Monitor locks up periodocally

robls99 · 1st July 2009

I have an old XP-Pro computer that I had to put a new cpu board and video card in about 6 months ago when the video board fan burned out.

Ever since I had the repair done, everything works fine except once or twice a week, the monitor display freezes up (sometimes gets a little fuzzy when it happens) or the screen just goes black and the flashing light indicates that there is no signal coming to the monitor. This never happens in the middle of work but when I come back after a while or first thing in the morning (the computer is always on)

All power options are set to Always On or Never, so there should be no reason for a "time out". The computer power is always on but the keyboard doesn't do anything to bring it back.

A soft reboot always brings things back just fine. I know it's not the monitor because I use a simple KVM switch to switch between computers. I've also checked all the cables.

I suspect the video card but where exactly should I look first for a solution?

Evan Omo · 1st July 2009

Hi robls99. Have you made sure that you are using the latest version of your graphics card drivers? Take a look in device manager and go to View< Show Hidden Devices and check if there are any red X's or yellow exclamation points next to any devices. If there are let me know. Does the monitor lock up in Safe Mode? Have you made sure that your power supply is powerful enough to run the graphics card?

robls99 · 1st July 2009

Evan,

Thanks for the reply.

Device Manager shows no X's.

The video card is a ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 512MB AGP that was put in by my local computer store back in January.

I haven't tried it in Safe Mode before but I just did and it works fine.

The old power supply is a 4 year old 350w SQ-328. I run a single Samsung SyncMaster 930B monitor.

Like I say, the problem only happens a couple of times a week.

**Rockster2U** · 1st July 2009

Can you manually toggle the KVM switch (not using the keyboard but a button on the KVM switch instead). I think thats where your problem lies and have seen this behavior before.

Evan Omo · 2nd July 2009

Thanks for the info. If you haven't done so already download the latest version of ATI's graphics drivers. The latest version is 9.3 which is available here. Make sure you choose option 1 which is the full software suite when you download the driver. See if there is any difference after its installed.

robls99 · 2nd July 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockster2U

Can you manually toggle the KVM switch (not using the keyboard but a button on the KVM switch instead). I think thats where your problem lies and have seen this behavior before.

Rockster,

I always use the manual button on the Iogear KVM (a real simple one). The Logitech MX3200 KB and Mouse is sensitive enough without fooling around with the kb mode. I know it loses contact with the computer if you switch too fast and don't give it enough time but it has never caused the problems I described to either of my computers. I can always get it back by switching more slowly. Can you give me any more of your experience? I guess I could use my wired stuff to see if that prevents it.

Evan,

Will follow your suggestions also.

Rob

**Rockster2U** · 2nd July 2009

Rob,

I've seen black screens - no activity and no wake up after screen saver, monitor blanking or hibernation - remove the KVM switch and presto - no more problem. Same thing on frozen display after screen saver is invoked - I have no idea as to the exact cause but have been able to resolve this by using the manual buttons on the KVM to toggle back and forth a couple of times. This behavior on a couple of client machines with economical KVM devices employed.

robls99 · 11th July 2009

Rockster,

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try it without the KVM.