Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peemil]

I'll try to explain...

Lately, when you browsing away, the monitor decides that it is going to go to sleep.

Just turns itself into a blank screen.

You reset the the computer and everything boots up alright- But the monitor is black.

I know that it is working because I can hear the jingle at the opening of Windows.

You reset it a couple of times and then it decides that it is going to work.

What do you think?

[Mr. Literal]

I had that happened to me on two separate occasions.

Turns out the monitors were dying.

[livinginkorea]

My laptop just turns itself off thesedays. It's only a year old but it happens when I'm playing a game or watching a movie. Maybe I'm using it too much? I've checked for a virus every other day but nothings there.

Any suggestions?

[Bulsajo]

I'm confused- you talk about a monitor in the OP, but it's really a laptop? Or you are suffering video problems on two separate machines that you own? If it's the latter- wow, that's quite a coincidence (no sarcasm here- I can see it happening, but what a bad streak of luck).

When I first read your OP I was thinking that you should make sure the cable is still connected nice and snug- sounds like a loose connection, or a wierd setting on your power saving options, or perhaps time to update your video card drivers.

If it's a laptop, then ignore the cable suggestion but definitely check your power settings and drivers. And if it's a laptop- does the problem usually occur when you are running on battery?

Edit: I see that Living in Korea is not the OP. Oh well, I think there still might be some good advice for both somewhere in my post.

[Demophobe]

First...OP...monitor is leaving you or graphics card. Test it on another system somehow. Got a friend with a laptop? Hook it up to that and check. If the monitor works fine on the other system, check the graphics the same way...steal a friends for an hour. Be sure it's the same company...just for drivers sake.

Second..laptop.....heat. Try a cooling pad for starters.

[peemil]

Cheers for the responses. It's a desktop. I'm sorry I didn't mention that in the first post. It seems weird that the monitor should be going. It's only a new system. I figure it must be the graphics card. May have to go out and get another one.

I will try out everything that has been suggested.

Once again. Thanks again. This is the best tech board on the net.

[the saint]

Geeks (not gooks!) down at yongsan left three case screws under my motherboard which caused a very similar problem to yours. Has it been serviced lately? WIth the power off, tilt or shake the case gently. Do you hear a rattle? This was what tipped me off that something was not right. Had the lift the motherboard right out of the thing to find the problem.

[cubanlord]

on many occassions, my laptop has shut down on me. I have, since then, figured out the problem (I would recommend the same remedy for you):

The problem was that the cpu gets overheated. When you are running a program that requires a massive amount of resources to be used for proper operation (i.e. running dvd's, games, etc.), your processor will heat up with the quickness.

Having a desktop is a relief. All you have to do is buy a stronger fan. Make sure your fan is at least 300Watts. As for your video card, see if it has it's own separate processor on it. Keep the desktop clutter free (meaning keep the vented area where the fan is dust free and AWAY FROM THE WALL, CLOTHES; anything that will clog it up).

Keep in mind that your BIOS on your cpu has a specific "heat" setting. When your cpu reaches this maximum heat point, your cpu will automatically shut down in order to prevent literal melt down.

Hope this helps. If you ever have any more questions about cpu's, feel free to pm or im me.

Corrective measures needed:

Replace the fan with a stronger one (very easy to do...very easy and cheap)

Clean the vents and the entire inside of your tower (with a can of compressed air)

if you don't replace the internal fan, check to make sure it still works.

install a fan directly on your processor (forget those stupid heat-sinks...they suck). I mean both of your processors (cpu and video card)

That should solve the problem (as long as the monitor is fine).

[Demophobe]

Or, as I said, a cooling pad underneath. Probably the easiest solution and certainly a wise move anyways, what with the heat here in summer and all.

[Derrek]

Currently, I have my little 250watt power module maxed-out to the hilt. If I plug too many USBs in at once, it sometimes has troubles getting enough juice to my fat-assed old GEforceTI4200 card. The monitor doesn't always locate a signal. Had this problem with more than one monitor, so it's probably due to either the video card crappin' out, or the card just not getting enough juice. 250watts is way too low for all of the stuff I have plugged into it, along with my Pentium 2 2.4b, but I'm cheap, so I haven't broken down and bought a new power supply yet.

You might have a similar problem, or the card is just dying.

I second the person who said to try other monitors. It's odd you'd lose your monitor signal in the middle of what you're doing. Once mine is on, it's on.