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Thread: Black Screen? Please help. :(

  1. #1
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Black Screen? Please help. :(

    Hi,

    Occasionally, my computer will suddenly give me a black screen. I have no idea what is wrong with it. The only thing I can tell you is that the light on my monitor blinks but stays green (as opposed to yellow when there is no signal). When this happens I have to reboot the computer. Also, I don't hear any strange noises from the computer.

    Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong or any solutions?

    Thanks in advane,
    TMoS

  2. #2
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    What video card do you have?

    What OS?

    We need system details.

  3. #3
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    I have a x850 XT PE video card.
    P4 2.4C @ 3.2
    2GB ram
    Running Windows XP

  4. #4
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    It's possible that the monitor cable is a bit wonky. Try jiggling it to see if the video cuts out.

    What are you doing when this happens? You need to note that.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  5. #5
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    I am also thinking it may be a weak AGP slot. Sometimes the contacts do not grab the card hard enough. Try reseating the video card and see if it still happens.

  6. #6
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Thanks. I tried both suggestions. The cable was fine and I thought I had found the solution when I realized that the video card fan attachment was completely blocked off with dust, but that wasn't it. The screen is still blanking out.

    It always happens when I boot up the computer or when I leave it idle. When I am using the computer, nothing happens.

    I don't really know what to do.

  7. #7
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Actually, the screen just blanked out on me while I was surfing the net...so I guess it does happen when the computer is in use. I am wondering if it is a hard drive problem.

    Also, sometimes when I boot up the computer, it only gives me the background image on my desktop. There are no icons, no task bar...nothing. I don't know if this has anything to do with the problem.

  8. #8
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Uninstall the ATi drivers and reinstall fresh ones.

    The partial startup thing can be caused by many things. You may be best off reinstalling Windows from scratch.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  9. #9
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    I have had lots of problems with the new ATI drivers that came out with the Windows Updates this past Tuesday.

    Try installing the previous version.

  10. #10
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Thanks for all your help. I tried everything but it is still happening. It looks like the computer stops functioning when the screen goes out too, because I was listening to mp3s just now and the music immediately stopped when the screen went blank.

  11. #11
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Have you added any new hardware recently? If so, try removing it. You may be exceeding the limits of your power supply.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  12. #12
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Nope, I haven't added anything to my system. It just started crapping out on me a couple of weeks ago.

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TMoS
    I have a x850 XT PE video card.
    P4 2.4C @ 3.2
    2GB ram
    Running Windows XP
    He's OC'g fellas , which may have nothing or everthing to do with the problem . Theres no sense tshooting any further till the system is reset to stock settings , including the vga card if its OC'd .

  14. #14
    Member TMoS's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the help. The problem was my power supply. It was dead.

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