Intermittent black screen and flickering

[dominick32]

guys. My new 24" benq widescreen keeps blackscreening on me intermittently and sometimes turns black until a windows xp reboot.

I have tried different DVI cables. I have even tried 2 different DSUB cables, same issue.

Any ideas? BenQ tech support thinks its a faulty monitor. Also, this only happens on digital mode, if I switch to analog the problem goes away. Could this be driver related?

Anyway, the monitor goes back RMA to newegg tomorrow morning.

 

[wa77ss]

Ouch. Hmmm.

The only time thats ever happened to me was if the dvi cable was bent in an awkward way or something


So you didnt get the Apple 30" ? Just the 24" right ?

Got any pics ?

 

[FIZZ3]

Probably of little help, but I've noticed that DVI connections seem to be quite sensitive and that they can come 'loose' easily causing signal loss. So- did you screw them in properly at both sides?

 

[Maviryk]

Too late now, but I was going to suggest using drivers from BenQ website. But BenQ tech support prolly already told you to do that.

 

[dominick32]

I eliminated the cables from being the issue because not only did this occur when using the DVI cables, it also occured when using the standard D-Sub cables. Everything was screwed in, and the latest monitor drivers were used. I even tried running two sets of 8800GTX drivers.

I will just be browsing the xp desktop looking at oc forums and it will go black screen for a few seconds, then turn back on.

Also, anytime I try and run HD content at full screen it shuts on and off violently. I tried everything the BenQ tech could think of.

This is what I am thinking:

#1 The LCD is malfunctioning and defective from the manufacturer.
#2 There is something wrong with the 8800GTX drivers. Think about, how may guys with BenQ24" Widescreens have 8800GTX's installed in there systems? I can only think of one so far. Me. lol

This means if I receive the new LCD and have the same issues it is definitely driver/hardware related with the 8800GTX. Than I will consider selling the 8800 because I can much live without a $700 GPU burning a giant hole in my pocket, than a beautiful 24" Widescreen. Besides, i can pick up an X1900XTX for dirt cheap now anyway.

I will keep you guys posted.

 

[Maviryk]

... zomg I wanna trade!

alas... I am but broke from my last hardware purchase still....

bah! eating is overrated...

 

[FIZZ3]

Does it shut off and on before you get into windows? For example in the BIOS?

A screen can be swapped easily, have you hooked it up to another PC to test?

 

[dominick32]

Does it shut off and on before you get into windows? For example in the BIOS?

A screen can be swapped easily, have you hooked it up to another PC to test?

No, it works absolutely fine, until booting windows xp. Bios flash screen and windows boot up process is flawless. The only other PC's in my house have analog VGA connections and as I said before , analog works perfect on this monitor, however digital has problems. I plugged it into an office productivity computer downstairs with an old AGP radeon and it worked fine.

 

[FIZZ3]

It's hard to say with 100% confidence at this point, but then it does seem driver-related.
Of course, it enters windows in higher resolution than it was running before that, so it could still be that the hardware has problems with those higher demands. Maybe if you set the resolution to low color and 640x480 (DOS mode) within windows, you could check whether it still acts up. If it does, then it cannot be a resolution-dependent hardware flaw, and it's got to be a driver issue for sure then.
Which drivers are you running? Tried beta builds yet?

 

[dominick32]

It's hard to say with 100% confidence at this point, but then it does seem driver-related.
Of course, it enters windows in higher resolution than it was running before that, so it could still be that the hardware has problems with those higher demands. Maybe if you set the resolution to low color and 640x480 (DOS mode) within windows, you could check whether it still acts up. If it does, then it cannot be a resolution-dependent hardware flaw, and it's got to be a driver issue for sure then.
Which drivers are you running? Tried beta builds yet?

At this point its a lost cause as I already sent the monitor back to Newegg for an RMA. We will definitely find out if its the monitor or a driver issue when I receive the updated LCD.

Thanks for your help. And I will definitely keep you posted on any updates throughout this thread.

 

[Phrenetical]

my Proview 22" widescreen LCD has similar problems.

the VGA cable is screwed in nice and tight but if you bump the table, the monitor goes all purple or blackscreens and wont turn back on.

I have to jigle the cable in both the monitor and the back of PC to get it back. I have NFI what causes it, but it used to happen on my old CRT too so im not worried about monitor. I think either my radeon 9000 is dying, or the cable im using is absolutly stuffed.

hope your works when u get it back. Did they pay for return shipping or did u have to swallow that cost?

 

[dominick32]

Got the new monitor back guys. Same issue. It is a definitely a compatibility issue with the 8800GTX drivers and the BenQ monitor. I am kicking myself for not buying a dell 24 now.

The only thing I can do is sell my 8800GTX or file a comlaint with Nvidia and wait for them to release a fix for Benq Widescreen monitors. <--- Slim chance of that ever working.

PS- I have tried all three sets of Forceware drivers. The original CD, the 97.02, and the 97 new beta drivers. The only resolution that is black screen free is 1680 X 1050. And only on the original CD drivers. If I try the native resolution 1920 X 1200, the flicker/black screen is horrendous. Its almost like the monitor just shuts off for 2 seconds to re-adjust and it does this all the time.

 

[dominick32]

I still dont understand how I am the only one having these problems with the 8800gtx. It definitely seems to be driver related because the flickering reacts differently with each and every driver change. With Nvidias latest release today, the screen now flickers in every and all resolutions.

 

[FIZZ3]

Drivers after all huh...

You could try waiting a little longer for nvidia to improve the drivers. I know that for my system I could only download the 8800 drivers for x64 a few days ago... so it's very much still a young set of drivers. It does seem really odd that your particular screen would have such problems while other models do not. Are you using a BenQ monitor driver? Have you tried a 'generic plug and play' monitor driver in windows? You could test that to see if it will work in lower resolutions at least.

Alternatively, if you can use cool off on either the card or the screen, now would be a good time. I guess you used the products though, so perhaps that's not an option anymore.