Screen turns black

Hello again, I am having trouble with my PC screen turning black out of nowhere, its always when Im on the internet and I have to turn it off because the screen never goes back to normal, I believe it may be a driver from some of the research I have done but not sure how to fix it, is there any programs that you can run to find and fix the problem? once again thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

Update your video adapter drivers.

If the problem continues, replace the video adapter.

 

Thanks

How do I update the drivers?? sorry I did not mention before I am very new to computers, I was on the hp website last night and every time I tried to download the HP multimedia keyboard/ mouse drive update it turned black and every time I tried to run PC Doctor for windows it turned black, is there any programs I can run to detect the problem? thanks again for your help.

 

Use Device Manager and identify the manufacturer and model for your Video adapter. The chipset is likely onboard.

Then go to the video chipset manufacturer's website to find the newest WHQL certified driver and follow the instructions to install/upgrade your driver.

If using a Marvel chipset-based lan adapter, update the drivers.

For any gigabit ethernet adapter:
Disable "Low Power State Link Speed" if the option exists.
Disable Checksum offload and Segmentation Offload if the options exist.

After doing this, head to the subforum for virus and malware issues. I suspect either malware or software to block malware might be to blame for your black screens.

 

Hello again

I went to device manager and did not see anything that said chipsets or anything that said video adapter, should I be looking for another name? also every time I tried to double click any thing in device manager the screen turned black on me, I have a compaq presario 1030nx with an amd athlon xp 3000+ processor if that helps anything, thanks for being so patient I am really new to computer problems.

 

Had similiar problem with screen going black. Dell support helped but ended up replacing the LED and video card.

 

Hi Bill,
I hope you don't mind if I swoop in here and make a couple of suggestions.

Hello amber1970,
It looks like your having a bad time. I don't know how successful you'll be at downloading updated divers for your video adapter since I noticed you've stated that you tried to do some downloading earlier but the monitor blackouts made this impossible. In any case, the device manager would have yours listed as "display adapter ". In Device Manager, click once to expand or opened up "display adapter" and click twice on the ? adapter. On the driver tab, you can check the properties of the driver and get the version number and date of the driver. I'm hoping this is a via/s3g unicrome igp driver as indicated by hp.com, using your os as a keyword filter for support. If so the update can be found here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?lc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=405451&dlc=en&os=228

Just don't install this unless you can confirm the adapter you are using is the same.

These video subjects may help also:
http://h10061.www1.hp.com/ccsearch/...=en&sni=405451&search=0&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
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On a slightly different note have you tried a "safemode with networking" bootup? To do so you can type msconfig in the startbutton>runline. Click on the bootini tab and select "safemode" and tick "network ". This may allow you to use windows generic video drivers, hopefully elliminating the monitor blackouts, allowing you to download the video driver update from hp.com (if applicable). Note that on a reboot msconfig will display an alert informing you that your running in safe. This is a reminder so that when your done needing this type of startup you can reverse it by entering msconfig once again and selecting "normal startup" on the "general" tab.

I don't know what kind of difference this update will make as you've stated you only have this problem while on the Internet, but if an update is needed, it can't hurt.

Other things you could try..........
Perhaps you can try reducing your graphic bells and whistle by adjusting your settings for better performance. This can be done by:
>right clicking on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop.
>select "Properties ".
>Select the "advanced" tab.
>Select the "Performance " "settings button ".
>Select the "Visual Effects" tab.
>Put a tick in the "Custom" circle.
>uncheck all unneeded effects, with the possible exceptions "smooth edges of screen fonts" and the last two or three if you are using a common task option. This is the way I have mine set and it works quite well for me. You may wish to adjust the "bells and whistles" to your liking. Anything done in there can be undone just as easily.

In IE (internet explorer), use the options on the "advanced" tab, in the category of "Multimedia" to turn off some or all of these options, temporarily.

How about checking and adjusting your power settings. To do so:
>Right click a blank area of your desktop and select "properties ".
>Click on the "screensaver" tab.
>Turn off screensaver by selecting "none ".
>Click on the "Power" button
> Under "Power schemes" select "always on "
>For all other dropdowns such as monitor[/b] select never.
>Apply and close. Remember this is a temporary experiment for troubleshooting purposes and can be reversed later. Hmmmm...this may apply:
HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Power Management Overview (Windows XP)
http://h10061.www1.hp.com/ccsearch/...&uqry=&cqry=&ctry=us&dlc=en&lang=en&qry=video

Monitor: Perhaps a look needs to be done to see if your monitor is detected correctly. Using the right refresh setting....etc

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The above should cover some of the fine points for eliminating the simpler things involving your video display. While dubious.... thinking the root cause is going to be more complicated than this, I do hope it turns out to be something quite simple for you. Keeping my fingers crossed for ya'. You never know.

 

Nicely done, goddez1.
Thank you.

 

Thanks Ann

Hello, the other day I got fustrated and just used the system restore and set my computer back to a couple months ago when I knew it was not doing this, I was then able to update the VIA/s3gUnichrome driver, everthing was going o.k and now out of the blue it restarts instead of just turning black, but I did all your suggestions about the settings and stuff so hopefully that may stop it, I do have a question about the monitor, how can I tell if its being detected correctly? I have ran ca antivirus and webroot full version and found no spyware or anything like that, also before the system restore when I would turn my computer on right after the compaq screen went off a black screen with stuff wrote on it would appear for about 1 second and dissappear before the windows screen appeared, and now it does not do that, thanks again for the help and I will try this out and let you know if it works.

 

Hi Amber,
Just checking up on ya'. How are you coming along on this issue. Any improvement?

 

Everthing seems to be working O.K so far, thanks alot for the help, any other power or display suggestions?