Monitor flickers and goes blank, reboot is fine. Intermittant!

I wonder if someone in the forum can help me with an intermittent problem I'm experiencing with my Windows 7 / Linux Mint machine. This is been going on for approximately 4 to 6 weeks I can't relate it to the installation of any updates from Microsoft, or any new software installations, because there haven't been any new programs added. I have most of the MS Hotfixes but most of the ones pertaining to Win 10 I have removed or blocked with GRC "Never 10"


The problem starts with the monitor flickering momentarily, it then goes to a black screen with the message "no signal found." Initially I thought this was coming from the operating system but in fact that message is being generated by the ViewSonic monitor. Without doing anything else,letting the machine continue to run, I plug in a spare monitor into one of the two available graphic ports I get the same result, a black screen. If I reboot the machine of course I get a message saying that Windows wasn't shut down properly, which makes sense because I can't see the screen. Plugging in the spare monitor eliminates the monitor being the problem and the DVI cable since it's a different cable.

Inside the box, all seven of the cooling fans are clean and operating. I've taken out the Nvidia 8800 GTS graphics card, cleaned out the PCI slot that it occupies as well as the power input cable from the power supply. Initially I thought I had solved the problem but yesterday without warning, the monitor flickered two or three times and then went to the black screen again.

Considering what's been done I think I'm down to basically three items, number one being the graphics card, number two the heavy-duty Corsair power supply and finally in a worst-case the motherboard. It seems pointless to me to spend money on components when I'm not sure they are at fault. I don't believe it is a problem with RAM but I will admit to not running MEMTEST. When the problem first started I thought it might be one of the capacitors inside the monitor on the power supply board. So I disassembled the monitor! Unfortunately to my chagrin all the capacitors look fine, so I simply put it back together.

I should also say that I can't recall this problem ever occurring when I am using the machine in Linux. Of course I spend most of my time in Windows 7 and only boot into Linux when I want to do a specific task. And Linux has its own Nvidia drivers. The Win 7 driver I use is Nvidia 9.18.13.3221 WQHL Forceware 332.21.


Looking at the Event Viewer I can't seem to find anything that relates to the conditions I have described.

It would be great if someone could point me in another direction as I feel right now I'm simply spinning my wheels with no forward progress. Unfortunately I don't have another power supply, or another graphics card that I could substitute. Yesterday was the first day the problem occurred after removing the graphics card cleaning the contacts etc. I did that at least a week ago, so clearly the problem doesn't occur every time I use the machine in fact I thought I had it fixed. I have let it run for hours with no trace of the trouble.


Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to shed some light on the problem. I realize this is like calling the doctor and saying "I have this pain in my stomach can you tell me what's wrong with that me coming to the office?" But I've done about all I know how to do at this point.


Multiple virus and malware scans show nothing at all.



Regards,
J T

I see, you have done some troubleshooting, and still cannot resolve.

I think you have find the problem.

The problem starts with the monitor flickering momentarily, it then goes to a black screen with the message "no signal found." Initially I thought this was coming from the operating system but in fact that message is being generated by the ViewSonic monitor. Without doing anything else,letting the machine continue to run, I plug in a spare monitor into one of the two available graphic ports I get the same result, a black screen. If I reboot the machine of course I get a message saying that Windows wasn't shut down properly, which makes sense because I can't see the screen. Plugging in the spare monitor eliminates the monitor being the problem and the DVI cable since it's a different cable.

About your last statement in the quote, do you mean that the DVI cable is good, as it is a different cable.

You have resolve your own problem, if you mean the video DVI cable.

This "no signal found" mean that the monitor unable to receive any data from the CABLE connector.

Replace it.

Remove the graphic card and use a eraser to polish the gold contact and clear the bits away.
Make sure you are not doing in the box (PC), as may create additional problem.
Insert in firmly, no force, and ensure the gold contact are even across.

That for now.

Mellon Head,

I should have mentioned that one of the filter capacitors on the PS board for your monitor may be faulty. You can easily tell if one has failed because they swell up. Its obvious when you see one as it will have a bulging top. You can do a search for that topic to see what a failed capacitor looks like. This assumes that you can get your monitor apart to have access to the components. Mine are fine, I was expecting to see a 'fat' one in there but there wasn't one! Capacitor failure is a common problem on older monitors. If you find one bad one I would replace all of them to be safe, they are dirt cheap. Don't be afraid to source ones that have a higher voltage or capacitance than you are replacing, just observe the polarity when re-installing!

Good luck!

J T