It would be ideal if you could try another monitor with your computer to see if the same thing happens.
However that is not always possible.

All i can really suggest is that you go for the cheapest option first and buy a graphic card ( You should be able to pick one up for £20/£30 ) Some cost hundreds but they are only required if your into 3D gaming etc.

Installing the graphic card is quite simple ...Switch off the Computer and remove the Power lead. Then you remove the side of the case .. you should see the slot on the motherboard that coresponds to the pins on the card.

Slip it into the slot .. you will possibly have to find a power lead inside your machine (White connector with 4 holes) it will fit onto the graphic card. Then swap your monitor cord to the NEW port on the Graphic card ... and reboot.

If the problem still occurs then it is the monitor, But at least the Graphic card will not be wasted and will inprove your computer as well.

Thanks very much for your help. I'll give your Graphics card suggestion a go - hopefully that'll resolve the matter.

Actually, I've had it on for a couple hours and the monitor just went off again. However, the sun is shining into the room and onto the monitor (as I type its just gone again) and whereas previously it was completely black, I can now make out the screen features. I'm now thinking that if it was the Graphics card the screen features would either not be transmitted to the monitor or they would be fried. This is now making me think that perhaps it is the monitor. If I turn off monitor power and then back on the normal brightness is resumed. ???????What d'you think? I'll still probably get another card first anyway.

Originally Posted by Cinn

Thanks very much for your help. I'll give your Graphics card suggestion a go - hopefully that'll resolve the matter.

Actually, I've had it on for a couple hours and the monitor just went off again. However, the sun is shining into the room and onto the monitor (as I type its just gone again) and whereas previously it was completely black, I can now make out the screen features. I'm now thinking that if it was the Graphics card the screen features would either not be transmitted to the monitor or they would be fried. This is now making me think that perhaps it is the monitor. If I turn off monitor power and then back on the normal brightness is resumed. ???????What d'you think? I'll still probably get another card first anyway.

Can you plug the monitor into another computer? Do you know anyone who has a laptop they could bring over and you could try it on? Or perhaps the neighbor might let you try your monitor on his/her computer? How old is this monitor and what brand? I think you may find you need a new monitor.

The monitor is an ACER AL1751and its only a couple of years old. My son has a laptop but how do I connect it so it acts as monitor for my system and not the laptops?

Originally Posted by Cinn

The monitor is an ACER AL1751and its only a couple of years old. My son has a laptop but how do I connect it so it acts as monitor for my system and not the laptops?

Here's a download for the manual for your monitor. It may have some troubleshooting steps in it as well (I haven't read it):

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers...or/al1751.html

or

http://www.devicemanuals.com/guidedo...VRVd05UWT.html

or

http://www.devicemanuals.com/downloadguide.php

Some monitors have a 3-year warranty, although I think this one may be only 2 years. If you have your purchase receipt, you might want to check the date and see if you are still in warranty.

For the laptop, there should be a connector on the side/back of the unit. Then you normally would press an "F" key (or FN + F-key) to toggle between laptop screen and monitor. On my Toshiba the key for toggling the screen output is F5. If you don't have the instructions for the laptop, you can try searching the integral help of the unit, or Google for the instruction manual for your model laptop.

If it displays all right on the laptop, it may be an incomaptibility of the refresh rate of the monitor and the graphics card. New drivers - or reverting to old drivers - could resolve this problem. Have you noticed this problem since installing new drivers either for the monitor or video card? (as Ferret mentioned above.)

No haven't installed any drivers (I assume Windows updates only instal windows drivers). Will go with your suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Cinn

No haven't installed any drivers (I assume Windows updates only instal windows drivers). Will go with your suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks.

Just so you know - if you have changed from Windows Update to Microsoft Update, it *will* offer updates for certain components in your system, but I believe they would only show up if you selected a "custom install" and not "express install" You just might want to go into Windows Update and view your update history to see if it installed any drivers automatically that you were unaware of.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck.